West Cumbria Rivers Trust is gearing up for another season of Himalayan balsam pulling and is hoping local communities will get involved.

Himalayan balsam is a non-native invasive annual plant which grows vigorously over the summer months, destroying native plants and reducing biodiversity on riverbanks.

Balsam flowers from June to September and can produce up to 800 seeds per plant and grow over 2.5m tall.

"As an annual plant balsam dies back in winter to leave bare banks, making them vulnerable to erosion. The result is a loss in land, increased sediment load and poor water quality for spawning fish," said Izzie Mullin, the trust's invasive species assistant project officer.

"Balsam is best removed by physically pulling it up which needs to be done before the seed pods grow.

"Many hands make light work when it comes to balsam removal, so we're hoping lots of people join in the upcoming volunteer days this summer."

The trust is also keen for people to get pulling on their own, whether it be through forming their own group or pulling balsam when they walk their dogs.

Izzie said: “We work as hard as possible to control invasive species in our catchments but we’ve got a huge area to cover and we only have so many pairs of hands!

"This summer we hope to run consistent volunteer events for people to get involved with and we hope to inspire people to continue to do it themselves.

"We’re so grateful to all our volunteers, especially those who have been working tirelessly for years to remove balsam in the Greta catchment. We hope this year we can inspire many more to do the same across the entire Derwent catchment.”

Email Izzie at izzie@westcumbriariverstrust.org to register your interest. Details of volunteer days at www.westcumbriariverstrust.org

MEDALS: https://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/20208086.lakeland-rowing-club-triumphs-national-contest/