Pea Soup Canal at Preston

Parts of the canal at Preston near Haslam Park in Ashton, are covered with bright green coloured duck weed, which has taken over yet again in the Summer months. Warm, wet weather and the lack of boats on the canal have contributed to the spread of the glowing green weed

Last September the Evening Post reported huge swathes of the canal in Preston had become swamped by a water fern which threatened to harm the canal’s ecology and damage boats. Stephen Leigh, ecologist at The Canal and River Trust, said: “The Lancaster Canal is currently suffering from a boom of an invasive plant species. ‘Duck weed is a tiny plant that spreads quickly and can look like a green carpet across the canal or ponds. The outbreak of the plant on the canal has been caused by the change in the weather. It grows quickly and it is not harmful to humans or pets’. It can however be very harmful to the existing wildlife, and it is not restricted just to the canal.