Himalayan Balsam pulling season

Each summer, Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) appears again along riverbanks throughout the Aire catchment, and for our volunteers, that means balsam-pulling season is back.

At first glance, this tall plant with its bright pink flowers may seem attractive, but it is actually a problematic ‘invasive non-native species’, that negatively affects our rivers and watercourses. An invasive non-native species is a plant or animal that has been introduced to a country or area, spreads rapidly and causes harm to its new environment.

Volunteers at the Aire Rivers Trust therefore spend the early summer months taking part in one of our most important and satisfying conservation activities – balsam pulling, also known as ‘balsam bashing’.

Why is Himalayan Balsam a problem?

Originally introduced to the UK as an ornamental garden plant, Himalayan balsam spreads rapidly along river corridors, canals and transport networks like railways and roads. It grows quickly from spring onwards, forms dense stands, and crowds out native vegetation, reducing biodiversity and leaving little space for wildflowers and other important riverbank plants.

In winter, unlike many native species, Himalayan balsam dies back completely, leaving bare soil exposed along riverbanks. Without deep-rooted vegetation to hold the soil together, banks become vulnerable to erosion during periods of high water and flooding.

Each plant can produce hundreds of seeds, which burst out of the seed pods in mid-late summer and spread far and wide, being carried downstream by rivers. This means that the plants (and the problem!) spread each year.

The power of volunteers

Despite being problematic for wildlife, Himalayan balsam is one of the easier invasive species to tackle. Its shallow root system means it can be easily removed by hand, simply pulling the plant from the bottom of the stem, before it sets seed. Every summer, volunteers from the Aire Rivers Trust head out to riverbanks, smaller becks and woodlands across the catchment to remove balsam and give native plants a chance to thrive again. These sessions are not only beneficial for local wildlife but are also a great opportunity to spend time outdoors, meet like-minded people and make a visible difference to the local environment.

A volunteer removing balsam from the riverbank

A small group of volunteers working to remove balsam from the riverbank

A catchment-wide approach

Managing invasive species requires working together and repeating the task each year. Seeds can travel long distances along rivers, so successful control relies on communities, landowners and volunteers working together across the entire catchment, over consecutive years. Many Rivers Trusts across the UK have shown that sustained annual balsam-pulling efforts can dramatically reduce the plant’s presence and allow native habitats to recover.

A group of volunteers celebrating their balsam bashing efforts — Himalayan balsam pulling is an easy activity suitable for all ages

Get involved

So far this year, we have pulled balsam at Fagley Beck in Ravenscliffe, Hawkstone, Chellow Dene and Pitty Beck, with more areas coming up in July. Some of these volunteer days been a part of our Roots in the River Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thank you to the National Lottery, and a huge thank you to all of our volunteers for making this possible!

Whether you volunteer regularly or are looking to join us for the first time, balsam pulling is a great way to help nature in your area. No specific experience is required, and our team will help you with identifying and safely removing the plant. Sign up to volunteer here: Volunteer with Us – Aire Rivers Trust

Northcliffe Dike NFM

Chellow Dene resurrected

The Aire Rivers Trust presents the Chellow Dene Wetland Project! The Chellow Dene Wetland is a small green space in Chellow Dene, Bradford, tucked away behind several houses. Chellow Dene Beck runs through the site, and this wetland acts as its floodplain in high rainfall. The Aire Rivers Trust and partners have transformed the site by implementing changes to re-naturalise the beck.

The Changes

The old design for the Chellow Dene Wetlands included a few cells of reedbeds that would filter water from the beck and act as flood storage for high rainfall events. These reedbeds had since silted up, meaning they no longer held floodwater, so they would not have mitigated any damage in the event of a flood. There was also a small weir that was blocking fish passage up and down the stream. The Aire Rivers Trust implemented features such as a log mattress and leaky dams, which will help to re-naturalize the beck, connect the beck back to its floodplain, and slow the flow of water. A weir bypass was also built around the weir to allow fish to move freely along Chellow Dene Beck.

A Space for Wildlife and the Community

Chellow Dene Wetland is an excellent asset to Bradford, as it provides a diversity of habitats for wildlife, helps mitigate damage in local flooding events, and provides amenity space for the local community. The Aire Rivers Trust and the Friends of Bradford Beck have hosted volunteer events at the wetlands with groups like the Scouts to do conservation work, including tree planting, Himalayan balsam pulling, and litter-picking. Many people have since walked through the Chellow Dene Wetlands and commented that the work has greatly improved the site!

Check out the video to learn more about the project! The Chellow Dene Wetland Project – YouTube

Find out more about the work the Aire Rivers Trust does at our website – Home – Aire Rivers Trust

On 18th September, a small but select group gathered for the Offical Opening of the new wetland area. Representatives from our funders were there, and the odd passer by was treated to an explanation of what we were doing and why we bothered.

Partners and Funders

The Chellow Dene Wetland Project is funded by the Environment Agency, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and Britvic. Britvic’s funding is part of a partnership with The Rivers Trust to care for water resources and nature in the areas they operate. This project is part of the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund. The changes made were designed by Wetland Engineering and implemented by Conservefor. The Friends of Bradford Becks have provided great support and expertise to the project.

Practical Conservation update January 2024

Project Officer Gareth Muir gives us an update about what the volunteers have been up to last month.

Tool maintenance

After returning from the Christmas and New Year break, the practical volunteers got stuck into a spot of tool maintenance. Volunteers joined staff at our office in Greengates to sort, clean, sharpen and oil the tools used by the volunteers to carry out practical environmental conservation tasks. Without these tools, we could not carry out the work, so they must be in top condition! Staff and volunteers had the (un)enviable task of going through the Trust’s protective equipment (PPE), ensuring it was safe, working and effective. Thankfully, everything was ship shape and Bristol fashion!

Coppicing at Druid’s Altar, St Ives, Bingley

Volunteers undertook some coppicing at Druid’s Altar hazel coppice on St Ives Estate, Bingley. Coppicing is a traditional form of woodland management with roots going back hundreds if not thousands of years. Using hand tools including; loppers, bowsaws and the iconic billhook, volunteers cut hazel ‘stools’ to harvest ‘rods’ of various diameters for a range of uses. The main use was to produce hazel hedging stakes. These stakes were later used on sites within the catchment to lay hedges. In the process of producing these stakes, volunteers realised the perfect length for a stake was an ‘Olivia’ (our River Conservation Assistant) of 1.5 metres! Over the course of three work days, volunteers coppiced 21 stools and produced 112 stakes, some may say the stakes were…’high’.
Why not visit the National Coppicing association to find out more about this fascinating traditional craft?

National Coppice Federation – National Coppice Federation (ncfed.org.uk)

Two leaves sit in a graphic that divides text

Hedge maintenance at Trench Meadow, Baildon

The volunteers were busy trimming the holly hedgerow at Trench Meadow. A hedgerow, which in the past had been neglected was in need of some tender loving care. The volunteers provided this by cutting back the encroaching greenery onto the footpath, allowing footpath users to path through unmolested by errant pickily leaves! The volunteers also took the opportunity to remove encroaching bramble on the meadow, thus preventing it’s natural succession into woodland. Trench Meadow is a Site of Special Scientific interest (SSSI) containing a variety of flora, which the Trust aims to safeguard for the future.
To find out about Trench Meadow, why not visit this interesting blog post by ‘The Nature Guy’ who contacted the Trust in summer 2023:

Meet your local SSSI (natureguy.blog)

Hedge laying at Ryeloaf Meadows, Bingley

Hedge-laying continues to be a firm favourite with the Trust’s practical conservation volunteers. This month volunteers worked had to lay a predominantly hazel hedge at Ryeloaf Meadows, Bingley; a fantastically untouched site beneath the Bingley Relief Road. Accessed via Dowley Gap Waste centre, the site is managed by Bradford Council’s Countryside and Rights of Way team with the Aire Rivers Trust carrying out environmental conservation tasks onsite on their behalf. The traditional countryside management craft of hedge laying is enjoying some what of a resurgence of late and as an organisation the Trust is keen to keep these traditional skills alive and use them to improve habitat in the catchment and beyond. If you’d like to find out more about hedge laying, why not visit the National Hedge laying Society website:

Home Page (hedgelaying.org.uk)

Willow Clearance at Ryeloaf Meadows, Bingley

Willow clearance on the riverside at Ryeloaf Meadows continues, with volunteers removing dense patches of willow near the water’s edge. Large stands of willow deflect the flow of the river away from the site, which acts as a flood water overflow. The cut willow is stacked into dense brash piles, which will in time become a new habitat for invertebrates and potentially laying up spots for male otters in the summertime. The composition of the woodland at Ryeloaf Meadow is ‘wet’ woodland (predominantly common alder and crack willow), which is an under represented habitat in the Bradford area. Woodland management often includes thinning tree numbers and producing deadwood, so that multiple layers of habitat are present with a ‘mosaic’ of canopy, understory, shrub and herb layer.

January was a busy month with a variety of tasks. The ‘nature’ (pardon the pun) of practical conservation dictates that the tasks performed by volunteers vary greatly. Moving ahead into the end of winter the volunteers will be continuing hedge laying, tree planting and gearing up to the river clean ups, once the flood waters have subsided.

How To Get Involved

Click here for volunteering opportunities at the Aire Rivers Trust