Admiral update – first release

Our red admiral breed and release programme is going from strength to strength. We have been working with the Moths & Butterflies of NZ Trust, based in Auckland. They have been extremely supportive supplying two lots of nettle plants with eggs and caterpillars on and loads of information. We are both feeling our way through how to manage a captive breeding programme. The nettle that we brought back from the King Country had a small number of eggs. They have since developed into butterflies and have been released. We are unsure at this stage whether the hatched butterflies are mating within the tunnel house and laying eggs. Everything slows down over the winter months but does not stop. The New Zealand admirals are quite a hardy species. The small video is of our first release and the photo shows the feeding station. Click on any photo on this blog to enlarge.

Whitebait – would you eat a kiwi?

Do you know that in New Zealand, there are many regulations around fishing – such as restriction of fishing hours for white baiting. Longfin and shortfin eels have commercial catch limits. However, no native freshwater fish is protected by commercial, sport fishing or government regulations – other than the extinct grayling. This is a shocking state of affairs. We have to get a permit to translocate our native mudfish not because the species has any protection but because DOC wish to control the movement of species, to ensure species that are unique to one area are not translocated to an area where they have never existed or could mix with a sub species. This does not go far enough. We need to move to give full protection to our fresh water fish species, all of which have declining populations, protection similar to that of our native birds.

Swamp Maire aerial roots

We have some outstanding specimens of swamp maire (Syzygium maire) that have been planted in our gully. The oldest would be about twenty years old. The one thing unique about these are their aerial roots which have evolved to handle the wet conditions they can grow in – see the photo. One tree growing close to the main track has looked poorly for a number of years. This track has had frequent weed spraying to keep it clear, so it is highly probable that spray has got onto the aerial roots and, with repeated spraying over time, is gradually killing the tree. Something anyone doing weed spraying should be aware of around the base of a swamp maire.

Rototuna Primary School embraces their name

Rototuna can be loosely translated to “the lake of eels.” The school has been very active in embracing the eel within their school identity by educating all the classes in the unique life cycle the eels have. This has been done in a number of ways. They negotiated with Hamilton City Council to get street art about eels painted on the path to the foot bridge. All classes have, or are, being taken down to the feeding spot in the gully to see the eels. They asked us to design a sign to be erected at the eel feeding spot that explains the life cycle of the eel. This sign will also help to protect the eels from poachers (fishing) which is always a risk, by educating the public how unique eels are and that they need protection. The sign has been made and the timber bought for the posts and frame, but it is yet to be installed.

Problem weeds in our city

Alligator weed, woolly nightshade, old man’s beard, moth plant. There are many weeds in our natural areas in Hamilton, but these are the ones to focus on because of their high reproductive rate. You should all be familiar with these weed species and not let any of them get to the flowering stage. In Mangaiti Gully the most prevalent is woolly nightshade (see photo). This is a fast growing shrub / small tree with broad furry leaves and has a strong obnoxious smell when handling the plant. The berry like pods house hundreds of seeds that are distributed by birds. Small groves of woolly nightshade can develop underneath where birds roost at night. Alligator weed is a notifiable weed. You should not attempt to control it yourself. Notify Waikato Regional Council. Good reference documents are: Weedbusters managing weeds and Waikato Regional Council pest plant identification

Epiphytes & orchids

We have been growing epiphytes and native orchids in our shade house for a number of years (see photo). They have all grown exceedingly well in this environment. Because of this, we have been reluctant to translocate then into trees within our gully, which will expose them to climatic variances they may not be able to cope with. Often these epiphytes grow high up in trees in bush areas heavy in mist and dew which is different to Mangaiti Gully. However, healthy epiphytes growing in a coastal location in an open farmland type landscape was recently observed at Tutukaka, north of Whangarei (see photo). This has encouraged us to move some out of the shade house. The challenge will be to find a suitable location as we do not have large canopy trees. From observation, they need to be in shade, or semi shade, sheltered from the full blast of the sun and ideally on the south face of any tree.

Healthy epiphytes growing in a coastal location

Black Mudfish translocation

An area in Mangaiti Gully has been identified as an ideal habitat for black mudfish (see map image). They do not live in flowing streams but inhabit slow moving small ponds, swamp and even bogs. In the past they have inhabited farm drains among other natural wetland areas, but due to drainage programmes habitat loss has become quite a problem, putting pressure on these quite remarkable little creatures. Their conservation status is “At Risk – Declining.” The thing of significance is their ability to survive dry periods by burying themselves down into mud (known as to aestivate in mud). They are not large rarely exceeding 90mm. We have done all the significant amount of paperwork which has been submitted to DOC to obtain a permit for this translocation. Once approved the next step will be to locate a source of the mudfish. This could well be challenging.