It was a busman’s holiday (or rather a bushwoman’s one) for Penny Erikson during her recent stay in Leigh.
Penny is a member of a Sydney bush restoration group and carries out weekly restoration work with a team of volunteers across North Sydney, the Inner West Greenway, and Strathfield.
While Penny and her team deal with a range of weeds not commonly seen in Leigh and the surrounding area, many familiar species are shared including climbing asparagus, madeira vine, and the infamous mothplant.
Our focus during these holidays was flowering mothplant, which is popping up everywhere. It is critical to remove vines while they are flowering, before seed pods form and the cycle begins again. With Penny’s help, we cleared at least 60 large vines and many hundreds of smaller ones, preventing the formation of literally thousands of pods.
On Saturday, 6 December, a group of 15 students and leaders from the St George’s youth group, joined the LHVS for a two-hour working bee near Tenetahi Road. After a brief educational session on the key weed species in the area, the group got to work, focusing primarily on clearing kahili ginger and climbing asparagus.
The weather was fabulous. After a BBQ lunch, the students were taken on a short trapping trip upstream, where they were able to see some of the trap boxes they had built. Another visit is planned in the New Year by the team co-ordinator, Evan Walters, together with students from Auckland Grammar.
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.
Back in February 2024, we were thrilled when Forest Bridge Trust detected a single long-tailed bat on a monitor placed along the edge of the bush on Mt Pleasant Drive. It was a small sign, but an exciting one, hinting that our precious native pekapeka might be living close by. Both the long-tailed bat and the lesser short-tailed bat are in danger of becoming extinct if more isn’t done to reverse their decline.
On Friday, 29 August, bat expert Freddie Hjelm paid us a visit, accompanied by Hawke – New Zealand’s very first bat detection dog. It was such a joy to see Hawke again. We feel we’ve developed a special bond with him after spending so much time together, including over the past two Christmases. Gentle by nature, Hawke is a delightful dog and perfectly suited to his detection role. This time, however, Hawke wasn’t working, and he looked rather put out when Freddie instructed him to hop back into the ute!
During his visit, Freddie took a short walk through the bush, pointing out lots of promising roosting sites. He also showed us a pekapeka that had sadly fallen victim to a cat – a stark reminder of the threats these fragile creatures face. It’s hard to believe such tiny animals have such an impressive wingspan. Freddie also shared a few tips on how to spot pekapeka at night, leaving us with fresh hope that they could be visiting the area more often than we realise.
Just over a week later, on Monday, 8 September, Freddie returned to Leigh. With assistance from Jo Evans and Sue Gibbings, he installed three bat detection monitors across the surrounding area. These devices will quietly record through the nights, and in a few weeks, Freddie will return to collect them and analyse the results.
We’re eagerly waiting to find out what they reveal. Even one more detection would be a huge encouragement for our efforts to create a safe home for these endangered creatures.
New Zealand’s first ‘bat dog’ RNZ Fredrik Hjelm is the handler for Hawke, New Zealand’s first dog trained to sniff out dead native bats in an effort to find out more about what has killed them. www.rnz.co.nz
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.
Something about the bullock track at the bottom of Tenetahi Rd seems to strike fear into the hearts of even our most seasoned volunteers. Maybe it’s the seemingly impenetrable jasmine, the long stretches of ivy, the thick vines of Japanese honeysuckle, the mountains of ginger, or the tangled strands of blue morning glory. There’s also another possible deterrent… the pungent smell of the native stinkhorn fungus, Aseroe rubra (anemone stinkhorn). One thing’s for sure: when a working bee on the Bullock Track is mentioned, people suddenly remember they have other plans!
On Sunday 29 June, two unsuspecting volunteers; Damian Moody and his son Marcus, ventured into this notorious piece of bush. They tackled the jasmine with sheer determination and removed Japanese honeysuckle, and moth plant vines as thick as your wrist. They also emptied ten weed bags of mulch in preparation for the next working bee. Marcus returned the following day and discovered a foul-smelling anemone stinkhorn fungus; the odour of which is described as resembling rotting meat or animal feces.
In total, volunteers (including Marcus and Damian) clocked up 15 hours of hard work on 29 and 30 June. Whether they knew what they were getting into is unclear, but their contribution has made a real difference.
We’re incredibly grateful for the help of all our volunteers who have worked hard to restore this special area of bush.
Marcus and Damian Moody
Stinkhorn Fungus
Streamside work and Tradescantia Beetles
Keith and Chris have continued to chip away at tradescantia along the stream edges. It’s interesting how the tradescantia beetle, a form of biological control, has become established in some areas but not others.
Heather Johnston-Lee from Pest Free Leigh asked if we would help her locate some tradescantia beetles, so we joined forces on a beetle hunt. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find any beetles but we did collect a bundle of chewed tradescantia leaves, including some that looked like they had eggs on them. While they didn’t look exactly like the eggs shown in a previous post, they will hopefully prove useful. We decided some investigation is needed into the habits and spread of this elusive little beetle, including the best time to harvest them.
