Mill Road, Marcham, 2nd June 2018

By Andrew -
This was our opening salvo of 2018 in the battle against Himalayan Balsam. Fifteen of us met in the farmyard of Manor Farm, Marcham and set off to find the plants, which mostly grow along the stream.

 The torrential rain of the past few days meant that the stream, which is usually easy to cross at a certain point, was running fast and deep. However, a few brave people got across with the help of fallen tree trunks while the rest of us stayed the other side. Fortunately the weather was now dry and by eleven the sun had come out.

 There was certainly plenty of balsam, far more than there had appeared to be on an earlier recce and many smaller plants were hidden by nettles. We saw plenty of dragonflies, damsel flies and ladybirds, too.

 We had our usual break at 11 with cake and biscuits, as well as Turkish delight and peanut brittle which Kevin and Carolyn had brought to celebrate Kevin’s birthday the following day. At 12.30 we made our way back to the farmyard. We had cleared a lot of plants, though we realised we would certainly need a further visit.
-Eleanor










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