Native plants for sale!

A limited number of native trees, grasses and plants are now for sale, with proceeds going to help save yellow-eyed penguins. The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust’s not for profit and community-based nursery has exceeded its planting production this year. They have approximately 500 native plants and shrubs to offload by Friday December 9, 2011. Many of the natives were potted by Trust Ambassador and NZ rugby icon Kieran Read, on a visit to the nursery earlier this year.

Nursery Manager, Anita Pillai says the natives, grown from seedlings at the nursery by Trust volunteers, are perfect ‘carbon suckers’ for planting before Christmas or into the New Year. “We’ve planted a huge number of these natives to establish and enhance our penguin habitats; however, this year, we have ended up with a surplus.

“I can’t bear to throw out or compost these ‘babies’ which we have nurtured from seed to this stage, so would love to find good homes for them”, says Anita.
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Nursery goes on the road

During conservation week,  Room 15 at Tahuna IntermediateSchool invited the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust into their classroom to talk about plant propagation and penguins, and to show the Trust what conservation measures their school is doing to save the planet.

Armed with buckets of potting mix, pots and seed trays Nursery Manager Anita Pillai invaded the classroom for action. After a talk with pictures on penguins and the work of the Trust, the main business started.  Each pupil learnt how to “prick out” a plant and pot them up. They all took one home to nurture and grow to adult size to plant out where they choose. By the end of session many of these plants had become so precious they had names! Read the rest of this entry »

Opoho School visit to Okia

A hardy group of students from Opoho Primary School joined Ranger Leith Thomson and Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust Nursery staff Toby Bulow and Anita Pillai on Friday 19^th August at Okia to help plant pikao in the native dune systems that we have been developing. Despite the snow earlier in the week and the lingering southerly, around 11 pupils, parents and teacher Lucy Marr were still keen to come out and learn about native dune systems. They successfully planted 200 pikao plants in a very short time.

The group from the school, the Fantails Club, is dedicated to doing things to help the environment and is supported by the Enviroschools programme. They have offered to assist us with growing pikao in their school shade house that we can use on our reserves. We will visit the school later this year to teach them how we propagate pikao and how to look after it. Read the rest of this entry »

2011 planting season

Preparations for the 2011 planting season are well underway at the YEPT Plant Nursery, which is so full it is bursting at the seams. It is time for all those plants to go. Our coastal areas need them to provide shelter and food for penguin and other wildlife. Volunteers have been working hard sorting and weeding our plants so that they are in the very best condition before they leave. It’s a great feeling to be getting rid of the stock and planning the plants for the next year, and here at the nursery we need the space. Read the rest of this entry »

Conservation Week with Balmac Intermediate

As part of Conservation Week on September 14, the Trust was lucky enough to have 29 students from Balmacewen Intermediate’s Room 14 to help the staff of the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust plant pikao at Tavora reserve.

The Nursery has had a four-year relationship with teacher, Lisa Shea. Each year (with the help of some very enthusiastic parents) she brings her year 8 class out to the reserve to do their part in conservation. They planted pikao, Coprosma acerosa (sand coprosma), Hebe eliptica and flax. The staff (Anita, Leith and Margaret) and trustee, Pat Mark, had an opportunity to talk to the students about yellow-eyed penguins, plants and the younger generation’s opportunity to make a difference in conservation.
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The Cons Corps and the YEPT Nursery

For many years the Department of Conservation Conservation Corps has joined us at the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust Nursery to learn about plant propagation. DoC holds a 10 week course on conservation to students from the ages of 16 to 25.

The Cons Corps usually spend a day with us in the nursery to learn about propagation or help our ranger out on the habitats with planting or weeding trees. On Tuesday 7 September they joined Anita and Margaret at the nursery to learn about native plants.

We started the morning at Colinswood Bush, Macandrew Bay, to learn about plant identification and seed collecting. Of course we get permission from the caretaker, Nigel McPherson, who often joins us to talk about one of the last remaining native bush areas on the Peninsula. We had a great (but wet) walk through this wonderful regenerating bush, then went back to the nursery to clean and sow seeds, prick out flaxes and pot totara, hebes and Coprosma propinqua. Read the rest of this entry »

Mac Bay School trip to see the penguins

On 20 August, field and nursery staff took pupils from year 6 Macandrew Bay School to Otapahi to view penguins. This was organised as a thank you to the class for their hard work painting our nursery buildings (this event was previously featured on this site). After a week of extremely bad weather, Friday afternoon turned out warm and sunny – we couldn’t have planned it better.

The students came all prepared and very excited; we were on an expedition! After a steep climb up the hill that was no problem for energetic little legs we were rewarded with views of penguins coming in after a full day’s fishing. One student counted around 28 birds during our time there. The pupils told us they felt very special to have had the opportunity to see the birds at such a unique site. The smiles on their faces indicated a good time was had by all, especially the YEPT staff. Thank you to volunteer Paula West and teachers of Macandrew Bay School for helping us make this happen. Read the rest of this entry »

Nursery Day with Mac Bay School

Question: What happens when you take a very enthusiastic volunteer, a group of year 5 and 6 students from the local school, and a lot of paint?
Answer: An unbelievable transformation of buildings at the YEPT Nursery.

On Wednesday 19 May volunteer Paula West, organized a group of students from Room 1 at Macandrew Bay Primary School (the closest school to the Nursery) to paint murals on our rather dull concrete block tea room, glasshouse and potting shed. This included images of a  coastal wonderland of penguins, seals, plants, and birds. It was a great day and everyone had a wonderful time. All you have to do is look at the photos as they speak volumes! Read the rest of this entry »

Nursery gets a hand from Malcam Trust

The YEPT Nursery was lucky enough to have youths from the Dunedin Malcam Trust Conservation Corps (assisted by their supervisor, Garth Hassall) build two additional stand-out boxes. The plants are placed on these boxes several weeks before they are to go out to the habitats to ‘harden off’ (decreased watering) so that they adjust to similar environmental conditions once planted.

This Cons Corp group of young men and women has been visiting the nursery on alternate Tuesdays to also learn about propagation, extending pipes for our irrigation, and digging drainage ditches.

Many thanks from the nursery staff for such willing and helpful workers. Read the rest of this entry »

Fond farewell to Gateway student

This week we said goodbye to our Dunedin Gateway student from
Bayfield High School, Max Buxton, who worked with nursery staff and
volunteers on Wednesdays during 2009. We are happy to know that Max is
heading to Lincoln University in 2010 to further his studies. Max has been a
very positive and lively participant at the nursery, and well liked by all.
We will miss him, and wish him well for the future.