Welcome again to the Friends of Flora (FoF) newsletter with more news of our efforts to bring the birdsong back to the Flora.

Winter snows in retreat. For the third consecutive winter our monthly monitorings have been interrupted by heavy snow in the Flora. F and B Lines were under snow in July and heavy snow prevented access to any of our lines last weekend (August 23/24). However this week’s mild wet weather has washed most of the lower level snow away, DOC staff have cleared the road of windfalls through to Horseshoe Creek and monitoring will proceed this (August 30/31) weekend. The Antarctic blast also affected the kea survey, as Maryann Ewers reports….

Crafty kea. During the month of July some intrepid FoF members took part in the inaugural South Island Kea Survey. Unfortunately it would have to have been one of the worst months ever on Mt Arthur for snowstorms. FoF members were asked to spend 2 to 3 hours above the Mt Arthur hut every Saturday and Sunday of July. Some of these days the weather was atrocious, and alas, our Kea counts were very dismal. It didn't help that at times on these days, we were hearing them outside of the survey times and lower down. Or that other members of the public were telling us of sighting/hearing kea at the car park below! We do know that most areas of the South Island were sharing our weather also. The results of this first South Island kea survey aren't available as yet. We are sure the ski fields will have higher counts than us, as these smart birds know where they can pick up some food!

All the way with GSK. DOC and FoF are moving ahead with planning the re-establishment of the great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii/roroa or GSK for short) to the Flora. Options under discussion are the translocation of adult birds from a suitable source or an “operation nest egg” approach of harvesting wild eggs and releasing captive-raised juveniles into the Flora. Since we have managed to suppress stoat numbers in the Flora, it represents an ideal environment and a place where research focusing on arresting the decline of this magnificent bird can occur. Although current numbers are probably a fraction of those present a hundred years ago, North West Nelson still supports a population of between 10,000 to 13,000 roroa.

Roroa ambling around. (pics by Rod Morris, supplied by DOC)

Fuel for thought. With the price of fuel only a whisker below its peak of a few weeks ago, don’t let yourself be out of pocket if you drive up to the Flora to volunteer your time. Team leaders are able to provide MTA fuel vouchers with only a minimum of prompting.

Seedfall funnels Another “early warning” device to predict beech masting years – which inevitably lead to an explosion of pest numbers – is about to be installed in the Flora. A line of 8 giant plastic funnels will be installed in a pure mountain beech tract to collect seed. Seed falls into funnels and is collected in attached knee-high stockings (which might lead to a temporary shortage of this product in Motueka) at regular intervals and sorted and weighed. This data is analysed along with that of the other early warning device – our footprint tracking tunnels.

Monthly pest parade Totals for June/July 2008:

Stoats: 5 (total 485 since Feb 2002),
Rats: 16 (total 1674),
Mice: 2 (total 830)
Possums: 2 (total 376 since June 2004).

Broadly similar totals to those of July 2007 – 3 stoats, 33 rats, 4 mice and 9 possums.

That’s all for this issue. Remember, be safe in the bush - always take extra warm clothing and wet weather gear, at any time of the year.

Ivan Rogers, FoF committee