Clearing blackberry ready for next winter’s planting

Clearing of weeds (mainly Blackberry) has been completed on the south facing gully slope at the back of Sexton Road. This is in preparation for planting this coming winter. In April (or earlier if we get good autumn rains) we will be sowing Rye Grass to stabilize the surface and help control other weed growth. The grass will eventually be shaded out as the canopy closes over above it.

Track to be constructed to service the planting area

There will be 2,000 plus plants to go in on the cleared area and maintenance to follow. To enable us to have easy access we are building a service track. This track branches off the existing through track that runs along the gully floor and will be no exit for the foreseeable future. We are preparing a funding application at present to purchase the timber, pit sand and single.

WETMAK photo point video

 Mangaiti Gully was the “on location “site for the filming of the WETMAK photo point video
(here’s the link: http://youtu.be/Qner_B-s1p0 ) which is one of a number of WETMAK monitoring kits available from the Landcare Trust website.
WETMAK is a resource designed by Landcare Trust aimed at community groups working on wetland restoration projects in New Zealand. This wetland monitoring and assessment kit is available on line at: https://www.landcare.org.nz/resource-item/wetmak

Water temperatures recorded

The water temperature of the stream is being taken under the canopy where the bridge goes across the stream at the southern end. The warmest it gets in summer  is 16°C  and drops to just below 8°C in winter.

Reeds into the pond

Sixty plus rhizomes of Eleocharis sphacelata have been planted in the south end of the pond. This particular reed is popular with Maori for weaving so it is the intention that, if we can get it established, it would be made available for community harvesting. The rhizomes were donated by a small block holder at Whatawhata from their farm pond.

Pest control update

Double click to enlarge photo

Possum count trapped
2012 calendar year 22
2013 calendar year to date 7, with only one month to go.

Tracking Tunnels
Cards were put out for one night in Oct. One had lots of mice prints, three had a trace of a mouse, and one had a hedgehog. NO RATS. That is great news. That is the second recording of no rats. The earlier one was done in July. We are still catching the odd rat and a bit of bait is still going but it looks as though we are catching them as soon as they move into our area.

Morepork / Ruru

Photo from the built in webcam

There have been interesting developments with the nest box. We first checked the nest box on the 9^th of October, nine weeks after it was installed and were very surprised to find two Ruru eggs but no sign of the parents. Nine days later we checked again and found the eggs in exactly the same spot with still no bird in attendance. The nest was considered abandoned so we took the eggs out a couple of days later. We blew them and found that the eggs were not fertile.  We have applied to DOC for a permit to have possession of eggs of a native species.

It is now four weeks later. We have not checked again to see if there is any more activity. A job we must do.