On Friday 3 and Saturday 4 October, we had a very productive couple of days when Florence Nathan contributed an impressive 10 hours of voluntary restoration work as part of the William Pike Challenge.
On Friday afternoon, Florence spent two hours checking and rebaiting traps along Mt Pleasant Drive and Cape Rodney Road. Only one rat had been caught in a DOC200.
Saturday was a full and busy day. Florence helped establish new bait and trap lines, checking and rebaiting the Valhalla bait stations and setting up rat boxes with T-Rex traps in five new locations. Traps and bait stations were also distributed around a new property to extend existing trap lines, and Florence helped prepare traps and stations for placement on another site.
In the afternoon, Florence spent three and a half hours clearing Japanese honeysuckle along Mt Pleasant Drive; in the process saving several established trees that were being strangled by this invasive vine. She then planted a dozen ti kouka (cabbage trees). To finish the day, she was introduced to a local weed hotspot and learned to identify numerous pest plants.
Florence proved to be an enthusiastic, capable, and hardworking volunteer and a great trapping and weeding companion. She probably would have continued until dusk if she hadn’t been encouraged to stop. The best news is that she loved the trapping and weeding work and is keen to volunteer again.
