News Article | Grovetown Lagoon Restoration Project

Newsletter 61

Published on Mar 8, 2023

Reflection

A New Year and 5 different ways in which people can help at the Grovetown Lagoon, and maybe the lagoon can help the volunteers in return.

1. Wednesday Warriors is a welcoming group of volunteers who enjoying tree planting, weeding and maintenance at the lagoon.
2. Thursday afternoons working in the shadehouse pricking-out seedlings and tending plants. This is a great way to learn more about identification and propagation of native plants.
3. Sunday working bees include planting trees, weeding and/or plant maintenance. Every second Sunday of the Month. A two hour working bee with a cup of tea and sausage sizzle afterwards.
4. Predator control at the lagoon means checking, clearing and baiting traps. Trap line checking involves a good walk in the fresh air, volunteers often take a friend or ride a bike. Trap checking is exciting because you don't know if the next trap has caught something.
5. Committee membership - Te Whanau Hou Grovetown Lagoon is managed by the working group which is a volunteer group of people with many different skills that plan, co-ordinate and support the happenings at the lagoon.

Volunteering is more than giving your time, it has many benefits such as improving mental health, social networking and learning new skills. The work at the lagoon is rewarding, over 1600 trees, shrubs and grasses where planted last year. Personally I find that life is busy, yes there are a hundred jobs I could do at home, but it is nice to do something that takes you out of that space and is for the bigger picture. The lagoon is a special place to be, please get in touch if you would like more information.
Thank you to Rosanne Anderson for the photograph above.

Trap Lines - Shannon Ritter

Phenomenal mahi over the last two months. The total catches for the past two months are impressive.

December:
Rats - 13
Mice - 7
Hedgehogs - 2
Weasels - 1

January:
Rats - 23 (!)
Mice - 5
Hedgehogs - 3
Weasels - 3

The bait was switched to a rabbit meat based lure at the end of the year and while it's hard to say if that's the reason for catching more, 10 more rats were caught in January than December which is pretty rewarding. There is still trouble with mice being light enough to run to the back of the traps and eat all the peanut butter, but we trialled putting some small mouse traps at the back which catches the mice and then acts in itself as a lure for the rats and weasels! It has worked well so there will be more mouse/rat trap setups in the future.

Tim Barton has found a breeding colony of shags at the Lagoon! Breeding means there's not many stoats/weasels/rats around feeding on eggs and chicks so that's great news! The shag colony is on the inside island, opposite the boardwalk over Kelly's Creek.

Badman's Seat and Sign

There is a new story at the lagoon by the seat donated by the Badmans. The sign tells some of the local history of the surrounding land and also the finding of an escaped prisoner!