news archive

JUNE 2008

CWC plays a prominent role in Exmoor Project

They say knowledge is power, which makes Carl Adey of CWC (Somerset and Devon) the most powerful person on Exmoor when it comes to invasive weeds! Over three years spent working as part of the Exmoor Project with Exmoor National Park, the Environment Agency, the National Trust and Natural England, Carl has gathered data on more than 550 Japanese Knotweed sites.

“I started off doing small jobs with each of the agencies and then they decided it would be a good idea to tackle the whole lot together,” said Carl. “At first I had a few sites on a couple of rivers and now it’s grown to 550. Even the Environment Agency wouldn’t be able to find many of them.”

Using a Garmin hand-held GPS, Carl has logged the sites and produced a list with map references. He can easily log the new sites which keep cropping up, some in very remote areas. Infestations have developed from railway lines, riparian areas of rivers and from the gardens of large manor houses where Knotweed was introduced in the Victorian era. Knotweed in all its forms is found on Exmoor including the Himalayan variety, which grows mostly in North Devon, and the massive Giant Knotweed.

Carl meets and has to deal with all sorts of people in lots of situations during this work. “They are always pretty friendly and pleased to see us,” he said. “Landowners are informed by the various partners in the project so most people know about it.” Dealing with Knotweed has become a major feature of Carl’s work programme each autumn. “We work in pairs on the rivers and I tend to do the houses and private gardens myself,” he said. “We are always finding new areas especially along rivers where you get erosion and fragmentation of the rhizomes. The partners are aware of this and are not expecting us to eradicate Knotweed altogether. It is under control now. We used to find massive stands – now we only find low-growing single shoots or stressed epinastic plants.”

Carl’s partners at the Exmoor National Park office deal with mapping and handle some of the contact with land owners. He has a good relationship with the National Trust – some of the Knotweed originates in their properties. A 0.6 hectare site of Himalayan Knotweed at the Woody Bay beauty spot took lots of planning. “I had to get normal EA consent and also individual permission from householders because the area contained a spring which fed the water supply of lots of holiday homes. It was difficult to get in touch with all the owners and in some cases we had to deliver reply cards asking for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ replies. That is the only time I have had to get any other consent over and above EA permission.”

Carl now has another invader to deal with – Montbretia. Another escapee from domestic gardens, the orange flowered plants are running riot along the riverbanks of Exmoor. Carl uses glyphosate because of its position, and sprays in July when it is in flower.