Hi Everyone. Nick here.

It has been a real pleasure dealing with Peter Reimann from the Trelissick Park Group. He has kept me updated with all the work he and his wonderful team continue to do. I had been informed at the start of our Halo project by a dear friend that this passionate group were leaders in conservation work in Wellington, and the blog below is another great indicator of that. Great job everybody!

Website: www.trelissickpark.org.nz

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrelissickParkGroup

Trelissick Park Group – Mid-July 2013

Planting continues throughout the Park – the total for the year now stands at 1,525.

We have had a donation of a kowhai tree.  The young guy duly turned up with a 150 mm tall tree in a wooden box.  It had come from the funeral director officiating at his father’s funeral.  The tree was immaculate, as was the box.  So it is now planted in a hopefully frost/rabbit-free area on the verge of Trelissick Crescent.  150 mm is too normally too small for planting, but we can easily keep an eye on it there.

The rabbits have chewed some plants at one of our recently planted sites.  So the rabbit-chewed plants have been up-rooted and replaced with unpalatable plants.  The removed plants are now undergoing hospital treatment at the home nursery.  Protection has been put around the koromiko, cabbage tree and wharangi.  The blighters must have devised a method of bending over the plant to get to the upper leaves of the tall and spindly wharangi.

Peter Reimann recently took a visitor around the Park, who has degrees in ecology/biodiversity and geography.  He is interested in alternative methods of restoration.  So he looked at some of the many places where plants are coming up of their own accord.  He is also interested in cooperation between groups, so he has now got the comprehensive report that the City Council did on Project Kaiwharawhara in 2007 (cooperative efforts of various restoration groups in the catchment).  Citing clusters of kahikatea on the west coast of the South Island, our visitor thought a cluster of kahikatea would go well in a couple of places – perhaps a destination for some of the 250 in the home nursery that will be ready to plant next year.

Barry the Volunteer in heaven