06 Jun 2026
Third Year of Taming Balsam in Besselsleigh Woods
Himalayan balsam has been a pervasive intruder in Besselsleigh Woods for a long time, as it has in many damp spots in
the UK. Huge stands of it banished any other species from areas of woodland. Work started to clear it from an area by the Osse Brook
two years ago, when a stand was removed using cutting and pulling, as was reported in the blog entry "Attacking
Himalayan Balsam in Besselsleigh Woods". The following year (2025) a more organised campaign was organised, with
groups from both the Earth Trust and Green Appleton spendng time pulling balsam up by the roots, making sure that
this was done before the plants had chance to flower and set seed.
Two years' work wasn't enough, however, as the soil will still contain balsam seeds, and there are other areas of the
woods that haven't been touched, so the intrepid parties from Earth Trust and Green Appleton sallied forth once more.
What is obvious is that the pulling efforts are really having an effect - the area by the Osse Brook is more diverse, containing
more grass, brambles and nettles than previously. OK, nettles aren't something to get excited about, but they are first
colonisers of disturbed ground and they really show that the stranglehold of the balsam has been broken.
The impact of three years' work is demonstrated starkly in the two photos below of the area by the Osse Brook - the first
before any work had been done, and the second after this years' strimming by the Earth Trust.
So on a very wet Wednesday night, a small group from Green Appleton set out to do battle with the balsam. Since the Earth Trust had dealt with the area by the Osse Brook, we went further up the path to where a large stand of balsam has taken hold. We hope we made a real difference, as we pulled an impressive pile of plants, and we were lucky that the rain stopped just as we started work, and gave us a rainbow over the church as a good omen.
