Walking through the orchard different coloured items in nature were discovered – the yellow flowers and yellow possum trap, pink flowers with a bumble bee, red poppy flowers, brown soil, grey clouds above us and lots of green everywhere! We followed the signs to the education centre and then noticed all the signs around the pond track, some marking trees and others marking different tracks. There was a tadpole and bugs in the pond nets and a leaf veined slug, slaters and a weta in the bug hotel. We saw the multi-coloured fuchsia flower with blue, yellow, pinky purple and green – just beautiful. We felt the prickly, smooth, rough, and hedgehog like plants and parts of plants. We saw Donna the nursery duck with 3 fluffy ducklings – 2 black and 1 yellow – very cute! We used our sense of smell all morning – bay leaves, fennel, tarata/lemonwood, stinkwood – with some smelling nice and others not so nice! We heard birds, cabbage tree leaves rattling, the wind and each other. A run around the maze, a break for morning tea, puzzle time and some potting up of kowhai seedlings all happened before the rain hit!
Bronwyn
Posted: 18 November 2019
A class of years 1 &2s from Donovan School spent the day at the Southland Community Nursery engaging their senses in the natural world. In the orchard and edible gardens areas we used touch to feel the different textures of leaves, bark and flowers of different plants, and the icky food waste being recycled by the worms; smelling the different flowers and leaves, and the worm farm; listening to the birds, wind and fellow classmates; and seeing all that was around us.
The pest traps started questions galore and we were impressed by the curiosity communicated. In the plant nursery the number of plants produced every year was guessed very quickly and where all these plants go to was thoughtfully pondered. Both the pond and bush tracks were explored while searching for native tree leaves and flowers, and we learnt the names of many trees. Damsel fly larva and water boatmen were netted from the pond.
After refuelling with lunch and a run in the paddock maze we looked even closer at our collection of leaves and other plant parts from the ngahere, becoming botanists (scientists that study plants) drawing and writing about the plants, and potting up seedlings ready to grow. Puzzle fun and books, a look at the pests we trap for and singing “oh no Mr Possum” completed a fantastic day with a great class of learners. Donovan - you rocked!!
Bronwyn and Chris
Posted: 15 November 2019
Again the weather looked dubious for this years’ Eco Fun Day, but in the end the rain stayed away and we had 19 children and their family members having a blast of a time at the Southland Community Nursery and at the Bushy Point Restoration Area. We identified animal pests and looked at what pest control is happening through the Otatara Pestbusters. Insects from the forest and ponds, along with tadpoles were observed, leaves were matched, unnatural things were spotted in the ngahere, and NZ native plants were planted and measured adding to the “Forest in the Making” at Bushy Point. Measuring some of the trees first planted back in 2015 at our first Eco Fun Day is getting difficult – as the trees are so high up! We enjoyed being outside on a lovely day. Big thanks to all who helped.
Eco-Fun day is organised by Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC www.kcc.org.nz), Otatara Landcare Group (www.otataralandcare.org.nz) and the Southland Community Nursery (www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz).
Bushy Point Restoration Area is a great place to visit. Public access is off Bryson Road. Check out https://www.otataralandcare.org.nz/bushy-point-restoration/
Bronwyn
Posted: 11 November 2019
On Sunday 3rd November 2019 we hosted a get-together of Southland QEII Covenantors at our property. The afternoon was organised by one of Southland’s two QEII Reps Jesse Bythell and assisted by Mark Sutton. New CEO Dan Coup and staff from QEII Office in Wellington were here as well as Board Members - Chair James Guild and Donna Field. Southland put on a gorgeous sunny day and the Education Centre provided a much welcome shady place for sitting, chatting and eating!
After short speeches from Jesse, Dan and Chris and Brian there were a number of activities arranged as well as lots of mingling and networking over food. Bronwyn showed people the Education Centre and talked about the types of activities we do with schools, Chris and Linda showed people the Nursery – and discussed eco-sourcing, seed collecting and growing native plants, Brian and Jesse led a walk around the covenant, ponds and bush, Dallas (Otatara Pestbusters) had an animal pestbuster table, Rachel (Environment Southland) had a weeds information table. National Office staff were on hand to help out and talk to people about their roles at the QEII National Trust and learn about covenantors stories. Read all about the day on the QEII website - https://qeiinationaltrust.org.nz/sunnysouthland
For those reading who don’t know anything about the QEII National Trust, it is a non-governmental organisation where private landowners have a legal mechanism for protecting their special natural area, in perpetuity, whilst still retaining ownership of it. You can read all about the Trust at https://qeiinationaltrust.org.nz
Covenants are registered right across New Zealand (at last count 5304 of them) and are very varied in vegetation type and of different sizes – some in farmland, some rural and some urban. Some are open to the public permanently and some, like our own, open by prior arrangement. All have their own important stories. Our own covenant protecting kahikatea swamp forest and restoration area was registered in 1999 and some background around the why, and what has happened since, is contained in a recent article https://predatorfreenz.org/rance-southland-couple-children-learn-about-nature/
Thanks to Jesse for all her organisation and enthusiasm and to all who attended.
Chris Rance
Posted: 6 November 2019
Thanks to a very generous donation we have had photographer Jason Hosking down from Auckland for a month to do some wildlife filming for us. The intention is to have amazing movie snippets of local birds, plants, insects and other wildlife to show schoolchildren and then to be able to tell the stories about the amazing wildlife we have in our own backyards. Thanks also to Ian and Jenny Gamble for their hospitailty and for the opportunity for Jason to film on their wonderful property as well as ours.
Jason is well known for his still photography, he was named Grand Prize Winner at the 2015 NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year Awards. Random House has this to say about Jason – “World renowned Kiwi photographer Jason Hosking has won the landscape category of the New Zealand Photographer of the Year Award with his stunning photograph of an ice cave. Jason is also the photographer of the stunning book Wild About New Zealand by Gus Roxburgh”. See more of Jasons work at https://www.jasonhosking.com/
More recently Jason has turned his attention to movie making and he recently presented the film “Fools and Dreamers” https://happenfilms.com/fools-and-dreamers to a Southland audience at Centre Stage. Jason took the drone footage for the film.
We are incredibly lucky to be able to have Jason here filming and I was privileged to accompany him as he showed his immense patience and got some incredible footage in some of Southland’s worst weather! Now Jason is back home in Auckland and the laborious task of editing the footage begins! We look forward to seeing the results – no pressure Jason!
Chris
Posted: 29 October 2019
