Joshua Bowes, River Officer at Groundwork South was out surveying for floating pennywort on 30^th September.

The location, Hemel Hempstead, was chosen as it is the highest point in the River Colne catchment. Floating Pennywort is so successful that even a small piece that breaks off and floats downstream can start a new colony. Thus the plan to focus efforts on the high point in the catchment with least chance of infection and work down from there.

There have been regular pennywort removal sessions earlier in the year undertaken by Josh and Chloe Crompton and this Autumn survey was conducted to check on the current status. Any sightings of pennywort were recorded and compared to previous surveys.

The result was good news. Very little pennywort was discovered and the conclusion was that these few instances were caused by cross contamination from the Grand Union Canal. This will also be reported to the Canal and Rivers Trust to stress to them the important role they must play in removing pennywort from the canal.

This work is funded and supported by the Environment Agency.

Find out more here about Pennywort Pulling this Summer in Hemel.