Events

Friends of Kew Bush planting day

10am Meet at the picnic table

Wear clothes for the weather, bring tools for planting if you have them and a snack & water.

All welcome - bring the family!

SERN Autumn Field Trip: Waituna

SERN Autumn Field Day – Saturday 5th April 2025 Large Scale Ecological Restoration

This autumn we are offering a bus trip to Waituna Wetlands and surrounds, hosted by Whakamana te Waituna Trust

In 2018 the Whakamana te Waituna Charitable Trust was formed following years of collaborative work by the farming community, agencies, iwi and others to reduce impacts on Waituna Lagoon/Waipārera.

Members of the Trust include Awarua Rūnanga, Ngāi Tahu, Southland District Council, Environment Southland, Department of Conservation, Fonterra and a Waituna Catchment community representative.

Outline of Day: (times approximate)

8.45am: meet at Feldwick Gates, Queens Park

9.00am: bus to leave Invercargill for Waituna. (commentary along the way of WtW programmes)

10.00am: Webster Block. Restoration plans and biodiversity credits. (Discussion on bus.)

10.30am: DOC – Waghorn block. Large scale restoration with flax and mixed species.

12 noon: Lunch time at Te Wai Parera Trust’s wetland, Waghorn Rd. (BBQ lunch provided.)

12.45pm: Vision and plans for restoration of area. (Walk to wetland.)

2.15pm: WLG Gravel Pit Restoration. (Discussion on bus.)

2.30pm: DOC planting trials. (Discussion on bus.)

3.00pm: White Pine Rd. DOC Lower Waituna Creek restoration work. (45 minute stop)

4.00pm: Return to Invercargill, with drive through of Manuka Mire Farm.

All welcome! Bus: free but booking essential. RSVP for queries, map of route and to book a seat to Gay Munro ([Enable JavaScript to view protected content])

Thank you to Environment Southland for generously funding the bus and to Whakamana te Waituna for hosting the day.

Setting up the Waikawa Nursery - 2nd Working Bee

Working bee 6 April 2025

We’re holding a second working bee to set-up the nursery. Please feel free to come down and help out or learn more about plans for the nursery. You might like to bring gloves and something to drink in case it’s a warm day or a thermos if it’s cooler (no it won’t be snowing but the photo is lovely!). All are welcome.

For more information (and time to be there) contact:

Kelsi Hayes (027 349 5850) or Jesse Bythell (020 400 32109)

Email: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]

Friends of Kew Bush working bee

Meet at the picnic table at 10am. Contact [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] for more details.

Wear gumboots / big boots! Bring gloves, secateurs or lopper if you have them.

The aim of the day is to clear the last of the fast invaders ready for a big planting day in the autumn. The map has the key areas we’re targetting:

Blackberry removal (purple on map) - cut-and-paste (could be prickly!)

Releasing the trees planted last autumn (red on map) - Trampling the grass around the planting here would be of great help (can be fun - bring some friends to help!)

Looking forward to seeing you!

Wednesday evening Tree releasing at Bushy Point, Otatara: Summer/Autumn 2025

Wednesday evening Tree releasing at Bushy Point - Summer/Autumn 2025 Can you help?

EXCEPTIONAL grass growth this year is putting real pressure on many of the young trees (from Tree Planting Day September 2023)
which now urgently need releasing from encroaching grass if they are to survive and prosper. So Otatara Landcare Group is organising tree releasing sessions at
Bushy Point each Wednesday from 15 January, earlier than usual, through February, and possibly extending into March, from 6.30-7.30pm, weather permitting.

Various methods can be used to release the trees and suppress competing grass etc growth, as will be demonstrated at the time.
If you can help, please meet at the lookout seat, accessed from the Bryson Rd entrance to Bushy Point.
Kids can help too, finding and marking the seedlings hidden in the tall grass!

If possible, please bring:
Ø shoes or gumboots suitable for working in long grass
Ø gardening gloves
Ø clothing suitable for the expected weather conditions
Ø a face mask if you are allergic to dust or grass seeds
Ø safety (or other) glasses to protect eyes when weeding amid tall grass
Ø secateurs and/or a small pruning saw for working in bracken/lupins
Ø ideally, a pair of sharp garden shears suitable for cutting grass
Ø something to drink, especially in hot conditions.

Please contact Douglas Black on 022 104 8661 for more information or to find
out where we are working on the night.

(started 15 Jan ongoing through to mid March)

Grand Ivy-Clearance Day! (& FOTB open day)

Open Day - Saturday 1st March ‘25.
10am to 2pm Meet at playground off Queens Drive. All welcome!

Drop by for a free sausage and get to help bring Thomsons Bush come back to a beautiful native forest. Everyone visiting the event will be given a bag to fill with weed English Ivy (Hedera helix) . Bring your full bag back for a Free BBQ - courtesy of ICC! A chance to learn more about where the Friends of Thomsons Bush have been clearing this forest of weeds, more about all the different weeds, what working bees are like, when the next event is - and meet some of the great volunteers who have taken this massive project on!

World Wetlands Day

10 am - 1pm 1539 Edendale-Woodlands Hwy, Edendale 9893, New Zealand

Environment Southland is hosting a field day to celebrate World Wetlands Day on 23 February. World Wetlands Day (celebrated annually on 2 February) is an opportunity to remember the 1971 adoption of the International Convention on Wetlands in Ramsar, Iran.

Each year Environment Southland celebrates World Wetlands Day with an event, and this year ES are hosting this field day to help landowners understand how to improve habitat for Australasian bittern in their wetlands.New Zealand’s wetlands are home to several threatened birds and plants. Among the threatened wetland birds, matuku-hūrepo (the Australasian bittern) is a key indicator species for wetland ecosystem health: meaning that if we improve the habitat in the wetlands for these ‘umbrella’ species, it will help other less noticeable, smaller and potentially threatened species too. Details also on fb ES page World Wetland Day event

Come along and learn about wetlands and how you can restore wetland habitat from experts and other landowners. Please register here

Bushy Point Tree Releasing Working Bee, Otatara

Working bee from 2 – 4pm to release plantings from September last year.

Various methods can be used to release the trees and suppress competing grass etc growth, as will be demonstrated at the time.
If you can help, please meet at the lookout seat, accessed from the Bryson Rd entrance to Bushy Point.
Kids can help too, finding and marking the seedlings hidden in the tall grass!

If possible, please bring:
Ø shoes or gumboots suitable for working in long grass
Ø gardening gloves
Ø clothing suitable for the expected weather conditions
Ø a face mask if you are allergic to dust or grass seeds
Ø safety (or other) glasses to protect eyes when weeding amid tall grass
Ø secateurs and/or a small pruning saw for working in bracken/lupins
Ø ideally, a pair of sharp garden shears suitable for cutting grass
Ø something to drink, especially in hot conditions.

Please contact Douglas Black on 022 104 8661 for more information.

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