Welcome again to the Friends of Flora (FoF) newsletter for May 2007 and brings you the latest news on our efforts to bring the birdsong back to the Flora. And the mistletoe, too! Read on…

P Line finished “P” for Pyramid, that is. Our new trap line of 66 boxes stretches from the Mt Arthur ridge, through the Horseshoe Basin, over Gordon’s Pyramid and down into the bush to meet “H” Line. The boxes were laid out by a hardy bunch of volunteers – Bill Rooke, Maryann Ewers, Kieran Parish, Edward Hohepa, Wayne Wooton, Peter Adams, Ivan Rogers and Michael Douglas over three cold and windy days. P line will be baited this month and will probably lie under snow for much of the winter before being checked in Spring. This line forms the outer ring of defence against stoat incursion from the south. Thanks to the Lions Foundation for financing the project and DoC Motueka for organising and paying for the helicopter drop. Thanks also to Search and Rescue for returning a pair of mislaid wire cutters!

Michael Douglas of Motueka High School spent his Sunday lugging traps along P Line.

Fernbirds in the Flora! While lugging trap boxes along P Line Bill and Maryann heard the distinctive “plik plik” of a pair of fernbird/matata calling to each other. While these birds are present in many parts of Kahurangi, this pair in scrub about a km east of and below the Gordon’s Pyramid summit, are at the altitudinal limit for their species. Fernbirds are fairly inconspicuous birds, looking a bit like a cross between a fantail and a hedge sparrow with ragged tails that give them a characteristically untidy appearance. As they nest close to the ground, the adjacent trap line will give them a chance of hanging on in the scrub below the Pyramid.

Thanks MTC. A big thanks to the Motueka Tramping Club for their very generous donation of $250. MTC Secretary Mike Tooker wrote to say: ”at our recent AGM it was once again decided to support FoF by making a donation. We continue to be impressed by the results of your work”.

Mistletoe reintroduction. Before the end of May scarlet mistletoe (Peraxilla colensoi) seed will be sown onto silver beech on selected trees between Gridiron Creek and Upper Junction. Further sowing of the high altitude yellow mistletoe (Alepis flavida) will follow once seed is sourced. Propagation of these colourful parasitic shrubs has only been attempted in recent years. They are highly palatable to possums, so suppressing this pest in the Flora will give existing and newly propagated plants a chance to put on a showy display of flowers in coming years. The sticky seed is sown by directly placing fresh seed on pencil-thick branchlets of the host tree. The site of sowing is then marked by twist ties so progress can be monitored.

April pest stats. The pest kill for April 2007 was:
Stoats 7 (total 391 since February 2002)
Rats – 31 (total 1301)
Mice – 9 (total 795)
Possums – 9 (total 278 since June 2004)

…compared to the same month last year when we caught also caught 7 stoats, had a higher rodent catch of 50 rats and 25 mice and snared just 3 possums. No addition to the score for ‘minority’ pests (cats, weasels, ferrets)

The chart below shows the steady downward trend of summer stoat kills from those traps that have been longest in the field - I12 to I83.

Survival. With the two recent Search and Rescue operations in the Flora, it is timely to remind ourselves that sometimes things can go wrong in the bush. Some things to reduce risks include:
- Get the right information and map – don’t go to places beyond your ability.
- Take clothing suitable for the worst conditions you are likely to encounter.
- Check the forecast.
- Tell someone where you’re going and when you’re due back.
- Carry extra food and survival gear (space blanket, survival bag).
And if you do get injured or lost
- Keep warm by getting out of wind and rain; make a dry shelter.
- Drink water, but conserve food.
- Help searchers find you by visual signs – log arrows, cairns, place coloured gear visible from the air, make smoke if you can and make noise if you hear searchers. It’s best to stay put but if you have to move on make arrows etc so you can be followed.
And most of all – be determined to survive! The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council has a huge array of resources including downloadable pamphlets. www.mountainsafety.org.nz

News from Brooke. Long-time FoF-er and ex-Motueka High School student Brooke Connelly writes from her student flat in Christchurch:
“…went up to Cass in the Arthur’s Pass National Park…it was amazing and so beautiful. I saw a falcon and we counted lots of bellbirds to analyse if they allocate different amounts of time to different activities at certain times of the day. That meant getting up at 6.00 in the morning. We looked at species distribution up a hill and regeneration in a windthrow area. The species distribution was interesting because for the most part up this hill it was all mountain beech (Nothofagus solandri) and then there was a small band of red beech (N. fusca) about half way up the hill due to a temperature inversion layer…cool air pools at the bottom of the valley and warm air sits on top and allows the red beech to grow there…I found a hybrid of Aristotelia fruticosa – a divaricate form of the wineberry with small round leaves – and A. serrata, the wineberry. The hybrid had leaves that were serrated like A. serrata but only 3-4 cm long and 1-1.5cm wide and had a form that was a mix of the two and so it was a compact shrub…Saw some beautiful lowland forest with kahikatea and pokaka. I also saw a skink. It was just bathing in the sun by the field station… And just to sidetrack, when I was up in Kaikoura for summer school the research people at the field station found a gecko. It was the first gecko I had ever seen and it was absolutely amazing – it was so beautiful – nice and green with little grey stripes… that is kind of the exciting stuff”

That’s all for this month. Remember, monitoring weekends are the last two weekends of each month

Ivan Rogers FoF Committee