Wet, wild morning spent at Onoke Spit but all for a good cause!
Narida, Jo Crabb (www.careme.co.nz) and I joined the DOC crew & students from Kahutara School last week for a mornings work at Onoke Spit. We spent the morning applying weed matting & protectors to the native grasses & daisies planted a month previously. These plants & protectors have been purchased using Palliser’s annual sponsorship money so it was good to get involved & see the progress made to date.
After we left, the DOC staff did some further work and counted 30 Caspian Terns nesting on the west-end of the Spit. They visited a few days later counted 18 and concerningly found that 8 eggs had been taken out of their nest and either eaten or crushed. Unfortunately no predators have been photographed or caught so more traps are going to be set.
Onoke Spit is a dramatic and beautiful place and Palliser is proud of our on-going association with the restoration programme. The photos below show how dramatic it was last week and although the weather wasn’t very hospitable we thoroughly enjoyed our time spent out there.
