Lake District climbers

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.

Dear All Lake District climbers,
Please take a bracken stick and a bin liner on every outing.
Bash as much toxic bracken as you can and also collect as much micro-plastic as possible.
Let's do our bit.
DC

 LakesWinter 30 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

Great shout

 Jon Stewart 30 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

Will do, good call. 

 joe.91 30 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

Petrol works quite well too, especially on Great End Crag I've heard!

 Baron Weasel 30 May 2019
In reply to joe.91:

> Petrol works quite well too, especially on Great End Crag I've heard!

Why Flymo when you can napalm!

 Baron Weasel 30 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

> Bash as much toxic bracken as you can and also collect as much micro-plastic as possible.

I normally litter pick but haven't bashed the bracken before - sounds like a plan though!

 petegunn 30 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

The guys at https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/about-us.aspx near Pooley Bridge are doing quite a good job, harvesting quite a lot of the bracken and using it to make compost and in turn helping to clear it. Last year I saw quite a few areas where they had cleared the bracken. Only a small dent but at least it's something.

 overdrawnboy 30 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

Has the story that bracken spores are carcinogenic been rubbished? If not I wouldn't fancy wandering through it thrashing it down, not without a face mask of some sort.  

 Jon Stewart 30 May 2019
In reply to overdrawnboy:

It's a difficult one to evaluate without some reliable data and context. You might spend an hour not breathing in bracken spores 'cause you've got remembered your SARS mask, but then have a Greg's bacon butty to congratulate yourself and get cancer from that...

In reply to joe.91:

> Petrol works quite well too, especially on Great End Crag I've heard!


Love it!

 Sean Kelly 31 May 2019
In reply to Baron Weasel:

Agent Green is very effective I'm told! Well in Vietnam it did wonders for the beautiful landscape they had.

Post edited at 13:52
 NottsRich 31 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

Does bashing bracken help spread seeds around?

In reply to NottsRich:

> Does bashing bracken help spread seeds around?

The spores spread on the wind anyway. Bracken is the greatest threat to indigenous grasses and wildflowers in the LD. It is taking over everywhere and increasingly preventing foot access to huge swathes of fellside all over the Lakes. The NPA has a massive responsibility to control and reduce bracken but they do too little. The LD became a National Park in 1953 because it was beautiful - created by sheep farming, bracken was under control, short grass. Man's influence on the landscape was the sole reason it was made a World Heritage site (not that that is a good thing IMHO). The LD is currently turning into a bracken desert. The claimed advantages of bracken are spurious, it is a curse that benefits nothing.

DC

In reply to Dave Cumberland:

I may be wrong here but I vaguely remember hearing that the belted Galloways were introduced to ennerdale partly because they graze on bracken. 

Turning bracken into hearty pies, a trick Paul Daniels would be proud of. 

 NottsRich 31 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

> The spores spread on the wind anyway. Bracken is the greatest threat to indigenous grasses and wildflowers in the LD. It is taking over everywhere and increasingly preventing foot access to huge swathes of fellside all over the Lakes. The NPA has a massive responsibility to control and reduce bracken but they do too little. The LD became a National Park in 1953 because it was beautiful - created by sheep farming, bracken was under control, short grass. Man's influence on the landscape was the sole reason it was made a World Heritage site (not that that is a good thing IMHO). The LD is currently turning into a bracken desert. The claimed advantages of bracken are spurious, it is a curse that benefits nothing.

> DC


I agree with all that, but surely bashing it just helps it spread. Perhaps pulling it out by the roots and stuffing it in a bag would help, rather than shaking it around with a stick and then stuffing it in a bag.

In reply to NottsRich:

It spreads regardless of what we do. The recognised most effective control is spraying (now banned) or crushing the stems. Crushing needs to be done now (May-June), then again July then again August i.e. repeatedly. Currently in the Lakes, stems are 0-36 inches in height - so ripe for action. If crushed when young, they don't spore. Digging up is not an option.

DC

 Dave Cundy 31 May 2019
In reply to NottsRich:

From a previous thread on the same subject, I seem to remember it being said that a hillside of bracken has one common root system.  So ripping a bit out won't have much lasting effect.  But as  with ivy, ripping a chunk out does have a short term effect and is particularly satisfying.

I guess that if we widened the paths through it, users might also be less likely to pick up ticks.

 felt 31 May 2019
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

> it is a curse that benefits nothing.

I hate bracken as much as the next person, but, for balance, 1. it looks great when orange/brown shrivelled up in winter on a cold day with a blue sky; 2. it smells lovely on a very hot summer's day. 

> The claimed advantages of bracken are spurious

3. What exactly are these?

In reply to felt:

> > it is a curse that benefits nothing.

> I hate bracken as much as the next person, but, for balance, 1. it looks great when orange/brown shrivelled up in winter on a cold day with a blue sky; 2. it smells lovely on a very hot summer's day. 

> 3. What exactly are these?

Some claim it gives cover for birds, others would say it chokes and strangles everything. Skylarks etc don't need cover anyway and they are common. Some say (even NPA) that bracken binds soil and conserves peat, some would say peat is not a problem, bracken a much bigger curse.

DC


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...