Glenrose Pippins came to visit on the evening of 26 November 2018. Studying their Wildlife badge they were keen to learn about an endangered animal and what we can do to protect it, go bird watching and find out what animals live in our neighbourhood and help out at the Nursery.
On the way from the orchard to the Nursery we saw a tui, two piwakawaka (fantail) and two kereru (native pigeon). At the Nature Centre we looked at endangered birds, birds that live in the wetland (harrier, white faced heron, shag, kindfisher and ducks) and highlighted our local favourite endangered bird, the fernbird – a secretive wetland bird that nests near the ground and are threatened by loss of their wetland habitat. Luckily we have our own created wetland they have made their home and are nesting in the absence of predators. At the pond we fed Donna the duck and saw swallows and wild mallard ducks. At the pond Liam pulled the nets out of the pond and transferred the koura (freshwater crayfish) in it to a tank so we all got a good look. The group then helped out in the nursery by potting up 60 makomako (wineberry) seedlings into small pots. It was a very productive and interesting evening – thanks Rachel and Glenrose Pippins!
Chris
Posted: 26 November 2018
Robyn Gamble brought a group of Busy Bodies to the nursery on Thursday 22 November and I am pleased to say the weather had much improved. We had a leisurely walk through the orchard and veggie gardens and then explored the worm farm made out of an old bath. The children marvelled at these little recyclers chomping their way through the veggie scraps, and had fun gently holding them. After putting them back into the dark we went straight down to the pond area – Donna the resident duck was there, and we looked at the pondlife that had been caught in the trap. The smell from the cabbage tree flowers was very strong and tui’s were taking nectar from the flax flowers. In the Nature Centre the children enjoyed the wetland tunnel and learning about insects by doing the big butterfly and weta jigsaws
Chris
Posted: 26 November 2018
“We’ll be coming rain or shine” said Wendy McLachlan head teacher of Lindisfarne Kindergarten. So we knew they would be well prepared for the Southland weather on Tuesday – and it was indeed cold, wet and wild! But after walking through the orchard, exploring the Nature Centre and having morning tea we all headed out to do a scavenger hunt around the pond using our senses – eyes, touch, hearing and smell. We were also lucky that at the pond there were some interesting critters caught in the nets – dragonfly larvae, backswimmers, beetles and koura to name a few. We took the pond creatures back to the Nature Centre for a closer look and did some of the big floor jigsaws as well as more exploring in the wetland tunnel and a kiwi song with actions. The group closed by singing a lovely Waiata to Bronwyn and Chris.
Chris
Posted: 26 November 2018
Windsor Brownies visited the Southland Community Nursery to learn about insects, gardening and birds. A quick look at the orchard and the vegetable gardens and the associated companion planting, talking about the importance of bees and other insect pollinators was followed by the ‘ooohs’ and ‘yucks’ looking at the worms in the worm farm. What a great job the worms do to help us with our gardening though! We then potted up some coriander seedlings and talked about what kind of plants can be planted in a garden, what some of the plants are that the girls plant at home (if any) and what care is needed for growing plants.
Bronwyn
Posted: 26 November 2018
We did have doubts about holding the Eco-Fun day on the morning we were setting up. But, a lot of work and publicity goes into the organising so we went ahead regardless of the awful weather forecast! Setting up in the morning saw Geoff and Cathy get caught in squally rain but after that things improved. A hardy group of 11 children, their 12 adults and our 9 helpers made for a happy fun-filled afternoon. Activities included identifying animal pests and insects (in the Education Centre!), pond dipping (for critters), boat-building from natural materials, scavenger hunt and plant bingo, planting and measuring a native tree (some previous plants are now over 2 metres tall!) and generally enjoying being outside on a day of very wild weather! Thanks to all who helped and all who came along.
Chris and Bronwyn
Posted: 8 November 2018
