Growing our knowledge of native plants
We had a very special monthly meeting last night as John Barkla shared many interesting insights into our native plants. He explained that many New Zealand plant species have grown into giants. For example we have tree-sized daisies, which are unheard of in the Northern Hemisphere! We also have several single-sex flowering plants, and therefore we need separate male and female trees (or tree parts) for the plants to produce offspring.
John also took us through a variety of unique and interesting ecosystems we have in New Zealand, which are below the tree line. Despite being inhospitable to trees, these landscapes have a variety of interesting endemic plants living in them. Many of these plant species are threatened.
Finally, we heard how we can keep track of the living things we have here in Kaikorai Valley. Using the iNaturalist app, we can all play our part to capture what we see. This can be useful for learning about the special and unique plants we have, but also where our invasive or weed species are. It can also alert us to any incursions of species forming a biosecurity risk.
Anyone can use iNaturalist and we encourage you to use it. It's lots of fun and is a great way to learn new species! We now have a special Aroha Kaikorai Valley project where we can see the records people have made, and learn about the living things we have in our catchment.
Earlier in the meeting we had our inspiring conservationist segment presented by Fiona Strachan. She gave an interesting talk about Graeme Loh and his work to construct a predator proof fence on the cliffs above St Clair. This was done because in the early 90s, Graeme was on a boat and noticed one of our smallest seabirds, the fairy prion, nesting on the precarious sandstone cliffs. Graeme's work is inspiring because he noticed an issue and was able to do something about it and make a positive difference.
Our bird of the month is the Swamp Harrier | Kāhu. James Leask took us through many fascinating features about this bird, and how to tell it apart from the similar-looking NZ Falcon | Kārearea. We learnt that it is native, but is also native to Austalia and the Pacific. While the kāhu is not endangered, James challenged us to think about how we view our plentiful native birds. We shouldn't wait until they're endangered before we care. He suggested we adopt a slogan "keep Kāhu common"!
Beth ran through a few notices, including the introduction of a new feature - bait of the month. Our first 'bait of the month' is egg. We're going to be using eggs in our DOC200 traps, so please let us know if you, or anyone you know can donate fresh eggs for our traps.
Our next monthly meeting is on Thursday 12 November when we will welcome James Crofts-Bennett who will speak to us about his research on spiders.
Thank you to John, Fiona, James, Beth, Cody, Harri, and Barb who all helped to run the meeting, and to everyone who came along.
