Himalayan Balsam

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  I have been away for a couple of weeks. On my travels (along a canal and some rivers) I saw huge stands of the plant Himalayan Balsam. This invasive plant was introduced (from the Himalayas obviously) in around 1839 as a garden plant. In our relatively benign climate the plant has flourished. The method of seed disposal is for the seed capsules to swell with water and then explode when the plant is shaken, by wind, passing animals, or raindrops. These explosions hurl the seeds in the air some distance and is an especially effective way of dispersal for those plants growing along rivers and canals as the seeds are then carried downstream to colonise another area. I have attempted to illustrate this with a slow- mo clip with my phone.



Balsam grows very tall (2m or more ) and dwarfs and overshadows native species. Because the plant dies back in the winter and leaves the earth bare it also contributes to bank erosion on rivers. Wildlife groups organise "balsam bashes" to get rid of it - but this needs to happen early in the season before it has set seed or else it makes matters worse. Although I saw this in Yorkshire I know that the plant is a problem along the River Eden near us. In Scotland they have made it illegal Ito have Himalayan Balsam in your garden. I fear that we have missed that boat in England where it is very widespread. 

Diary.
A stoat spotted in our garden yesterday.
 In the two weeks I have been away the swallows  and house martins appear to have headed South on their Autumn migration as there are none to be seen - we sometimes see swallows later on but these will be swallows from further North heading South - not "our own" swallows. I spotted lots of butterflies on the plants in our garden in the sunshine yesterday. Mostly Red Admiral as you can see.

Camera traps last night revealed a couple of foxes (an adult with a young fox) and a badger. Moth trap revealed half a dozen burying beetles and six large orange underwing. I saw some bats through the window last night at dusk.





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