Last year we reported in this blog, that a Scottish Water sub contractor had dug up Japanese Knotweed while carrying out essential work. Of course there are times this has to happen but those involved should at least know how to deal with this plant if it’s present. Scottish Water were concerned about the situation when I spoke to them and immediately agreed to take some biosecurity training from the Trust. This was delivered to their environmental team and has been implimented successfully.
Today while working in the Doon catchment we came across a Scottish Power sub contractor replacing a pole. They had all the necessary equipment on site to do their job but no one had noticed the stand of Knotweed beside the pole. Their digger had tracked through it. I spoke to the chargehand and informed him that Knotweed was present. I also discussed how they could prevent spreading it to another site once they left the Doon. I left with contact details and we will follow this up asap to ensure appropriate biosecurity measures are taken in future.
The gas bottle is beside the stand of Japanese Knotweed. The machine had tracked through the middle of it.
The saving grace may be that the Japanese Knotweed in question had been sprayed and is hopefully dead. We won’t know for certain for another month or so. Hopefully we will arrange training for the contractor and Scottish Power in the near future.
Biosecurity is important and we practice what we preach. Here is a photo of us disinfecting our equipment prior to working in the Doon today.
Soon will be able to dunk everything in a tank at the end of each day rather than use a spray.
We intend to soon have a tank of Virkon available at the Trust’s offices for anglers wishing to disinfect their equipment between rivers. Anglers will be able to drop in at any time on the way past to use the tank which will be located in the back car park area.
