News & Events

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

Read Barrys Renewable Energy Full Article Here (PDF, 105.08 kB)

The Otatara Landcare Group volunteers have been planting in the month of September since 2011 when the Living Legends project began (and before that since the year 2000). But never has the weather been worse than this time – 7 degrees and rain! But cancelling an event like this is like turning around a tanker – it has a momentum, there has been so much preparation (preparing the site, putting all the plants and equipment out, advertising etc), that to postpone and reorganise is a thankless task. So……. We went ahead, albeit thinking it wasn’t BBQ weather, so that was abandoned (20kg of sausages and onions now in various peoples freezers!). We still didn’t know if people would turn up – but this is Southland, and don’t we love it!! The two Chris’ and Cathy stood in the rain welcoming people and as they turned up Barry set people straight into planting. The track was much too muddy to get most cars except 4WD’s onto site so a few minutes walking to where lots of high viz vests were on the sand dunes and it went from there. More people arrived until we had 69 people on site. Unfortunately, the many children who attended last year, wern’t there (much too cold), but those who braved it actually seemed to be having fun! In around two hours all one thousand plants were in the ground tucked up in their combi-guards safe from rabbits and we wandered home satisfied with the days work.

Another important tree was planted on-site. A special totara tree for our Legend All Black Kevin Laidlaw. Kevin died in July this year but until that time from the 2011 Living Legends planting Kevin and his wife Maymie supported our plantings every year until their health declined over recent years. A special totara was planted by their son and son-in-law.

Many thanks go to Barry Smith for the lions share of the organising and work, his helpers at the Community Nursery who loaded and placed all the plants the previous Friday, OLG committee members for help with prep and on the day, Central Baptist Church for all their volunteers and everyone-else who came from Otatara, Invercargill, Bluff and SIT. It was actually a great day and if you missed it because you thought it wouldn’t be on there will be another opportunity where you can help release previous years plants, hopefully with BBQ this time.

Chris,

for Otatara Landcare Group