Welcome to issue 52 for Spring 2009, bringing you the latest news of the Friends of Flora's (FoF) work in the Flora Stream area of Kahurangi National Park

Fit FoF-ers Wanted. A time frame has been set for the marking and trap box placements on our new lines in Deep Creek. The traps will be helicoptered up onto the Cobb Ridge at several locations and the whole operation should take a day or two. The week starting September 21 has been pencilled in but the actual days will be weather dependent. Fit FoF-ers will be needed. If you can help, please contact Bill Rooke or (03) 528 9054 closer to the time.

Early birds. After another hard winter, Spring seems to have sprung a few weeks earlier this year with one of the handful of Flora female whio, Rain, already on the nest. While it is not clear if she is still laying or has started incubation, the first Flora ducklings of the season should now be just a few weeks away. Other female whio in the nearby Baton and Pearse Rivers are also already either nesting or gravid.

Calling Kea Counters. The Kea Conservation Trust has asked FOF if we could keep records of kea sightings in the Mt Arthur area. We do have some records but would like any observations whether on a FoF or a private trip. Report any sightings to Bill Rooke, noting the location - we would like the number of birds seen and whether they are adults or sub-adults. See the chart below DOC's Josh Kemp says: "new fledglings have brand spanking plumage, bright yellow ceres and eyelids, pale feet, and an obviously glowing pale crown. They're also a bit dopey, especially for the first few weeks. They can't squawk properly either - just wobbly wails come out. They may also beg and be fed by an adult. Begging involves hunching over, dropping of wings down to the side, and fluffing up of feathers. Feeding involves locking of beaks and vigorous shaking as food is regurgitated. Adult females sometimes beg a lot too, but older juveniles do not."

Culinary Corner. "Let not those who are unacquainted with the bush imagine that explorers are not, in their way, epicures. True, they must occasionally content themselves with a slender meal, but that may be of sowthistle or a zoophyte, and miko or fern root they must substtitute for bread; but more frequently they dine off pigeon, off grey and blue duck, off eel and crayfish, or, queen of wild fowl, woodhen. When can blue duck taste savoury as when served on the top of an oilskin cap? Or how else can an eel be cooked to equal its flavour when roasted on a supplejack? And weka, uncared for in the settlements! Catch it, as Mrs Glass would say, at Rotoiti or Cape Foulwind; stuff it with sage and onion(for even these condiments accompany the epicurean explorer), roast it on a stick, watch it for half an hour at daybreak, spattering and hissing between you and the fire as you make the damper or pancake, while your companions are snoring under thir blankets around you, and then serve it upon the saucepan lid. No dish at Very's was ever more recherche, no Christmas dinner ever gave more satisfaction" wrote Charles Heaphy the century before last.

Who needs a mast anyway? Asks FoF's Chris Potter… You may remember reading about the exercise we carried out during the beech seeding period this autumn (“How many Kneehighs make a Mast?”) to establish whether this was a heavy seeding year, resulting in rapid increases in mice, rats and stoats. We now have the results, and the news is all good. The contents of the Kneehighs were duly dried and sent to Jenny Ladley of the University of Canterbury, along with similar samples from all over the South Island. To our great relief the beeches in the Flora are apparently enjoying an average seeding year, and with the on-going diligence of our dedicated volunteers we should be able to stay on top of the little pests. Many other sites measured were not so lucky and strangely enough the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary in Nelson is one of them, with major increases in pest kills already reported.

Pest Parade The June/July 2009 trap catch was very low, partly due to a number of our lines being inaccessible due to snow.:
Stoats –just one (total 533 since Feb 2002)
Rats – 9 – (total 1813)
Mice – none (total 850)
Possums – 6 (total 425 since June 2004)

That’s it for this edition. Remember, monitoring is the last two weekends of each month. Keep your wits about you in the bush and on the tops and make sure you take enough warm and waterproof clothing.

Ivan Rogers
FoF committee