An invasion of algae at Coronation Lake in Helston was keeping community-spirited volunteers busy this week.

The bright green algae has been a minor problem for some time, but on Monday night almost 50 per cent of the surface of the lake was covered with the weed.

Lakeside Caf owner Mike Lemon and fellow volunteers sprang into action early yesterday morning, lifting out the sluice gates at the far end of the lake and attempting to push the weed back down the River Cober.

Mr Lemon said: "It has been a problem for a while. We have been clearing it out each day, but only small amounts until last week, when it started getting really bad. You could almost stand there and watch it expanding. It's like a blanket of lime green cotton wool. It doesn't look very nice, or smell very nice when it starts to stagnate. I can't really expect people to go out in boats when they're having to paddle through stuff like that."