Back to Nature

It’s easy to think that letting nature take over is environmentally friendly. Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

It can be easy to see calls for environmentalism as promoting the idea of letting the earth return to nature; to stop destroying our forests and plants for property developments and to utilise the natural resources. But sometimes leaving the plants alone does more harm than good.

Invasive species, of both plant and animal types, have been causing problems for the environment of Scotland and the wider UK for centuries, destroying habitats and killing indigenous species. In Scotland alone these invasive species are estimated to cost £300m each year. The cost of invasive plants is spread out across several industries bearing the brunt of their impact, from the forestry and horticulture sectors to transport and construction.

Brought to Britain from East Asia in the 19th century, when landscape designers and botanists wanted to utilise the plant for aesthetic purposes, Japanese Knotweed now runs rampant throughout Britain. Knotweed is by far the most widespread and most destructive, invasive species in the UK. While our Victorian forebears may have thought the plant was pretty for their gardens, it is causing havoc for us today.

“We are very proud that these woods have been home for centuries to all sorts of wildlife, from deer and otters to kingfishers and goldfinches, and we’re running into a problem where many of these animals need our native plants for food or for making nests and so on, and invasive species like the knotweed are, in essence, suffocating our native plants and destroying habitats. It really is killing our ecosystem,” says David Mackenzie of the Stewarton Woodlands Action Trust (SWAT).

“The knotweed is aggressive – and strong, it’s been known to grow through tarmac and brick walls – and grows incredibly quickly, meaning it’s using up all the natural nutrients in the earth and taking up the space, which makes it difficult for our native plants to grow.”

SWAT, a charitable organisation comprised of local volunteers with the goal of preserving Stewarton’s woodland, has started work, to continue throughout the autumn, to kill the knotweed infesting Lainshaw Woods and encourage a restoration of the native plants.

“Simply cutting it doesn’t get rid of it,” Mackenzie says. “In fact, it can make it worse, because if you cut it back then it can be difficult to find the root of the plant, giving it more time to take over the area.

“What we use is a special herbicide that isn’t toxic to animals or humans, and as well as spraying it over the weeds we also wipe the leaves and inject it into the stems, to make sure the entire plant is killed. It’s hard work and will take us a long time, but it’s important that we do what we can to try and protect Scotland’s natural environment.”

Humans have impacted the environment in insurmountable ways, and some are more obvious than others. Perhaps disguised by their being in nature, the issue of invasive species in Britain has been largely ignored in the current discussion about environmentalism, overshadowed by global warming and recycling and jet planes. But small organisations like SWAT are starting to turn their attention to this problem that is affecting our ecosystem, and our natural environment will be all the better for it.