Invasive Species Week recap

As we come to the end of a super summer season, our Invasive Species Officer Laura thought now might be the perfect time to recap on the successful activities we held during Invasive Species Week, which this year ran from the 20th to 26th May.

Thank you to everyone who got involved, it was great to see people keen to learn about invasive non-native species (INNS) and learning how they can practise good biosecurity.

What are INNS?

An invasive non-native species is an animal, plant, fungi or pathogen which is introduced, by people, to an area outside of its natural range and has the ability to spread and cause negative impacts. The introduction of INNS can be accidental or deliberate and these species can have negative impacts on the environment, economy or human health. INNS are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity worldwide and have affected 54% of known animal extinctions across the globe.

South West Lakes Trust is working in partnership with South West Water (SWW) to help protect the lakes across the South West from the impacts of INNS. Learn more about this partnership here.

Invasive Species Week 

Part of our partnership with SWW involves hosting a range of events during Invasive Species Week. This year we had a pop-up stand in the visitor centre at Roadford Lake which gave me a great opportunity to chat with visitors, many of whom enjoyed playing the INNS match up game.

If you want to learn about wildlife including INNS, the history of the reservoir and how you can save water, be sure to pop into the visitor centre at Roadford Lake.

On Tuesday we officially opened a new boardwalk at one of South West Water's operational sites where Himalayan balsam is present. The new boardwalks have made it easier to access and manage the Himalayan balsam, helping to prevent it spreading to other nearby properties. 

On Wednesday and Saturday we hosted workshops for our volunteer Site Guardians, with one event at Roadford Lake and one at Stithians Lake. We had some updates for our volunteers and ran a quiz for them which was great fun. The quiz even managed to challenge our staff members!

Thank you to all those who participated in these workshops, your attendance is appreciated. Find out more about our volunteer scheme here.

On Thursday, alongside South West Water, we hosted the 7th South West Invasive Species Forum in Bridgwater. This event catered for 55 people with quick-fire talks from a variety of speakers including:

• Professor Helen Roy MBE – Individual Merit Scientist (Ecologist) at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) and Professor in Ecology at the University of Exeter
• John Manning – Tree Health Officer, Forestry Commission
• Megan Seymour – Regional Bee inspector – National Bee Unit

 

On Friday we raised awareness at lakes and fisheries in Bournemouth. Some of you might have spotted Marcus (Invasives Awareness and Training Officer at SWW) with Gemma (Environment officer at Bournemouth Water) speaking to people about the importance of INNS awareness which is a huge part of the prevention of the spread these species.

Find out more about Longham Lakes and Christchurch Harbour. 

 

Over the weekend we hosted two INNS trails for people to get involved in - one at Roadford Lake and one at Upper Tamar Lake.

To take part, visitors had to follow the eight piece trail around the lake to spot INNS plaques, all containing information about a different invasive species. Each plaque contained an individual letter which could be pieced together at the end to find the missing word.

Thank you to everyone who visited, we had over 135 participate! 

As this was my first Invasive Species week, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it and am looking forward to what next year has in store!

If you have an interest in INNS and want to know more, please email: [email protected]

Laura - Invasive Species Officer