Today began at about 9am with a 50 minute drive to Purau Bank on the northern side of the Banks Peninsula. We started the day's activities at the home of our lovely host and landowner, Jo Ewing, and learned about the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust from covenant officer Marie Neal. Jo treated us to delicious homemade rosemary cookies, banana bread, and tea and coffee to get us kick-started for the day while we listened to Marie talk about the management plan we would be helping with for the rest of the day. The trust helps landowners, like Jo, create a sustainable management plan for their covenant land to protect native biodiversity with accurate land surveys and connecting them to ecologists and volunteers (like us) to carry out useful management techniques that will help make their land the best it can be for local species of fauna and flora. We also had an in depth safety session with Sophie, the volunteer coordinator for Banks Peninsula Trust, and learned about what plants to avoid, like the New Zealand Tree Nettle, and what to do in case of an earthquake or any other emergency. After that, it was out into the wilderness to help save some native trees like Kanaka and Kowhai from the grips of invasive vines and invasive Gorse, as well as mend some fences to stop stray sheep from overgrazing the covenant. We split up into teams and got serious work done before breaking for our first delicious lunch provided by Lincoln University. After lunch, we went in search of Gorse and found a massive area that needed to be destroyed to save native the flora, to which our whole team promptly finished within 30 minutes of aggressive weed-hacking. We finished the restoration by having a second tea time at Jo's house and learned more about the botanical artist and thanked her for her hospitality. We ended the day exploring the actual bay of Purau Bay, holding crabs, finding Abalone and sea glass, and birding until we went back to the Gator Waka. To which we promptly realized needed jumper cables to start, and got some more time on the beach before Meryl came to the rescue with a local named Rick that had jumper cables and a big strong truck (note: new battery now in Gatorwaka)! The Gator Waka came back to life and we made it back to the University in time for dinner :)
Some photos of the day:
Jo Ewing's beautiful home (and place of tea time with rosemary cookies)
The management plans by Banks Peninsula Trust, with information on maintaining Jo's property and making prime habitat for the Karearea (New Zealand Falcon), New Zealand Bellbird, New Zealand Fantail, and Miromiro (Tomtit), all favorites of Jo.
Plant specimen of the New Zealand Tree Nettle, or Ongaonga in Maori, which was everywhere and to be avoided. They are very good for the property, though, as they are native and are the favorite food and shelter choice of Red Admiral butterflies.
An illustration by Jo. After the 2010 earthquake in Christchurch, many people throughout the city and surrounding areas put flowers in traffic cones as a sort of memorial for the lives lost.
The ancient rain dance, "Fence" performed by Sophie. This helped us straighten out our chicken wire to keep out some greedy sheep from grazing on the covenant.
Lunch and free time after some hard work. If you look closely, you can see each person in their natural state (i.e. me, Camila Leon, frowning at not being able to I.D. a bird or Tupelo enjoying her fruit and talking to Meryl)
The before picture: SO MUCH GORSE! All of us went to town (especially Erika) on this invasive species.
The after picture: All our blood (not really), sweat and tears paid off, featuring a wild Anna inspecting out handiwork.
The home base for clusters of Gorse Spider Mites. Marie told us about how they were extensively tested before they were brought in as a potential biological control for the Gorse in New Zealand. They suck the plant dry, but not fast enough. According to Marie, they look like little balloons under a microscope.
Some interesting finds on the covenant. A sheep jaw, some natural rocks, and a couple of birds' nests. We also found a New Zealand Fantail nest later, and gifted it to Jo.
The gorgeous shore that was home to mud crabs, Pied Oystercatchers, Mallard and Mallard-Grey Duck Hybrids, and New Zealand Cushion Stars.
-Camila
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