This morning Ashton joined the Friends of the Cray at Crayford on their mission to remove pesky Himalayan balsam plants along the river.

Why get rid of it? The plant erodes river banks and pushes out native species so it's a rather hostile invader!

Himalayan balsam spreads like fury by spraying out thousands of seeds from its flowers. So every year the race is on to pull up stems before they develop flowers!

This means scouring the banks from the water and from the land. The transparent stems are quite distinctive and with care they pull up easily with their roots attached, so it's a battle that's gradually being won year on year!