Hogweed on the march
Aerial drone image shows how 12ft high toxic invader is taking over
THE Day of the Triffids may have been fiction – but this menacing image shows how giant hogweed is marching across the country.
The invasive white-flowered plant – which can grow to almost 12ft tall – appears to have taken over an area the size of a football pitch as it continues its relentless spread.
The plant is highly toxic and if it comes into contact with the skin can cause severe burns, blistering – and even blindness.
Children and animals have recently suffered nasty injuries after coming into contact with giant hogweed.
Ten-year- old Lauren Fuller of Shotts, Lanarkshire, was left with horrific burns and facing skin-graft surgery after touching hogweed near Loch Lomond.
As well as being hazardous to humans, the aggressive invader is crowding out native plants.
The picture above was taken on the River Findhorn by a drone sent to document the spread of giant hogweed on wasteland and river banks.
It was considered too perilous for a human on the ground. The Find- horn, Nairn and Lossie Fisheries Trust spent a week operating the drone.
Trust director Robert Laughton explained that giant hogweed – which was introduced to this country from Central Asia in the 19th century – is ‘a big problem and a very dominant species which will choke out native plants’.
Speaking of the trust’s efforts to bring giant hogweed under control, he said it had so far been making slow progress but that he was expecting the drones radically to improve matters.
Giant hogweed has also been discovered in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, on a beach at St Andrews in Fife and in Edinburgh.
Drones are also being used elsewhere in the country to map invasive plants such as Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed.