More plant questions, but definitely bird related.

Purple Loosestrife - what are its origins ? And more importantly what are the
best ways of dealing with it ?

I have a burning desire to rid the Montlake Fill of this stuff completely -
well certainly around the edges of the ponds to make more feeding
opportunities for shorebirds. Several evenings work, but after a hard day
programming, creating shorebird habitat in the evenings seems idyllic :-)))

I know Audubon organises strife pulling sessions. How successful is this ?
There appears to have been some attempts, by the University I think, at
putting down black plastic around the edges of the ponds at Montlake but with
apparently very little success. I suspect that brute force, ie pulling it all
up, may be the only effective measure.


OK whats the deal with Rhodies, are they a native ? I thought the family was
Himalyan in origins.


The weed traffic is not all one way. The UK is being ravaged by Canadian
Pondweed and some type of north american eel-grass which is clogging up the
estuaries. Unfortunately the only way of dealing with it is herbicides - a
touch impractical, SIGH.

Crayfish, imported from North America, when some disease wiped out most of
the local populations are getting to plague proportions in some English
rivers, etc, etc.


Oh, What a tangled web we weave !!!!!!!!


Stuart MacKay