Outdoorsy Shite Top Trumps: March

[Slubberdegullion]

Flora or Fauna.

Extra points for a photo.

Handicap will apply to those in Forrin. Monthly win will not automatically go to, for example, a Cougar spot. The Cougar will need to be doing something awesome, like fighting a bear or doing sudoku.

Nothing much for me today. Most atmospheric spot was a crow, flying low out of the mist, with twigs in its beak.

I saw wood anemomes in flower today for the first time this season. Not really very spectacular, but it was cheering.

I also saw the year's first germination of Himalayan Balsam.

Oh, I love wood anemones. Think you must be ahead of us.

Do you go Balsam bashing? I quite fancy volunteering for that by one of our local rivers sometime.

my ground elder is all popping up enthusiastically

I saw lots of lovely lambs on the preschool farm visit. DS2 got to feed one

I haven't been on an Organised Balsam Bash, but when my two boys were younger we used very frequently to go on dog walks that consisted almost entirely of them slashing away at HB with sticks. It is a fabulous child activity -- murderous destruction with parental seal of approval. We cut huge swathes in the stuff. Sometimes we got disapproving looks from passers by who didn't know that Himalayan Balsam is Satan's nosegay.

Now my sons are languid teens so it is getting like the Day of the Triffids round here.

There is a balsam bash advertised by me. What is the problem about it, exactly? I know I could google, but I'm lonely and would rather interact with someone :(

Himalayan balsam is a non-native species which has escaped into the wild where it thrives, especially in places like river banks. It isn't part of our ecosystem - not much lives on it, it doesn't have much to keep it in check and it out-competes native species which do provide food and habitat.

So it needs bashing.

That's terrible!

Plus, it smells faintly rank and it has ousted some of my village's best blackberry hedgerow.

We should start a balsam bashing thread.

Though it does have the good point of exploding seedheads. As you brush against them they fizz and pop all around you. If you touch a very ripe one it explodes satisfyingly between your fingers. There is an intriguing corkscrew thing going on in the design of the seedhead to produce that effect.

That's all for August/Sept, though, so I might get in trouble for mentioning it among the March shite.

(I adore the phrase "languid teens". It is perfect.)

Those exploding seedheads are a large part of why the damned stuff propagates so well. You'd better do a bit of extra bashing in penance

Is it all over the country? I saw it on a nature prog in Scotland but not seen it round me.

yy to balsam bashing thread. I know not what it looks like but would like to give it an effective good kicking should I come upon it.

Oooh is balsam bashing now an organised sport! Excellent the seed heads are very clever, but it is bastardly invasive stuff :(

I feel terribly left out and ignorant. I wouldn't know balsom if I tripped over it. Would I have to sniff to tell?

I have to confess to being a bit of a balsom seed popper as well. Although I have been on organised balsom bashing expeditions as atonement.

Balsom is bloody everywhere round me, all along the river beds and canal banks. Hate the stuff.

Nothing exciting for me today. Heard the curlews again, and saw a couple of small birds I didn't recognise so will need to look up.

Who was it that mentioned swallows? Ours haven't arrived yet in the Pennines, but always a happy day when they do. My brother lives in South Africa and I always pretend to myself that the swallows we have at the stables every year are the very same ones I see when I visit him.

Not only do you all need to feel guilt at popping balsam seed pods on your own account, you also are to blame for the fact that I now am going to have to find some in August and pop them to see exactly what you are talking about. The British Isles will be overrun, and it will be All Your Fault.

In our defence, I suppose the seeds would pop out anyway, even without our intervention, courtesy of the wind or a rampaging labrador.

... unless the satisfying finger-feel of the pop is a cunning plan on the part of the balsam, like giving nectar to bees in return for rubbing against their pollen

Aww, rampaging labradors!

It is a very satisfying pop - at times almost hurts, and can really make you jump. You have to get the seed head at just the right moment and not press too hard.

we could pioneer responsible popping - into a paper bag and then taken home and destroyed!

For those in areas not already overrun with the bloody stuff <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.languard.co.uk/invasive-weed-management/images/himalayan-balsam-flowering.jpg&imgrefurl=www.languard.co.uk/invasive-weed-management/himalayan-balsam/&h=450&w=600&sz=65&tbnid=hTnDBAGCdaAzHM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522himalayan%2Bbalsam%2522%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=%22himalayan+balsam%22&docid=SSzwm_jDRHoEDM&sa=X&ei=gEhjT5DHCcyR0QWBxsSeCA&ved=0CFgQ9QEwBg&dur=5" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here is a picture of Himalayan Balsam. It's quite distinctive.

But it's pretty! What are you all moaning about?

Too much of one non-native plant and you'll end up without any pretty butterflies etc