All previous newsletters can be found here.
Work Day Reminder, December 20 2025
The next monthly work day will be from 9.00am – noon this coming Saturday.
This month we’ll most likely be pulling Convolvulus and other weeds in the vicinity of the Beach Rd driveway. If you arrive late there will be a notice on the Education Centre door explaining where we have gone and a phone number for you to call if you need more guidance to our location.
After working a couple of hours we’ll down tools for the annual Christmas BBQ to thank our volunteers for all the hard work they have put in over the past year caring for the wetland. Please join us to celebrate the great progress we have made in 2025.
All tools provided. Gumboots are recommended, but not essential this month. If you don’t have any we have pairs for loan at the Education Centre. Please bring your own gloves if you can, but we have some of them for loan too.
If the weather on the work day is poor and we decide to cancel then an email will be sent by 8am on Saturday morning. So if you think the conditions are marginal, please check your emails.
If you’re reading this on the website and are not on the email list then you can add yourself to it through the form at the foot of the home page. If you change your mind there’s an unsubscribe link in each newsletter.
Volunteers welcome
Would you like to volunteer to help with caring for the wetland? We would be interested to hear from you. You may have a community group, workplace or extended family that would like to be involved too. Please contact us via info@traviswetland.org.nz
Report on the last work day, 15 November
November means time to fight convolvulus, and luckily 12 keen volunteers turned up for our spring offensive along the Beach Road entrance pathway. The convolvulus was not yet at full height and was only just beginning to bloom, but it was widespread. Many shrubs and small trees were completely covered and bent over by the fast growing tendrils and it was satisfying to release them. Where possible we also tried to remove convolvulus roots, though this was hard in areas with thick ground cover.
Those with keen ears noted the song of a shining cuckoo while they worked. Unfortunately ranger Matt had a more unpleasant experience when 2 collarless dogs tried to attack him along the pathway. Hopefully Animal Management will be able to find the culprits to prevent any more scares.
Thanks to all who helped.
Article and images: Sue Britain
John Skilton Farewell
Ranger John Skilton is retiring from the CCC ranger service at the end of the year and a farewell lunchtime BBQ will be held at the Travis Education Centre on Wednesday (17 December). John Skilton started in the ranger service and became the first CCC ranger specifically assigned to Travis Wetland in April 2000. He has been intimately involved with the development of the wetland since then.
Ranger John Skilton’s 25th anniversary at Travis in April this year coincided with this 65th birthday. A few months ago, as the first step towards retirement, John reduced his hours and changed his role to coastal ranger based at Bottle Lake. Matt Rose, who some of you will remember from being at Travis quite a few years ago, stepped into the big shoes John left behind and became the ranger dedicated to Ōruapaeroa Travis Wetland.
The April 2025 newsletter had an item summarising the changes at the wetland during John’s time at Ōruapaeroa Travis Wetland during the past 25 years. Please come along on Wednesday and help celebrate John’s achievements at Travis.
Article and image: Dave Evans
Kōhia, NZ passionflower
Earlier this month a kōhia was seen flowering along the Beach Rd path. Kōhia (Passiflora tetrandra) is the only species of passionflower native to Aotearoa. It is a forest vine, climbing up to 10m. Flowers appear between October and December. The fruit can be eaten by people and is a traditional food for Māori: the gum from the stem was also chewed. It occurs throughout the North Island and in parts of the South Island as far south as Banks Peninsula. (Information from Wikipedia)
Article: Dave Evans, image: Sue Britain
Butterfly Habitat
In winter 2022 a butterfly habitat was created between the Travis information centre and the car park. The habitat comprises a lot of stones and the creeping vine Muehlenbeckia axillaris, which is essential to the life cycle of the beautiful endemic Lycaena butterfiles that have been introduced to the habitat. You can read about the butterflies and the creation of the habitat in the June 2022 and November 2023 newsletters.
Unfortunately in recent months the habitat has been attracting too much attention from other species, notably Homo sapiens. Some people have been picnicking on the stones and even building little cairns and rings of stones. Could it be a social media sensation? We certainly hope not. We would rather people kept off the stones and creepers and left them for the butterflies that are rather more pressed for welcoming spaces than we are.
Article: Dave Evans, Images: John Skilton and Grahame
Recent images from Ōruapaeroa Travis Wetland
All images by Grahame