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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.

The Leigh Harbour Valley Society is delighted to be included in the publication, Paradise Saved, due for release on Friday, 15 August.

Thanks to Jo Evans who recently carried out 5 hours of weeding and planting along the concrete driveway.

Our next working bee is on Sunday 24 August.  We will be meeting at 214 Pakiri Rd, Leigh at 9.30am.

A BBQ lunch will be provided.

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.

I am somewhat behind with updating the website due to being busy with family weddings and work related projects since mid January.
Chris, Anita and I managed do 4 hours weeding of the Trees for Survival plants on Mrs Wainwright’s property on 7 and 9 January, nice and early before it became two hot.  The plants are doing extremely well.  Further weeding was carried out on our property and McMullins where the plants are now well established.  We plan to organise a further weeding session within the next few weeks and will be putting together a timetable of forthcoming events.  High on the list is a repeat of our very successful Big Weed Day out.

Arthur and Trish have also been busy maintaining the catchment area planted on Pakiri Rd; weeding and spot spraying as well as removing jasmine, New Guinean impatiens, honey suckle and one unknown weed from the edge of the established bush.

Thanks to Jo Evans, another plant has been identified as being a real threat to the bush.  The Biosecurity Services representatives identified the plant as Queen of the Night.  Jo has noticed it is spreading fast and spent the whole of Sunday 16 December working on clearing this plant from the uphill side of the path at the bottom of Tenetahi Rd.  He said he will tackle the other side shortly.  Jo  found the following on Wikipedia…..
“In Auckland New Zealand, it has been reported as a seriously invasive weed to the Auckland Regional Council and is under investigation. NS Forest and Bird is compiling an inventory of wild cestrum sites in order to place the plant on the banned list. The inventory can be viewed via Google Maps. Some nurseries still sell it without warning customers of the dangers to native bush reserves. It has been reported that the plant has been removed from some old folks’ homes due to the strong scent causing difficulties for the residents.”

Thanks, Jo, for your dedication to our project.