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Forest Geckos

We’ve had some exciting wildlife sightings recently on Mt Pleasant Drive. Two Forest Geckos have been spotted in different locations in less than a week. We managed to photograph one of them, although the other quickly disappeared into the foliage before we could get a picture.

According to ecologist Virginia Moreno from Forest Bridge Trust, this is very encouraging news. Despite their name, the Common Forest Gecko is actually rarely seen. Their excellent camouflage and secretive habits mean they can easily go unnoticed.

Virginia explained that these sightings suggest they are part of a healthy local population and that Forest Geckos also show strong site fidelity, so there is a good chance we may see them again in the same area if we keep looking. However, their camouflage makes them remarkably easy to miss.

For those interested in identification, Forest Geckos can often be distinguished from Pacific Geckos by their yellow (rather than pink) mouth colour and the series of ‘W’-shaped markings along their backs, rather than the more blotched pattern typical of Pacific Geckos.

As Chris Floyd from QEII National Trust commented, sightings like this are a wonderful reward for the many years of pest control work in the area. For small, vulnerable species such as geckos, it can take many years of sustained predator control before populations recover enough to become visible again.

It’s a great reminder that persistence pays off and that all the trapping and baiting carried out over the years is helping native wildlife quietly return.

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.

Thanks, Florence, for all your hard work!

It was a pleasure to recently meet Frances Dickinson, founder of the Te Kohuroa Rewilding Initiative . 

tekohuroarewilding.orghttps://www.tekohuroarewilding.org

Frances is a passionate environmentalist and has provided valuable advice to support our efforts to protect a magnificent, ancient kauri on a paper road, which is at risk due to the area being recently formed into a walkway.  We are very grateful for her wisdom and guidance.

On Sunday 17 and Monday 18 August, 12 volunteer hours were spent weeding and planting along the bullock track/Tenetahi Rd. Marcus Moody helped remove more jasmine, among other weeds, and to plant around 100 eco-sourced plants. The area is gradually taking shape, and we’re heartened that we might win this battle after all.

Leigh resident Martin Turner wasn’t deterred when asked if he’d be available to help with weeding along the notorious bullock track at the bottom of Tenetahi Road. Clearly, he hadn’t been put off by this ominous stretch of weeds.

On Sunday, 27 July, armed with enthusiasm and determination, Martin tackled the dreaded jasmine, pulling it out roots, nodes and all. The recent wet weather helped considerably, making removal easier than usual, and two large weed bags were filled with very little effort. In total, 5 1/2 volunteer hours were devoted to this task.

In addition to his help at working bees, Martin has also been kindly tending to the plants along the foreshore, including controlling kikuyu that was threatening to engulf the platform walkway.

A big thank Martin for your ongoing efforts.  We really appreciate your contribution.

Linda Beatson has a longstanding connection with Valhalla. She and her late mother were part of the original team who planted tea tree on the coastal and harbour side of the property. It’s a place of quiet reflection for Linda, and a favourite walking spot for her and her dog Chester who is obsessed with sniffing out rabbits.

Initially, Linda began letting us know about trap catches she noticed during her walks, saving other volunteers time and effort. More recently, she’s taken on an active trapping role herself, quickly mastering both the D-Rat traps and Flipping Timmys.

Linda is showing early signs of moth plant obsession. Some of us know the symptoms all too well – an uncontrollable urge to collect every pod in sight, a compulsion to uproot anything oozing that dreaded white sap, and in more severe cases, dreaming about attacking moth plant pods dangling from trees.

On Sunday 29 June, we set off for an afternoon of trapping.  Once the moth plant vines were spotted, it was hard to walk away. More time ended up being spent on moth plant control than on trapping. We returned again on 27 July. Chester was in his element; at times looking like he was leaping like a rabbit. Apart from pulling out the odd obvious moth plant vine, we tried hard to stay focused on the traps and not look up too often for fear of seeing pods in trees. Two rats were added to our tally.  Linda returned the next day removed a freshly caught mouse from a D-rat trap.  She is working towards mastering the DOC200’s and becoming a fully-fledged trapper.

Fifteen years ago, members of the Auckland Grammar School under 16 rowing team joined us to help with weeding and planting in one of our restoration areas. All these years later, we’re thrilled to have reconnected with the school.

This time, it’s been the school’s woodworking students, along with members of the St George’s Youth Group, Epsom, who have contributed to the Leigh Harbour Valley Society’s efforts. Together, they’ve built an impressive 98 rat trap tunnels which have been donated to our project. These new tunnels will allow us to extend several of our traplines across the project area.

The initiative was coordinated by Evan Walters, an Auckland Grammar old boy who is currently studying Engineering at the University of Auckland and working part-time at the school. Evan is also involved in a restoration project near Huntly.

We look forward to hosting some students for a tramp through the bush to see first-hand how their work is making a difference.

Sunday 15 May Р2 hours was spent splitting flaxes which had been donated by Sue Haigh  and planting them on the Carlyons property, along with some sedges.  The pratia angulata is looking very healthy, however, a number of weeds have become established within these plants and it was rather time-consuming digging them out.

On Thursday, 19 May and Friday 19 May, Cam spent several hours clearing weeds on the Harvey’s property (mainly chainsawing and pasting privet along the stream edges).¬† He said he had never seen such large privet trees.¬† The area has been opened up and will need to be planted as soon as possible before other weeds become established.