Whitebait Connection water quality testing

During the Easter holidays, the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust held their annual wånanga at Omaha (Te Kiri) marae. As part of the national coordinator training, which is held for the two days prior to the public event, coordinators from the Whitebait Connection arm of the trust visited the Leigh stream to practice macroinvertebrate identification and taking water freshwater quality measurements.

Whitebait Connection water quality testing

Jo Evans and Susan Gibbings kindly showed the team of approx. 15 coordinators down to the stream. Everyone was fascinated to hear what work the community is undertaking in the area to help combat pest species and restore the Leigh Valley.

Whitebait Connection water quality testing

Once down at the stream, coordinators practiced using the Whitebait Connection water quality testing kit. Results indicated that the stream had good water quality on the day of survey. Everyone then had a go with the sweep nets, collecting macroinvertebrates from the stream for identification. The stream has an impressive selection of macroinvertebrate species, most which indicate good water quality and in-stream habitat. The results from this survey can be seen in the table below.

Whitebait Connection water quality testing survey results April 2017

The remainder of the wånanga was a huge success, with 60 people from all over the country coming together to discuss and listen to talks on Citizen Science in marine and freshwater action and conservation. Thank you so much Jo and Sue for showing us the stream and keep up the good work Leigh Harbour Valley Society! You live in a truly magical location and it was a pleasure to explore and discover the area with our team and visitors.

There haven’t been as many posts lately, partly due to the extra security measures needed to update the website after we were hacked last year and also because we have held fewer working bees.  However, we are continuing the chip away at the project.  Cam has been visiting the area at regular intervals and controlling weeds and pests in the valley and surrounding area and individuals are working on various parts of the project.

After cancelling several working bees due to wet and stormy conditions, the weather was finally on our side on Sunday, 7 May when we held a community working bee; the first such event in over 18 months.  13 volunteers, mostly members of the Leigh Harbour Valley Society as well as Leigh residents and co-ordinators of the Leigh Coastal Care group, Neil and Cheryl Sutherland and George Knightly, assisted with clearing elephant ear along with other weeds on the harbour foreshore.  Jo Evans loaded up his ute and took the cuttings to the dump. Chris chopped down several small wilding pines along the coastal walkway.  John and Nola Harvey joined me upstream where we weeded around the sedges and manuka planted last year.  We were disappointed to find the severed head of what was a large eel by the side of the stream.  It had clearly been decapitated with a knife rather than gnawed off suggesting someone rather than something had attacked it.