News & Events

It’s the 25th Birthday for the Otatara Landcare Group and Bushy Point this year and we will be celebrating this milestone on Saturday 18th October 2025. There will be planting, tree releasing and a bbq and much more. Details Below:

Where: Entrance off No: 5 Bryson Road (Estuary end)

When: Arrive 9.45 a.m. for a 10 a.m. start

FREE BBQ from 12 noon

500 plants are ready and waiting

Tree Releasing and maintenance

Celebrating those who have made a difference

Give us a hand to grow Bushy Point’s forest-in-the-making!

What we need you to bring:

• Gardening gloves
• Spade (narrow ones are best to dig planting holes)
• Appropriate footwear and clothing for the conditions
• Drink Bottle
• Attitude!!

The Winter Otatara Pigeon Post 2025 is here - Celebrating 25 Years of the Otatara Landcare Group

Otatara Landcare Group and Jesse Bythell, our QEII Regional Rep will welcome all pullers of Chilean Flame Creeper to Bowman Bush on Monday 27 January 25.

Help us reduce this colourful weed from one of Otatara’s treasured reserves.

Where – Bowman Bush - meet at entrance off Spence Avenue

When - Monday 27 January 2025 – 6.30-8pm

What – hand pulling Chilean flame creeper

Suitable for all ages and fitnesses, bring gloves and wear gumboots or good shoes, a coat or warm clothing if necessary.

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 and fresh seed etc 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.

There will also be a working bee from 2 – 4pm on Saturday 1 February. 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.

The Summer 24 issue of the Otatara Pigeon Post is here (PDF, 2.26 MB)

And a walk around Bushy Point on Wednesday 18 December 24 at 7pm

Meet at 7pm at 5 Bryson Rd, Otatara, for an easy three to four kilometre walk around Bushy Point. We
will be on tracks for part of it and off tracks in other parts. Come and see the work that some of the
members of the Southland Tramping Club have been doing in assisting the Otatara Landcare Group
with their planting days over many years. We will be joined by Otatara landcare Group members on
this joint trip. So, come and burn off a few of those calories a week before you put a heap back on with
Christmas Dinner!

No need to book, just turn up on the night in appropriate clothing and footwear. The trip is suitable
for children and (hopefully) not too wet for push chairs
Contact: Barry Smith on 027 22 88 980