collecting Floating Pennywort for CABI
On Wednesday 6th November Lara Clements and Tony Booker from ColneCAN and Groundwork South got their feet wet collecting floating pennywort from the river Frays in Uxbridge.
As you can see from the photos, the pennywort infestation is dense here, and there will be follow up work occurring with corporate volunteers to address the infestation on this stretch. The reason for the removal work on Wednesday, was to collect floating pennywort for our partners CABI. A van was filled to the brim with floating pennywort, and transported to CABI.
CABI are using this floating pennywort to feed a creature called a Weevil. The Weevil is also originally from South America, like Floating Pennywort, and is being trialled as a biocontrol in the Colne Catchment area. A biocontrol is a form of biological control for invasive species, where a pest or pathogen specific to an invasive species is introduced to control the invasive species population. Biocontrols are heavily tested prior to use to ensure no unintended effects on our native ecosystem,. The Weevil feeds exclusively on floating pennywort, and before the weevils are released into infested areas, their populations must be grown in a lab. To do this, they require floating pennywort to eat, which luckily, we are able to provide lots of! We hope that the pennywort feast we provided to CABI will keep the weevils well fed over the long winter ahead.
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