Grants won to tackle invasive species

An ongoing long term project is the control and hopefully eventual eradication of INNS (Invasive Non Native Species).

The eradication of INNS (Invasive Non Native Species) is done on a voluntary basis and takes many hours of arduous work. The chemicals and tools used are bought with the grant money awarded to the Club by the Angling Trust after club officials have completed extensive application processes. The source of this money is rod license fees.

As Cocken Farm & Harbour House are organic estates, it means the Giant HogWeed (GHW) has to be manually dug out. The rest of our waters can be sprayed. The spraying allows us to tackle both GHW & Japanese Knotweed (JKW).

Some of you may have noticed a vast reduction in the amount of JKW & GHW on the left bank of the Cong Burn beat, especially at the Long Pool. However, as you reduce one invasive, it allows others to take root. So even though we have reduced GHW & JKW, it has allowed the Himalayan Balsam to flourish. We also expect that this will be reduced over the next few years.