November 2018

Workday reminder, November 17 2018

Travis Wetland Location Map

Travis workday, Saturday November 17 2018, 9 am – 12:30.

Meet at the Education Centre (the old farm
house) near the Beach Rd car park at 9 am.

We will be ripping out Convolvulus and maintaining plantings near Beach Rd.

Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear.

All tools provided.

There will be morning tea afterwards for those that want to stay for a chat.

Latest News

Notes from the AGM in October

Board chairperson Sean Ward

Sean began the Chairman’s report noting that the red zone still looms large in Travis’ future. Regenerate Christchurch have not yet released their final plans but they will come out for public consultation by the end of November this year. Hopefully by the next AGM we will have some ideas on the eco-sanctuary funding. As always the trust needs volunteers for physical work and on the Trust board.

Thanks to: The wonderful rangers John & Kenny, for their friendly interactions with Trust and public. Denise & Dave, for work done behind the scenes. Workday attendees – good to see new people coming. Manuka group – Eleanor leads with Wayne and Shona, lots of great work out in the western area of the wetland looking after biodiversity. Big thanks to Grahame, who is stepping down from the board, for the important roles he has advanced: newsletter, website, workdays, photography, iNaturalistNZ (was Naturewatch), and for speaking from the heart!

An especial thank you to donors for their generosity of time and money.

CCC ranger John Skilton

Ranger John Skilton thanked everyone involved, especially Eleanor, Shona, Al and Wayne for ensuring the survival of both the rare and the new plants, with watering and weeding and maintaining the park to a high standard. Thanks to Al for his BBQ skills which get lots of appreciative comments. Thanks also to Craig Taylor and the IDEAS (IHC) Conservation Work Team and to the Wai-Ora Trust conservation work teams for maintaining our amenity and planted areas.

2500 plants have been added to the totara-matai forest in September; 1000 on the Trees for Canterbury day and a further 1500 by Keystone Ecology the following week.
Approximately 1000 coastal forest plants have been added to the Mairehau Rd dune and Beach Rd sites.
No rudd were caught in February 2018 therefore only one control is planned for February 2019.
Visitor Numbers 2017 -2018: the raw numbers from the people counter were 61,449 from October 2017 – October 2018. The monthly count has been fairly consistent at around 5000 per month.
The Beach Rd entrance road and car park will be rebuilt and sealed this financial year.
Money has also been budgeted in 2019-2020 to replace the path from Clarevale Park to the viewing tower with a boardwalk.

Images: Grahame Bell

Work day Saturday 20 October

Work day 20 October

Our workday this month fell during Labour Weekend, so it was pleasing to still see around 15 people turn up to help.

We had mild conditions for our task of enrichment planting in gaps to the north of the Beach Road driveway. The new plants included coprosma, olearia and spiky numbers such as leafless lawyer and matagouri. In addition there were some recently planted specimens needing weed mats and guards, so we looked after these too. Our work area included a mix of dry and damp sites and it was pleasing to see recently planted ferns doing well in shady hollows.

Conditions were quite warm by lunch time and we were happy to stop for refreshments, pleased that we had 55 new plants in the ground. Thanks everyone.

Article: Sue Britain, Image: Grahame Bell

Mataī producing cones found

Mataī male cones

In October Grahame Bell observed the first cones (in living memory) on a Mataī tree at Travis. Mataī is one of the Aotearoa/NZ forest giants that would have been present at Travis when people first arrived here. Mataī is dioecious (having the male and female flowers on different individuals) and berries were observed on a female tree last year, but this is the first time the male cones have been observed. The other Podocarps that have been planted at Travis over the past 20 years (Tōtara and Kahikatea) have already started dropping seeds that have germinated naturally and we hope that over the next few years we will start to see Mataī too. As the seeds are normally dispersed by Kererū eating and then excreting the 10-15mm long berries we may need to attract more of those birds (yes please!) before we start to see seedlings.

Article: Dave Evans, Image: Grahame Bell

Walking festival, Three Generation Walk, 13 October

Walking Festival 13 October

It was a fine day following a rainy spell for this City Council walking festival event aimed at encouraging family outings and gentle exercise.

Trust members assisted Sport Canterbury to provide a fun day for all ages. Participants were given a wetland map and received stickers for joining in with activities at checkpoints around the walk. Children enjoyed activities such as gumboot throwing and making a telephone from paper cups and string.

After completing the circuit walkers could visit the Education Centre lawn and grab some BBQ food expertly cooked by Al. Giant games of snakes and ladders or chess were provided and a very large, friendly pūkeko made a guest appearance in the morning.

We estimate that about 50 families or individuals joined in and for some of them this was their first visit to Travis, so this was a great chance for us to promote the Wetland Trust and our activities.