Tag: Fen Ditton

Pennywort remerges in Fen Ditton

A few days ago, a local resident alerted us to an outgrowth of the invasive weed, Floating Pennywort in the ditch from Fen Ditton to the main river.

With permission from the land owners, we went in with a canoe and removed 25-50kg, putting it in the nettles alongside the meadow, where it can dry and die.

Some years ago, this ditch was completely choked with pennywort….

Pennywort in Fen Ditton Ditch Autumn 2018

…and we cleared it with the help of several working parties.

Sentec orking Party April 2019

But its always important to keep an eye out for regrowth, so 6 months later it was back again….

Regrowth by November 2019

After a few sessions, we got it clear.

However, but its always possible to have missed a little bit, or for new strands to wash in from further upstream. Autumn is the key time to see it, so do keep an eye out for Floating Pennywort in your local rivers and ditches. Please do clear it out if you can safely do so. Once removed, just put it somewhere dry to die, where it won’t blow back into the river. Then we can eradicate this menace from the lower stretch of the River Cam (as we’ve done in the upper Cam)

You can read more about our project to eradicate Floating Pennywort, and see our various advice sheets here

Fen Ditton Ditch clearance

The reservoir of the invasive weed, Floating Pennywort in the ditch between Fen Ditton ditch and the Cam has been in our sights for about a year. It is particularly important because now that the upper river is clear of Floating Pennywort, Cambridge Conservators are undertaking a major pennywort clearance project in the main river downstream of Cambridge. This ditch is now the main upstream reservoir.

Dealing with it has been a joint effort, led by Mike Foley.

Part of the problem was that a fallen tree was blocking access from the river, but ownership was unclear. It was clearly going to take a while to resolve, so Cambridge City Council lent us a boom to help contain the pennywort in the ditch until we could sort out what to do….

It took many many months, but finally, thanks to persistant hard work by Mike, much pouring over maps and many discussions with the Parish Council, various potential land owners and their agents,  Jesus College kindly agreed to “take responsibility” for dealing with the tree.

South Cambs District Council accelerated the permit for the treeworks as much as possible, but the nesting season had started before we got the OK to proceed. However, once Mike had done a Bird Survey to show that all was clear, Bidwells came in and removed the tree.The following day a team of 13 from Cambridge based technology company Sentec joined Mike to clear the pennywort.

They made good use of a set of nets and rakes given to us by the Environment Agency earlier this year.

The ditch is now basically clear of pennywort, although we will be continuing regular followup sessions from the bank and water to remove remaining strands as they emerge as the weather warms up.

If anyone who lives in the Fen Ditton area would like to help, do let us know.