The job takes me to some very nice places sometimes and Sunday was no exception. A braw Sunday morning and the ferry to Arran was the order of the day.  CIRB project staff had previously visited the island in August last year ( https://www.ayrshireriverstrust.org/blog/2013/08/18/arran-invasive-weeds-event/ ) to raise awareness of invasive non native plant species. Local volunteers were happy to come along and it was decided that it would be beneficial for the island community to train volunteers to NPTC level PA6AW and supply them with the resources to combat these invasive non native plant species and in particular Japanese Knotweed.

Training and exams took place last year but it was late in the season and control had to wait. I delivered some knapsack sprayers and chemical as well as a couple of stem injection guns on Sunday to a group of very enthusiastic volunteers who were keen to tackle the problem on the island.

The CIRB project has allowed us to raise awareness and enable communities to deal with the problem of invasive non native  plant species such as Japanese Knotweed and i am sure that these volunteers have and will continue to make a difference to their island community.