Floating Pennywort Chokes River Soar: Fundraising Appeal

0:00The canal and river trust is sounding the alarm on floating pennywort, choking the river sewer in Leicestershire. This invasive weed brought to the UK in the 1980s for Garden Ponds grows up to 20 centimeters a day and can double its weight in, just three days. They're launching a fundraising appeal to clear it out before it takes over completely. Hannah Booth, the Trust's Environment Manager for the South, calls it one of the biggest threats to waterways nationwide. The river's sewer is hit hardest in their East Midlands patch, especially from Leicesters edge down to the river Trent, where forms thick mats blocking the whole flow. It messes with everyone from anglers who can't reach the water to canoeists dodging the carpet of green and worst the wildlife, native plants starve without sunlight, fish bail for better oxygen and bugs just die off, ripping apart the river's balance. Now they're gearing up for heavy lifting, expecting to drop 65,000 pounds on specialist machines this year, most of it on the soar.

1:02Hand-pulling warts early season, but it gets too wild later. The environment agencies jumping in too, hunting extra funds for precise upstream removal and monitoring with volunteers. Together, they're battling to save the soar and keep those native species thriving. From your city, powered by AI, this is Lester News today.