Our NZ native bees

Quick Facts: • We have 28 species of native bees in New Zealand. Of those, 27 are endemic – meaning they occur only in New Zealand • Our native bees largely fall into three families – Leioproctus, Lasioglossum, and Hylaeus • Females of the Leioproctus family (the largest family of the three) dig 20-30cm tunnels into the ground, into which they lay one egg, and feed the larvae with pollen and nectar foraged from surrounding flowers. • Lasioglossum bees are similar, although several females might share a nest hole. • The Hylaeus family nests in plant material – beetle holes, or hollow straws in dead flax stems • Non-aggressive and very rarely sting • Smaller than honey bees and generally black • Best identified by their nests - a cluster of small holes in the ground under bare, undisturbed soils. • Are important pollinators for our native flora such as mānuka, kānuka, hebe and pohutukawa but have also adapted to introduced flowers • For most species foraging range is limited (less than 100 m). Both these images are taken in Mangaiti Gully.

Eel feeding platform statistics

We found ourselves in a position where we had to invest in a CCTV camera at the eel feeding station to protect our infrastructure, our plantings around the site and the eels themselves. Sad, I know, but that is the reality of life where areas are opened up to the public these days. We can guarantee that your privacy will be protected with all files treated with the professionalism you would expect. We have noticed that the camera installation has already had a major deterrent on wayward behaviour. One of the positives is that we can now collect some really interesting data. Analysing the footage of a fine Saturday in January we recorded the following: • A total of 113 people (including children) were recorded • Visits were from 7.15am to 8.58pm • 94 were adults and 19 were children • 48 people spent time observing and / or feeding the eels, 12 of which were children • The longest time spent at the platform was 35 minute with 5 groups of visitors spending more than 20 minutes. • 13 walkers were walking their dogs • 3 were runners For our Trust to know that the infrastructure investment is being used to the extent it is, is a real positive for us.

Fire in the gully – again!

The ongoing fire lighting (arson) going on in the gully has been a worry for our Trust for some time. Three fires have involved a fire brigade call out and in another three the fires burnt themselves out. Late last year we commissioned the fire department to assess the risk and to advise on areas were the risk could be managed. The summer risk is high if a fire got away. A fire would devastate fifteen years of restoration work in our section of Mangaiti and there would be high risk to the surrounding houses and their properties. There is so much highly flammable material which is just the nature of the gully flora. Fire hose access would mainly be through peoples properties and there are monsoon buckets stored at Mystery Creek if needed. The recent fire at the back of the pond area by our depot is an example of this problem. In this case there is camera footage of the two lads from a neighbours security camera. This has been forwarded to the police and detectives are working to identify these “persons of interest.” Holding those to account will hopefully be a deterrent for them and others.

Waterways poster

This poster is available to purchase at https://www.waiti.nz . It is specially designed as an educational tool for schools. If you have a connection with a school, then perhaps you could consider discussing the poster with them with the view of donating one / or two. Our Trust will be discussing this it with Rototuna Primary School when they are back after their summer break. Click on the photo to enlarge and read.

A quick quote

Listener 21st Dec 2024 Editors notes; Quote from Roger Clark of Pirongia “I wish we would stop describing humankind’s pending extinction as the end of the world. The world will flourish when humans are gone”.

NZ praying mantis hatching out

In the urban area of Rototuna, Hamilton, the South African praying mantis species dominates. It is so dominant in fact, that our indigenous one is hardly seen, so it was with surprise and a great deal of satisfaction that our NZ species was observed hatching out down in Mangaiti Gully. This shows that our Gully system is being managed in such a way as to protect our native and indigenous species which is the outcome we are striving for.

Kingfisher nesting tree

The call of the kingfisher is heard throughout the gully at this time of the year. They have very particular nesting requirements, boring holes into either clay banks or rotten tree trunks. As clay banks are rare in the gully, rotten tree trunks are the prime source of nesting. It is therefore important that these are left standing and are not “tidied up” as a perceived eyesore. An old dead twisted willow with a known (by a gully neighbour) active kingfisher nesting hole was cut down recently by a contractor.