Norwich tree sap residue causes sticky streets across city
- Published
Tree sap containing sugars, has attracted black mould, making pavements darker in appearance and sticky
A city council is carrying out extra street cleans after sticky sap-coated pavements were compared to the floor of a nightclub.
People across Norwich have found their shoes getting stuck when walking around the city.
Aphids feeding on leaves caused excess sap to "rain down" on pavements and attract dark sooty mould, experts said.
Norwich City Council said it received reports of the issue and "teams have been out to do extra cleans".
Mr Kalkbrenner has been visiting Norwich on holiday for a wedding he said that the floor felt "gluey"
Andreas Kalkbrenner, from Munich in Germany, has been in Norwich for a wedding and noticed a sticky layer on the bottom of his shoes after walking near trees.
He believes it could be down to resin from trees but joked that it "makes great traction for dancing".
Emma Keywood and Mike Rodel, on their first trip to Norwich, described the "sticky" pavements as "bizarre".
They both said they thought it had been caused by spilt beer or other drinks on the floor.
Emma Keywood (left) and Mike Rodel (right) were in the city for a concert, and thought people had spilt beer on the pavements
Dr Ian Bedford, an entomologist, told BBC Radio Norfolk that aphids feeding on the trees had caused the streets to become sticky.
He said: "They [aphids] put their mouth parts which are a bit like a hypodermic needle, push that into the leaves and start sucking out the sap... the excess sap, which is mainly sugars, is squirted out the back and of course it sort of rains down on to the floor."
Sugars in the sap attracts black sooty mould which he said is why the pavements have been given a black tinge.
A spokesperson from Norwich City Council said if the issues were reported, then extra street cleaning could be carried out.
"We've already had some people report the sap on the ground to us and teams have been out to do extra cleans," the council said.
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