Spring and its cool

 Sunday 29th September 2024

We came over on Friday night. It was very cold with wind from the south west and a few light showers. We lit the fire as soon as we arrived and it made a big difference. 

On the way over we picked up 60 Makomako, Wineberry plants, from Stefan, our nephew. He is part of a family run nursery growing ecosourced native plants for restoration planting. These were plants which hadn't sold over the winter and it wasn't going to be economical to hold them over until next winter. We gave 18 to Ian. He is our mate who lives a few kilometres away and has a similar property to ours. We planted ours on Saturday afternoon. Like many natives, Makomako is quite specific in its requirements. It wont survive flooding or dry summer soils. We planted all ours on the lower slopes so they should be fine. Makomako grow fast and provide lots of small fruit for a range of birds. They do best with some sun and in a good spot they will survive for many years. 

Our two swallows are carting feathers to their nest outside the kitchen window. I suspect there will be eggs there soon, but, as they are both still flying around a lot, they can't be incubating eggs just yet. 

Swallows outside the kitchen

Sitting having breakfast on Saturday morning we heard a small bird singing that I wasn't sure of. I googled Hedge Sparrow, as I have seen them on the drive once before. I found the song on the radio New Zealand website and played it. As we listened the Hedge sparrow flew up and perched on a Gahnia flower stem about 5 metres from us. Apparently he was concerned about an intruder in his territory during the breeding season. They are well camouflaged with their gray and brown colouring, and are normally quite secretive in their habits so it was quite exciting to see him and in such a definitive manner. 

None of our traps or baits had been touched when I checked and re-baited them on Saturday morning, except for the ones eaten by slugs. They are an ongoing problem and will climb over a metre up the tree to get to the baits. I probably should put slug bait around the base of those trees. Baits set on wires up off the ground seem to work well for rats and possums. 

We haven't seen many Kereru, native pigeons, lately, but I heard a couple flying in the Kahikatea as I checked the traps. I also saw one flying across the neighbours paddock when we got back from Ian's place. This probably means they are keeping a low profile as they are starting to nest. Most of the 25 which stayed here over the winter, feeding on Tree Lucerne leaves, have gone now. presumably back up to the bush to nest in the Forest Park. We have watched one nest here a couple of years ago, but I am sure there are others we don't see. 

While planting the Makomako, I found a single plant of Huruhuru Whenua, Shining Spleenwort or Asplenium oblongifolium. It is a very attractive native fern, with shiny fronds up to about a metre long. I don't know how it got there, but I am pleased it did. This one had two part fronds nipped off and left. This is typical of damage by hares. It is unusual for them to damage plants under a well established canopy, but I don't know of anything else that would do that sort of damage. With a bit of luck it should survive and hopefully spread a few spores around. 

Huruhuru whenua

There are three native fern species that we have brought on to the place from around about, but there are at least a dozen others which have made there own way here. we do, however, have one species of invasive exotic fern. Male fern, Dryopteris, comes from Europe, but is spreading in New Zealand along with at least three other problem fern species. I found four clumps this morning when I went to confirm my identification, so I pulled them all out. It looks to me a lot like gully Fern, Paakau, but Male Fern dies back in winter and seems to get a bit bigger. Andrew Crowe's 'Which Native Fern' is very helpful in these matters, and fairly easy to carry around. 

The kumarahou are well in flower now and making a grand show. We have dotted them along the uphill side of the drive and around the water tank so we can enjoy the bright yellow flowers when they come. It seeds freely around our area and seems to come up well in bare clay. it is reasonably common around Kawhia along roadsides, but you only notice it this time of year. Ours grow a bit over a metre tall and have lots of flower, but only for about one month. 

Kumarahou

I am away for a couple of weekends so it will be three weeks before we are back. Hopefully there will be some little swallows to greet us when we arrive next time.