18th October 2019

Floating Pennywort removal volunteer days

You’ll never guess who was splashing about in the River Colne last week?

It was two amazing teams of volunteer River Rangers. They were wading in the River Colne at Willowbank, New Denham and Uxbridge Moor to tackling a major threat to our river system, Floating Pennywort.

Blanket of Floating Pennywort at Willowbank New Denham

Floating Pennywort is a non-native invasive species which was introduced to the Britain in the 1980s  as an ornamental plant for ponds. Unfortunately it escaped into the wild and has since wrecked havoc across the British Isles particularly in the Southern England.

It is a problem species as it can grow extremely quickly, up to 20cm a day in prime conditions, rapidly forming a dense matt of green often with no glimpse of the river below it at all. This blanket of vegetation across the water’s surface creates a number of problems including crowding out native plants, reducing oxygen and light levels. For more information on Floating Pennywort read here.

Last week two groups of River Rangers helped to reduce and control Floating Pennywort along River Colne, one group focused their  efforts in Uxbridge and the other in New Denham. It was hard-work and proved to be a really good workout  for the mind and body!

‘I am glad I didn’t go to the gym this morning, this is a workout in itself!’ Tamim

‘A great day out, can’t wait to get back in the river and remove more Floating Pennywort.’ Ellie

‘I really enjoyed being out in the river in nature and meeting other volunteers.’ Bergey

The volunteers did an absolutely amazing job, volunteering 1250 hours of their time in total, cleared 350 meters of river and removed over 15 tonnes of Floating Pennywort from the River Colne. A massive thank you to everyone involved, we couldn’t have made such a big dent without you!

The volunteers did an absolutely amazing job, volunteering 1250 hours of their time in total, cleared 350 meters of river and removed over 15 tonnes of Floating Pennywort from the River Colne. A massive thank you to everyone involved, we couldn’t have made such a big dent without you!

Team of volunteers at Willowbank