All previous newsletters can be found here.
Work Day Reminder, October 19 2024
The next monthly work day will be from 9.00am – noon this coming Saturday.
This month we’ll probably be doing a bit of planting and releasing plants from weeds somewhere around the wetland.
If you arrive late there will be a notice on the Education Centre door explaining where we have gone and a phone number for if you need more guidance to our location.
All tools provided. Gumboots are highly recommended, but if you don’t have any we have pairs for loan. 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.
Latest News
Report on Last Month’s Work Day, 21 September
A fine day brought out around 20 volunteers for the long walk to the southern woods. Luckily water levels on the access track were not too deep and we were soon busy planting out flax and umbrella sedge along the track edges.
Away from the track the ground was extremely wet in places but our slow progress was rewarded with magnificent groves of mature trees. In some spots tiny self-seeded tōtara were growing well. We got busy weeding around more recent plantings and the moist soil was perfect for pulling out young hemlock and nightshade.
Some of us ventured further into the bush to work on a troublesome patch of honeysuckle. This involved chopping back large woody stems and pulling out many metres of trailing new green stems. The foreman for this work was a cheeky tame pūkeko that had followed us all the way from the car park. More entertainment was provided by 4 cygnets and some heard kingfishers or sighted their old nest holes in trees.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t all fun for the young ones! After doing some weeding, they dug the holes for replacement plants at our Inwoods Road site, planted, added guards then watering followed. Thank you, team, your input, is much appreciated!!!
P. S. On the Monday morning that followed, we found both water tanks empty. It appeared that someone had deliberately left the taps running either on Saturday night or Sunday. Most frustrating!
As usual our morning finished with fine refreshments. Thanks everyone.
Article: Sue Britain and Eleanor Bissell and images: Dave Evans and Eleanor Bissell
Annual General Meeting 2024
7pm, Tuesday 22 October
followed by supper and a talk on the
Hidden Lives of Stick Insects
This year’s AGM will be held at the Travis Wetland Education Centre, 280 Beach Rd, Burwood, at 7pm on the evening of Tuesday 22 October. After getting through the necessary business as quickly as possible we will break for supper and then Dr Morgane Merien from the Canterbury Museum will speak on the Hidden Lives of Stick Insects
Morgane is the Science and Curatorial Communicator at the Canterbury Museum. She will speak about our New Zealand stick insects and their habits. She will also compare them to our overseas cousins and explore their differences and similarities. Live stick insects will also be available for your viewing pleasure. Please join us!
Kids’ TV item made at Ōruapaeroa Travis Wetland
CCC rangers and Ōruapaeroa Travis Wetland featured in a recent item for the kids’ TV programme What Now.
Leo and Levi became Junior Park Rangers for the day! From planting to trapping (and even yeeting a rat?!), watch as they team up with Christchurch park rangers for a wild day out.
It’s great to see a couple of kids being introduced to the outdoors and a career option that contributes to the protection of our planet. The local rangers Jo and Andrew did an awesome job of representing the city and wetland.
Marsh Ribbonwood, Makaka (Plagianthus divaricatus)
This endemic plant, also known as makaka, is common in the boggy areas of the wetland. It is a bushy tangled shrub that can grow up to 3m high and is tolerant of saline conditions. It has tiny leaves and in spring bears copious quantities of drooping white and yellow flowers. Colin Meurk pointed these out to us at our September workday and noted the resemblance to hibiscus, which also belong to the Malvaceae family.
Makaka is noted as a host for several species of lichen and numerous invertebrates,so plays an important role in wetland biodiversity.
Article: Sue Britain, image: user horoekaheimdall on iNaturalist
Australasian Harrier Hawk, Kāhu
My favourite sign of the impending arrival of spring is when I hear a kāhu calling. It’s usually a warmish winter’s day when we can feel the spring in the air. I become aware of the repeated high-pitched “kee-o kee-o” from high in the sky and I know the kāhu is feeling the approach of spring too. The bird is warming up for courtship displays where a pair of birds will “perform spectacular rocking dives, then swoop back up in a large U-shaped loop”. They call while this display is going on too.
The kāhu “is a large, tawny-brown bird of prey that occurs throughout New Zealand”. As they age they get paler until they seem almost white. They are frequently seen scavenging for prey along highways and are unfortunately often hit by cars when they are too slow to take off from a carcase on the road. I’ve never understood why they don’t drag the carcase off the road before they start eating. I’m sure there are some species of birds that would be smart enough to figure that out. Maybe the kāhu is just not a strong enough flyer to do that.
They actively hunt as well as scavenge. The other birds at Travis are wary of the kāhu swooping down to take one of their chicks. It’s not uncommon to see them being chased by other birds, especially spur-winged plovers and magpies. Kāhu hunt ducks too and Grahame has told me tales of a kāhu working the ducks into a bay before swooping down to take one of the flock. They will also take rats, mice, rabbits and sometimes even new lambs.
The Kāhu is also known as a swamp harrier and a few of them live and breed at Travis. The nesting site is typically in the central part of the wetland on the western side of the central willows. They nest on the ground. Kāhu are sensitive to disturbance so they choose a location where few people go. “Incubation and brooding are undertaken by the female alone. Food is passed from male to female in dramatic aerial food-passes where the female turns upside down to take prey from the male.”
The source of much of this information and the quotations are from NZ Birds Online.
Article: Dave Evans, image: Grahame
Images from Grahame
