Hello I'm Alan from Belper in Derbyshire, Glad to say Hi to you!I write today to tell you about an incident I had in Belper. Over pesticides used by the Council on all road and grass edging .They agreed that they use Glyphosate stating it was within the Guidelines of usage. My response was that this was getting into the Water and Affecting the local Wildlife. The next day I received a letter from the Amber valley Borough Council addressing my concerns about My local Nature reserve concerns. with a statement saying "In future if you have any concerns or questions I suggest you ask for the information rather than dictate what you believe to be true from either Gossip, misinformation or lack of Knowledge .... Signed by the Landscape Manager The nature reserve seems to be run by a group of people that believe in Slash and poison other than Pruning...
Maybe someone could air their views on this .
Its my firt day on this site so I need advice!
Thanks
Alanj
Hi Alan and welcome to the RSPB Community.
Agrochemicals isn't really my field so you'd better wait until an expert happens along. My understanding is that glyphosate is regarded as one of the safest herbicides going so its use is generally tolerated in nature reserves. It degrades quite quickly in soil and water; isn't seriously toxic to fish or amphibians, and is harmless to bees and birds. It replaced far more dangerous herbicides in common use.
Like any herbicide it should be used with care with particular attention being made to minimising overspray. It shouldn't be a problem in watercourses unless it's dumped into them liberally.
I'm no fan of chemical treatments but, if used responsibly, glyphosate seems to be one of the least worst options where no other vegetation control options are available.
JBNTSE
Agree with John B,glyphosate is probably the safest if used with care,our local water company used a form of it some years ago.The reply to your query does seem quite heavy handed and less than helpful though.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can