Sightings expose spread of deadly ragwort; New blackspots identified as mapping of weed accelerates
0 Comments | Journal (Newcastle, England), The, August 16, 2010
Byline: Paul Tully
MORE sightings of the deadly ragwort have been reported by Journal readers, confirming its spread throughout the North East.
Over a dozen more North blackspots have been identified, with Northumberland and Tyneside the worst areas. Last week, we revealed that a livery farm of 40 horses in East Durham was threatened by the spread of ragwort in an adjacent field.
After that, Journal readers came up with more problem patches in South Gosforth, Brunswick, Seaton Burn, Seghill, Corbridge, Hexham, Wooler, Alnwick, Pegswood, Widdrington, Belford and Berwick. Eunice Burley of Pegswood said the familiar tall-stemmed yellow weed was visible on half an acre of land close to a bike track off the A197.
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Mrs Burley said horses and dogs were regularly walked in the area.
Common ragwort is dangerous to animals and especially horses, where it can cause fatal liver damage if eaten.
David Turnbull told The Journal he had seen the ragwort on the southern outskirts of Alnwick in north Northumberland.
And there were two separate reports of the weed growing on the side of the A1 near Berwick.
Audrey Kenny said she had counted 20 flowering plants 100 metres north of the A699 Paxton junction.
Mary Proe, of Etal, told us she had seen ragwort on the road between Wooler and Kirknewton,.
Another caller reported sightings of the weed at Big Waters, Brunswick, north of Newcastle, as well as at South Gosforth, Seghill, and on the A69 and Military Roads near Hexham and Corbridge. And Sue Cansdale of Hartburn, Morpeth, whose intervention prompted The Journal's investigation, said she had located three more ragwort sites.
Ms Cansdale reported: "There is a whole long string of plants clearly visible on the edge of a wood adjacent to an arable field at Angerton Steads about a mile from Bolam Lake.
"And a field on the left of High House Bank on the Hartburn to Morpeth road is covered with ragwort."
She added that she had also seen horses in a ragwort-infested field close to the Consett road exit from the MetroCentre.
Meanwhile, the owners of a ragwort-infested farm field in Seaton, East Durham, alongside Haverley House Farm, say they are still considering the future of the site.
Cornwall Light and Power Ltd, which had an application for three wind turbines on South Sharpley Farm turned down at Christmas, is understood to be preparing a renewed application.
But farmer Philip Lee, of Haverley House, says common ragwort has spread across South Sharpley and his horses are "only the width of a barbed wire fence away".
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WORRIED Sue Cansdale has discovered more ragwort sites
