Dear Friends of Flora (FoF) and supporters, here is our email newsletter No.8 (August 2004) sent to inform you of our efforts to bring the birdlife back to the Flora.

Operation Nest Egg. The four remaining whio (3 females, 1 male) have been recovered and returned to Peacock Springs in Christchurch to recover lost condition. DoC has done an investigation of invertebrate food sources in the Flora and the nearby Rolling and Pearse Rivers and found that the high altitude Flora Stream is somewhat lower in whio food than the other, lower, rivers. Egg harvesting and captive rearing of whio will continue, while in the shorter term one of the two captive raised females will be returned to the confluence of the Balloon and Flora streams to join a wild male there and another female will be introduced into the Rolling River to join a second wild male. The remaining 2 whio will remain at Peacock Springs to see if they are compatible and can be used as a captive breeding pair.

Varmint report. Totals for July were a modest 3 stoats, 11 rats, 3 mice and 13 possums, bringing our total pest kill since Feb 2002 to:

Stoats:172 Rats: 315 Mice: 464 Possums: 22

plus odds and sods - wasp nests, weasels, cats etc. Note the increase in possum kills over the past two months, reflecting our new responsibility to set and bait 'Sentinel' possum traps on lines other than 'I' line. Work continues to make these traps less of an ordeal to set and bait.

Beech masting. Chris, Bill and Maryann attended a recent lecture on beech masting to gather the latest information on this phenomenon. Masting, or mass seeding, of Nothofagus beech species occurs sporadically (sometimes twice a year, sometimes only once every few years) with the accompanying increase in food supply inevitably resulting in a population explosion of rodents, then stoats and then, of course, a rapid decline in bird life. It can now be predicted, however, if temperatures are above average in the preceeding March/April. Forewarned is forearmed!

That's all for August. We'll be in touch next month.

Ivan Rogers FoF Committee