Today we left at 8am to
catch the ferry from Lyttelton Harbor to Quail Island. On the way to Lyttelton, we pass through a tunnel. A very long tunnel. Isabella (twice - once each direction) held
her breath through the entire tunnel - for 2 minutes and 28 seconds the first time (and way too long the
second time).
The windy start to the day was met with some intense spectating on the short boat ride to potentially spot a Hector’s Dolphin (unfortunately no one did). Once we arrived on Quail Island we meet more formally with Quail Island Conservation Trust Chair, Ian McLennan, who gave us a brief history of the island and the work being done there, as well as the volunteers who come out twice monthly.
The Quail Island Conservation Trust partners with the New Zealand Department of Conservation to manage the 85 hectare land by trapping invasive species of various mustelids, cats, and rodents, as well as planting native trees and grasses to attract native fauna back to the island; as of now, the trust has planted up to 90,000 trees! The island itself has been in use since 1850 when early settlers came in for farming, and then was used as a quarantine station in the 1870’s and eventually became a leper colony in the early 1900’s. In 1975, Quail Island became a recreation reserve that is now safe to the public and is a favorite summer destination for kiwis since the beaches are sheltered from the wind. The Monterrey Pine and Monterrey Cypress act as a shelter belt and remain in a few places on the island for historic reasons, while the native plants like Karamu, or Coprosma robusta, attract native birds like silvereye, bellbird, and the wood pigeon. The planting program that the trust follows is to help the forest spread since the non-native pasture grasses present on the island will not allow for it.
The windy start to the day was met with some intense spectating on the short boat ride to potentially spot a Hector’s Dolphin (unfortunately no one did). Once we arrived on Quail Island we meet more formally with Quail Island Conservation Trust Chair, Ian McLennan, who gave us a brief history of the island and the work being done there, as well as the volunteers who come out twice monthly.
The Quail Island Conservation Trust partners with the New Zealand Department of Conservation to manage the 85 hectare land by trapping invasive species of various mustelids, cats, and rodents, as well as planting native trees and grasses to attract native fauna back to the island; as of now, the trust has planted up to 90,000 trees! The island itself has been in use since 1850 when early settlers came in for farming, and then was used as a quarantine station in the 1870’s and eventually became a leper colony in the early 1900’s. In 1975, Quail Island became a recreation reserve that is now safe to the public and is a favorite summer destination for kiwis since the beaches are sheltered from the wind. The Monterrey Pine and Monterrey Cypress act as a shelter belt and remain in a few places on the island for historic reasons, while the native plants like Karamu, or Coprosma robusta, attract native birds like silvereye, bellbird, and the wood pigeon. The planting program that the trust follows is to help the forest spread since the non-native pasture grasses present on the island will not allow for it.
Our role in
helping the trust was in potting 338 starter plants of Silver Tussock. We used an
assembly line system to keep the process moving. The process was messy and
entertaining at the same time. After some growing, in about a year, our work
will be able to finally be transferred to a more permanent home in the ground! After our morning nursery work, we had lunch and
went on a hike around the island to reinforce our native NZ plant identifying
skills, and look for the Canterbury Gecko. As we walked we got to see views of places we have been around the Port Hills the past few weeks. The hike was around 4.5 km, and we
finished by walking along the beach near the site of the dog kennels once used
to train dogs for Antarctic expeditions. We left on the ferry after that, and
finished the day with a nice tea time at Dr. Hostetler’s favorite place in
Lyttelton – Coffee Culture.
Quail Island directory
No one can stop the machine
*Restoration intensifies*
Family picture with our new Silver Tussock babies
Quail Island has some pretty interesting cliff sides - this one was once climbed by Maori boys as a coming of age test to get eggs from the nesting birds
By next year our 338 starter plants will be in Combi-Guards like these shown here - they protect the native plants in them from weeds, wind, and browsing mammals
Canterbury Gecko
One of the many trade ships that became a victim of Quail
Island shores… "get shipwrekt"
Tupelo and Isabella, "mud sisters", walking out into the cold mud at the beach at low tide
-Camila
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