LOCAL authorities throughout Worcestershire and Herefordshire are being contacted by the Countryside Alliance urging them to tackle ragwort growing on the counties’ roadside verges. Although pretty, the yellowed flowered plant can be poisonous to livestock, especially horses and ponies.

“The CA will be writing to the councils reminding them they have a duty to control ragwort on their land and must be vigilant, especially where their land abuts farmland,”

said Clare Rowson, the Alliance’s Midlands’ regional director.

“The threat ragwort poses to animals cannot be underestimated and is something that all landowners, whether public or private, must take seriously.”

Mid to late summer is the time ragwort bursts into full bloom and is a familiar sight on roadside verges and scrubland, especially where conditions are poor.

“Ragwort has its place in the countryside for it supports a wide variety of invertebrates and is a major source of nectar for many insects,” Ms Rowson said, “but it stewardship and animal husbandry are both huge responsibilities and I know they are taken seriously by farmers, but it is important the dangers posed by ragwort reach the widest possible audience.

“There is a growing concern that some public bodies who own land, such as local authorities, are not taking the problem seriously and managing their land appropriately, but there is no excuse. A code of practice on how to stop the spread of ragwort is available on DEFRA’s website.”

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council’s Countryside Service said: “We have a responsibility to clear ragwort away from an area where it might affect livestock or agriculture.

However, it is native to our country and does have value to wildlife.

“Our policy is to maintain a balance between keeping and removing what is necessary in order to protect our own and neighbouring livestock.”

The reassuring news in all this is that horses and ponies don’t usually eat growing ragwort when is appears on “normal”

paddocks, because they don’t like the bitter taste, much preferring regular grass.

The danger is on poorly kept land which has been grazed bare and where there is little alternative.

Even then a horse would have to eat a substantial amount of ragwort or a small amount over a long period of time, for it to affect the animal’s health.

The plant is much more toxic when it has been dried and crops up in bales of hay. So always check the quality of your winter forage.