Keep an eye on nature's balance
Published Date:
15 August 2008
To the untrained eye the river banks, copses and wild spaces of Calderdale may look blooming and lovely.
But strip away the surface and a different story emerges.
Everyone knows the catastrophic results of introducing grey squirrels into this country. The larger and more voracious American species has since virtually wiped our indigenous red version off the map.
This is just one example of what can happen when nature's delicate balance is tinkered with.
A recent report by British Waterways points to several new menaces from abroad that threaten the harmony of our local countryside, including plants like Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam and giant hogweed.
All three can be found in abundance along the River Calder, Calder and Hebble Navigation and Rochdale Canal, and they do bring their own problems.
For a very different reason mink now pose a threat to other wild creatures.
Those activists who released them with good intentions cannot have imagined the problems they would cause.
The full article contains 166 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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Last Updated:
15 August 2008 10:15 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Halifax
