Autumn news from OME

We have had a very exciting start of the year for Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision (OME). We were off with a bang hosting the Annual Medlands Sandcastle Competition, which was a well attended event. There were some amazing sand structures created and as always we were impressed at the effort put in all round. We hope everyone had fun.

Since the last newsletter, handed out with our lizard flyer during the Christmas break, we have had local sightings of more very special inhabitants of Oruawharo Bay. A matuku/Australasian bittern was spotted sunning itself on a lawn adjacent to the wetland. These birds have a conservation status of nationally critical, mostly due to habitat loss. Seeing very local evidence of what we have to protect in our neighbourhood is a true inspiration for us all to continue what we are doing to restore the habitat for this taonga species and others like them and hopefully encourage more of them to take up residence here.

Margot & Mike Scott who took this amazing photo of the matuku have joined ranks at OME and are now checking our trap network in the dunes. We are very pleased to welcome them onboard.

The wetland restoration project is beginning to take form with the third round of monitoring complete and a total of 31 traps set out in the area, and 7 along Oruawharo Stream all checked weekly. We have also started our water monitoring in the upper fresh water stream levels intending to add a site at the streams either ends of the bay in the saline/brackish waters of our project areas to be able to monitor any potential positive changes as a result of the work we are carrying out.

OME have communicated with both DoC and Auckland Council to form a plan for the area which you will hopefully all soon be able to enjoy.

During February OME had two teams take part in the annual island wide pateke count organised by DoC. Each team paddled up and down stream over 3 consecutive weeks to help form a picture of our resident Aotea population of pateke. The counting sites are in our wetland restoration project areas, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to be involved. DoC is analysing the data gathered and we hope to hear more about their findings.

In early February a few of us were lucky enough to be invited to visit Motuhaku island just out of Port Fitzroy. Alan Phelps has been caring for the island on behalf of the owners for years and has done extensive revegetation and pest control. It was inspiring to see first hand what pest free off shore islands can look like.

If you have a german wasp problem on your property or if you have spotted a nest, please contact OME on our email address: medlandsecovision@gmail.com and we can put you in contact with a member of our group who has the expertise to deal with the issue.

Remember to follow us on facebook: Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision for up to date information on our activities.

Enjoy your autumn where ever you are. From the OME team.

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