Kia ora
Last chance to see
Next summer will be the last season that we will run our 7 and 8-day programmes.
The programmes we will be running next season are:
Alpine Flowers – 6-12 December 2010 (6 vacancies); 12-18 January 2011 (3 vacancies). Contact us if you are interested.
Lost World of Erewhon – 20-27 November 2010
Southern Alps Splendour – 27 January – 2 February 2011
Akaroa Idyll – 23-30 March 2010
Contact Odyssey Travel if interested (www.odysseytravel.com.au)
Details of all the programmes are listed on our website.
A few of the past season’s highlights
Penwiper – on our December Alpine Flowers programme we found 12 specimens of this enigmatic and elusive alpine scree plant at Dry Stream, Castle Hill.
Carmichaelia kirkii – a first for our Alpine Flowers programme. The only native broom that is a liana or scrambler was found in flower at Cave Stream Reserve, A rare plant with very localised distribution.
Craspedia “heroni” – We found three specimens of this rare and as yet un-named woolleyhead in fairly close proximity on the Cameron Fan. A survey of the fan by DoC located 27 plants so there are still a few out there to discover.
Southern rata – the flowering of the rata in the Otira Gorge was described by many to be the best in living memory. The Southern Alps Splendour group saw this and was very impressed. Partly due no doubt to favourable environmental conditions but also helped by the intensive possum control through 1080.
Black stilt/kaki. I was thrilled to be able to show guests during the summer two black stilt at Lake Heron. This endemic bird, which has had the unfortunate label of the rarest wading bird in the world, has increased in number from the low thirties to now around 100 in the wild, A captive breeding programme and intensive predator trapping around some nesting locations is responsible for this increase.
Nature Notes
Local birds. We are enjoying a long and mild autumn and the birds around our property are plentiful. Fantail/piwakawaka, silvereye/tauhou, grey warbler/riroriro, bellbird/korimako are commonly seen and heard. Another year with no rifleman/titipounamu unfortunately. But we live in hope that they will again return to our bush remnant.
Predator traps. A community group has installed a network of over 100 predator traps round the southern and western shores of Lake Heron. They intend regularly checking the traps during the spring and summer months when predators are at their most deadly.
People who live in
A few years ago I ran a competition for a suitable collective noun for a group of crested grebe. The winner was a quiff.
How about a name for people who live in Staveley?
Here are some examples to get you thinking (all New Zealand locations).
Cust – Custodians; Caversham – Cavershambles; Taupo – Taupudlians; Levin – Levinians; Blenheim – Blenheimers (you have to be a Kiwi to appreciate that one); Albany – Albanians; Pakuranga – Pakurangatangs.
Staveley?
Something else to exercise your mind - The Great Mining Debate
If you live in New Zealand you will be well aware of the great mining debate. Our current government has decided that our national parks should be surveyed for their economic mineral potential. They have also proposed that four areas of conservation land which have high protective status (called Schedule 4 land*) should be considered for mining. But careful mining – the term used is “surgical”! Non-invasive mining – sounds like an oxymoron.
*Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act is a list of our most precious and high value conservation lands. They are inaccessible for mining or exploration, and include our National Parks, wilderness areas, ecological areas and marine reserves.
Needless to say this has upset one or two people around our fair country. On 1 May more than 50 000 people held a protest march in Auckland. Our government has received correspondence from the Chairman of the Sierra Club and the UNESCO conservation organization IUCN, asking that they do not mine in our national parks. We have sent in our submission and we would ask that all of you who receive this Newsletter would consider sending a submission as well.
More information can be obtained from the discussion document that has been prepared:
http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC____42792.aspx
Submissions (closing at 5.00 pm Wednesday 26 May) should be sent to:
Schedule 4 Stocktake
Ministry of Economic Development
PO Box 1473
Wellington 6140
schedule4@med.govt.nz
From the Kitchen
A sweet treat – Double-Jolt Afghans
For the biscuits:
200g butter 1 ¼ C flour
½ C sugar 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence 1 C cornflakes
3 Tbsp cocoa
Pre-heat oven to 160°C. Cream butter, sugar & vanilla. Beat in sifted cocoa, and then fold in sifted flour & baking powder. Add cornflakes & mix in gently. Put dessertspoonfuls of mix on a lined baking tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on tray for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Ice biscuits when cool & put a walnut half on top & for the jolt, a chocolate button.
For the icing:
125 softened butter 1 tsp vanilla essence
2 dsp cocoa 1 C icing sugar
Cream butter, vanilla & sifted cocoa then gradually add sifted icing sugar & beat until light & fluffy.
(from Baking Day with Shelley Caldwell, The Press)
