Rangers fight Lake District invasion of the carnivores (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rangers fight Lake District invasion of the carnivores

3:00pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in News By Mike Addison, Assistant editor

NATIONAL Trust Rangers have been waging an attack on an invasion of non-native carnivorous plants which had taken over a bog in the Lake District.

Thousands of pitcher plants had been growing at Nor Moss, on Claife Heights near Hawkshead, forcing out other plants and affecting the wildlife population.

Rangers and volunteers used a boat to reach the wettest areas of the moss and pull out the plants by hand.

The vase-like pitcher plants originate in North East America and became popular here in Victorian times. The species has a deep cavity with secretions around its lip which they use to entice their insect prey. Whatever falls into the cavity is digested by the liquid it contains to release essential nutrients John Hooson, Wildlife and Countryside Adviser for the National Trust, said: “These plants weren’t introduced to too many places, but in recent years they have start-ed to multiply rapidly.

“With encouragement from Natural England we planned a co-ordinated clearance of the area which was carried out by our regular volun-teers, Sam Corran and Laura Jennings, led by the NT Rangers.”

Nor Moss is part of the Claife Tarns and Mires Site of Special Scientific Interest, which was given the prot-ected status due to its div-ersity of specialist tarn and bog flora and fauna. This area of low fell land between Windermere and Esthwaite Water is dissected by a network of small streams and mires, or marshes, many of which were dammed in the 19th century to form small, artificial tarns.

These valley and basin mires are habitats which are nationally rare and scarce in South Cumbria. They are of particular importance for their rich wetland flora and also an outstanding array of dragonflies including both uncommon and rare species. National Trust Ranger Rich-ard Tanner, who co-ordinated the pitcher plant clearance operation, said: “This is a fantastic area from a wildlife point of view and is particularly great for invertebrates, but there was a fear it was declining because of these plants.

“Not only were the pitcher plants taking over, they were competing with other native insectivorous species such as the Sundew. This isn’t just bad for the insect population, but also the birds which eat the insects — it’s not good all round.

“We also took the opportunity to remove some sapling trees — they were shading other plants and sucking the water out of the moss.

“It’s now an ongoing process.”

The Trust is always looking for new volunteers. Visit the volunteering section of www.nationaltrust.org.uk or call 015394 35599.