Stoat in trap

Chris and I spent Sunday morning, 12/10/14,  checking the stoat traps and refilling the bait stations.

We were amazed to find all the bait had been taken in 3 weeks and were delighted to add two more stoats to our tally – a total of 4 this year on our property.

Chris dealing with dead stoat

It is hard to know whether this is a credit to our stoat-catching skills or an indication of how many stoats exist in the valley.  However, we have increased our efforts in recent months and feel sure the bird chorus is louder.

The afternoon was spent weeding; in particular removing a large amount of asparagus fern which was becoming established along one section of the BNZ Track.  Cotoneaster was also targeted at the bottom of Mt Pleasant Drive, along with other weeds including pampas and wilding pines.

Nik and I met with Dave Galloway and Rebecca Kemp0 from Auckland Council who provided us with advice regarding weed and pest control and provided us with a variety of traps, including the temporary loan of a myna trap.  The preferred bait is apparently popcorn.  We had no success with our first attempt at trapping mynas but hope to be more successful with future trapping efforts.

In the afternoon we eco-sourced sedges and planted them along the stream edges along with some split flaxes.

We have added one more stoat to our tally (rather hard to identify in this photograph).

The wetland area behind the Brown Cottage had been sprayed in preparation for planting earlier on in the year.  Due to limited rain, planting was postponed and then our attentions were focused on other pr0jects.  Nik and I set to work clearing the area by hand/spade, splitting sedges and flaxes and eco-sourcing plants from our property.

The main established weeds were Deadly Nightshade and Queen of the Night and follow-up work will be needed.  Jasmine is also starting to re-sprout along the concrete driveway.

Nik met with Dave Wilson from DoC and took him on a walk through the valley.  Dave was able to provide some helpful information regarding pest plants.

Despite a stormy start to the day, 8 volunteers braved the elements and ventured down the muddy paddocks towards the border of the TFS planting site on Mike and Fiona Francis’ property.  The first hour was spent digging and splitting flaxes; not an easy task with such well established plants.  Anita spotted a large number of cabbage tree seedlings under one of the apple trees in the orchard and some of them were dug up and transplanted.  By 1.00pm we had filled most of the gaps.  Mike will be keeping a close eye on the local pukeko population in the hope they won’t pull up any more plants.  It was a most enjoyable morning with lots of laughter and very changeable weather – including sunshine and a brief hail storm!  Mike’s special hamburgers went down a treat after the morning’s efforts.

Thanks to our volunteers Neil and Cheryl Sutherland, Richard Taylor, Niklas, Anita and to Mike and Fiona for a most enjoyable working bee.

That afternoon, Nik and I planned to plant an area at the bottom of Mt Pleasant Drive but unfortunately our spraying efforts three weeks earlier had been unsuccessful and the area will need to be resprayed.  We met with members of the Auckland Council to discuss the best plan of action.  6 large cabbage trees and 8 flaxes were transplanted.

On Thursday, 25 April, Arthur Gundy and 2 contractors, cleared all the transcantia from around the waterfall area at the top of the catchment area.  On Sunday 27 April Arthur, Jo Evans, Nola Harvey and I spent 3 hours clearing weeds further downstream.

Another successful weeding day was held on Sunday, 29 June on Julie Turner’s property.  Our new neighbours Mike and Francis attended, along with Sue Gibbings, Jo Evans, Richard Taylor and Arthur Gundy.  Further planting will be necessary once the kikuya has been sprayed.

Before weeding 29/6/14

While the turn-out of volunteers wasn’t that great, we had a very worthwhile weeding effort with the guys from Biosecurity Services on Sunday, 23 March and worked for 3 ½ hours clearing a number of weeds from the wetland area behind the brown cottage.

Thanks to Neil and Cheryl Sutherland for all their hard work.  Neil and Cheryl have been waging a war against weeds in Leigh for a number of years and are the founders of the Leigh Coastal Care group.   It is thank to their efforts the coastal walkway is maintained on a regular basis.  Their main focus has been controlling moth plant which they are able to spot a mile away.  They have a wonderful community spirit.

Thanks to Nola Harvey who attended for the first time.  John Harvey understandably decided to stay behind after a couple of nasty encounters with wasps although we hope to see him in the bush in the not too distant future, heavily clad in protective gear!  Thanks also to Chris Erikson and Pete Watkinson. 

We look forward to some wet weather so we can start planting the areas we have cleared.

Chris and I spent 2 hours spraying and weeding the remaining TFS plants.

Unfortunately approximately 100 plants on the north eastern corner of the wetland area have not survived (or disappeared).

This particular area was quite boggy when planting took place on 29 September and the majority of plants were very small.

It is possible they failed the Pukeko pull test.  While there were a few dead plants, the others appeared to have disappeared, with only the stakes remaining.