MARCH 2025 Newsletter 

(Edition 101)

Upcoming Volunteer Trips

We have these midweek volunteer trips coming up,
travelling by Dreamweaver from Pier Z:
Wednesday 30 April
If you are a group interested in joining this trip (or another date),
please email Simon at volunteermotuihe@gmail.com

We have these volunteer trips coming up, all travelling by water taxi from Okahu Bay:
Sunday April 6th (Auckland Uni International students - weed leaders needed)
Saturday April 12th (endangered plants - full)
Wednesday April 16th (controlling invasive weeds, track clearing)
Wednesday May 7th (controlling invasive weeds, track clearing)
Sunday May 11th (general volunteer day - controlling invasive weeds, track clearing, penguins)
Individuals can book on any of these trips by registering here:
https://motuihetrust.my.site.com/volunteer/s/weekend-volunteer or email operations@motuihe.org.nz

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Presentation Evening

Our presentation evening was well-received by those who were able to make it, a big call out to Julie for pulling this together and to the presenters who shared their projects and their passion with us.  For those who weren't able to make it, some of the presentations are available to view on our website:
https://www.motuihe.org.nz/

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WWF Fund
     
Late last year we were very fortunate to receive a generous donation through WWF
(from the Tindall Foundation), which is subsidising many of our trips to Motuihe.
The Tindall Foundation have recognised us on their website, along with the other projects they kindly support:
https://tindall.org.nz/community-led-conservation-impact-and-restoration/

         

We will be featured in the WWF magazine later this month.

Volunteering Opportunities
 

We are putting together a specialised weed team to attack some new weed species that are starting to appear on the island, before they can gain a foothold. This may suit volunteers who find battling mothplant and tobacco weed too physically demanding. Full training and support will be given - please get in touch if you are interested in finding out more (operations@motuihe.org.nz).
 

Photo: Japanese honeysuckle (Carolyn Lewis)
 

If you are a keen weeder, there are opportunities available for upskilling so that you are able to supervise small groups of weeding volunteers, and we'll also train you to use sprayers and our new pole saws.

We are looking for volunteers to assist on Fridays to work in the nursery doing tasks such as potting plants, sowing seeds, and weeding in the nursery.  Free transport on the DOC boat from Okahu Bay or Bayswater. Training provided, this is an activity that would suit retirees and others. 

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Endangered Plants Project Update

 

The Motuihe Trust is now a year into its threatened plant project, and we wanted to share the highlights so far with everyone!

Our biggest success has been the translocation of koheriki, or Scandia rosifolia. This species is listed as vulnerable, and within the Auckland region is considered endangered (one step up from the national status). Koheriki are threatened by browsing animals and habitat loss. Our koheriki, grown from seed from a tiny relict wild Hauraki Gulf population, have thrived - flowering and setting seed prolifically this first year. We have topped this up with more seed from the wild plants to boost genetics, and we hope to see koheriki well established on Motuihe within the next year or two.

Our second highlight has been the discovery of poroporo (Solanum aviculare) on Motuihe. The Trust knew that some plants were lurking about in sheltered spots on the motu, but the exact species had not been determined (there are two - one endangered and the other not threatened, and they look veeery similar). A thorough survey by the threatened plants team discovered that all plants are of the endangered ilk. This is fantastic for the species to have a new known population, which can be monitored and may be a source for future translocations to other locations in the Hauraki Gulf to support this species’ ongoing survival.

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Thursday March 13th - JB Were Trip

 

What a treat going out on a calm, warm sunny day aboard Hayden’s 42-foot yacht. We headed beyond the drop-down track to the right-hand service track. Below was a pod collection exercise. A beautiful day just got better as we swam out to the yacht off Ocean Beach for deck jumping and ice cream! Thanks to the JB Were team who can repeat the exercise any time they want. (Simon)
 

P.S. Yes, that’s our Graeme photo-bombing. Great work from the pole saw Tsar

 

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Sunday March 16th - Kakabeak Project

 

It was a great day for the rare plants team - not only was the sun shining, but the team also introduced a new threatened plant to Motuihe. Lois, Ben and Bella made a special trip the day before to collect seed from one of our native mistletoe species: pirita, or Ileostylus micranthus, and so our fantastic rare plants team helped 'plant' the new seeds. All mistletoes are semi-parasites - they depend on a host plant for nutrients and water, but also photosynthesise to make their own sugars. This makes them tricky to translocate as they do not grow in soil. Instead, seeds are applied directly to a host (which is not harmed by its hitchhikers, in this case totara). The team will be watching closely to see how the seeds develop over the next few months.

Not to rest on their laurels, the 13 volunteers (joined by the wonderful Seana, wife of Paul the DoC ranger) also worked hard in the nursery. Kākābeak seedlings were pricked out, more kākābeak and koheriki (Scandia) seed was sown, and seed trays were sorted to improve drainage. Our first few seedlings from this year's koheriki are starting to sprout, so we are looking forward to potting on lots more plants ahead of the planting season. An extra highlight from the day was finding self-sown coastal harebell (Wahlenbergia vernicosa) popping up in some of the kākābeak trays. This is a great sign for the plants we have planted out around Motuihe, which look to have set plenty of seed. With rain finally starting to fall, we hope to start to see some wild seedlings from last year's plantings soon. (Ben & Bella)

   
Mistletoe Collection                                                             Mistletoe on host Totara

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Tuesday March 18th - Corporate Trip

Nothing quite like an extendable pole for bagging high-altitude pods. We had 70 volunteers from Westpac, Hawkins Watts, ANZ and Lotto (Dreamweaver), plus the FMA 10 under their own steam. Lois, Dina and Frances headed off with the track clearers - good progress for a small group who tackled the track from Snapper Bay to Billy Goat Point. An amazing 120m! Great to have our Motuihe regular Dina with us. The rest flooded the area north of the track. Graeme and Colin (who did a count) put c500 pods in the drum, mostly collected by Dave (sic).

Great to have Jaimee join in who’s clearly a good’un. Book-ended by lovely weather, we had a mid-visit shower. Nothing concerning and it meant a slightly bumpy ride back to pier Z, but all arrived safe and sound. (Simon)

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Saturday March 22nd - General Volunteer Day
 

A beautiful flat calm day heading out from a very busy Okahu Bay in the morning with 14 volunteers onboard.

Weeders tackled mothplant, rhamnus, woolly nightshade and boneseed in the morning at Billy Goat Point.  A lunch break was welcomed by all due to the hot conditions and gave everyone the opportunity to recharge their batteries, which gave them renewed energy for an afternoon session near the Taraire Bush.  
 

Mothplant pods - good to have these gone

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Quentin and Selina had a great day selling ice cream in the kiosk and had great interaction with the public visitors. Meanwhile, Fiona and Paul had a successful day with maintenance jobs around the woolshed. The shower now has a tap inside the shower unit to conserve water, and the emergency evacuation point signage is now in place (we hope we will never need to use this). The shelving in the back room has been trimmed to enable 2 volunteers to comfortably stay in this room, and a hammock has been hung to store the pillows with plenty of air circulation.

For a few keen volunteers, there was time for a very brief balmy swim before departing Motuihe. We extend our thanks to our hard-working leaders for their supervision and guidance. Thanks also to our kiosk, weeding newbies and maintenance volunteers who did fantastic work in very warm conditions. We suspect there will be a few tired bodies at the end of the day. (Lois)

                     

                 New tap on our shower                        Weary volunteers on the trip home     

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Friday March 28th - Weeding & Track Clearing

Another great turnout on the Dreamweaver with 54 volunteers from KPMG, Salesforce, Kiwibank and BNZ met by the advance guard of Lois and Colin (thanks to the DoC boat) who kindly filled up the poison bottles and tractored the gear to the nursery. On a lovely warm day, Phil F led a dozen doing good work in the nursery; Tidied karaka, moved dianella and carmichaelia from benches to B block. Then prepared and sowed 6 trays of spinifex. Finally, watered the gl

asshouse and the edges of the plastic house.

Lois led a track-clearing brigade:
"Apologies to the weeding team for so many defectors to track clearing.  Great effort of 200+ metres cleared of the Snapper Bay to Northern Billy Goat track. Around 100 metres of thick overgrowth remain to complete this track. This work will make it so much easier for weeders to access and monitor volunteers. Thanks to the enthusiastic group for their great work”.

Phil S, Colin, Frances and Simon led the weeding troops who ripped into the areas off the service track from the Snapper-Calypso track. It was yet another visit to an area that keeps producing pods and, of course, woolies. That must be close to 500 pods from that area in the last month or so. There was plenty of time for exploring, swimming and, thanks to Kay and Janet, an ice cream. It came as an added treat for the volunteers to see the Tip Top flag unfurled in front of the Information Kiosk. Good fun trip on the way back with the cash bar given a good workout. All back for 4.15 at pier Z happy tired, safe and sound. (Simon)
 

            

KPMG Team                                                                              BNZ Team                

            
Salesforce Team                                                                            KiwiBank Team            

Sunday March 30th - Fluttering Shearwater Project
 

Our new Fluttering Shearwater team spent an enjoyable and productive day starting our preparation for the upcoming breeding season and putting together the bones of a monitoring programme.  We relocated a second solar-powered calling system to a new site, along with a series of nesting boxes. We hope a new breeding colony will establish itself - the system broadcasts calls of fluttering shearwaters, common diving petrels and grey-faced petrels with the aim of attracting juvenile birds to visit and breed on the island.  Seabirds are crucial to terrestrial ecosystems as they recycle nutrients from the ocean back onto the land.

Our team also visited the site of our current sound system to start some maintenance work. Several fluttering shearwaters have bred here over the past 5 years, and we hope that with the installation of a new remotely accessible camera, we'll be able to learn more about what's happening with our new arrivals.

A big thanks to Lois for driving the tractor for the day, and to the Lou and Iris Fisher Trust for funding this project. (Jill)

 

  
 

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