Invasive Non-Native Species

Invasive non-native species (INNS) are plants and animals that have been accidentally or deliberately introduced to Great Britain.

Sadly, these species negatively impact our native wildlife and us.

The Government keep a list of plants and animals of particular concern, known as Schedule 9, as part of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

This Act makes it illegal to release, or allow to escape, into the wild any animal or plant which is not ordinarily resident in Great Britain, or is listed in Schedule 9.

Wherever possible, we carry out control work to manage a range of INNS like:

• Himalayan balsam
• Japanese knotweed, and
• giant hogweed,

and we also maintain a record of sites where we have identified INNS.

Working with partners

Partnership working is essential to help manage some of the more widespread species, particularly those along watercourses.

A great example of this is our partnership with the Tweed Forum which has been effective in tackling giant hogweed and other species within the Tweed catchment.

We also actively promote the Check, Clean, Dry campaign with our all resident sailing and angling clubs to promote good biosecurity.