Place Where Children Collect Sea Eggs - July 15th

The Group With Collin, Just Arriving at Quail Island

The group spent Sunday at Quail Island (Ōtamahua - 'Place Where Children Collect Sea Eggs') with members of the Quail Island Trust. This small island just across from Lyttelton harbor has a deep history including the staging ground for Antarctic expeditions, home to a leper colony and the quarantine area for the South Island. 

Transplanting Silver Tussock

We began the day helping Collin Burrows, Collin Meurk and Ian McLennan divide out and pot up silver tussock as part of the master plan to restore Quail Island back to semi-natural state as of 1850 where over thirty natural species of trees and plants covered the entire island. Our group only worked for a few hours, and it's obvious that it will take many more before the island is restored but it was still very rewarding work. In all, 50 small plantings were completed by the group before we began a hike around the perimeter of the island. 

One major hurdle on the island is to rid the island of the invasive rabbits, rats and mice. It took over ten years but luckily the rabbits and rats are gone! The mice are another issue all together, especially since they can repopulate in only three years - and even swim from the mainland since Quail is a near shore island. 

View of Native Plantings Growing up on Quail Island

During a short hike to Walkers Beach, we spotted Woody Daisy, Woody Potato, native spinach, and Koromiko. It was fantastic to have Collin Meurk showing us all of the native areas as well as paint a picture about how quickly Quail is being restored. The group also saw several historic sites including a boat graveyard and a leper colony. 

Tony holding Scottish Broom

The final task for the day was searching for plastic trash around Walkers Beach and weeding invasive species including Scottish Broom and Pine seedlings. Luckily, there was very little plastic and other trash around the beach so we spent most of our afternoon weeding a steep hillside above the beach for Scottish Broom and Pine seedlings before relaxing by the Barracks on the swimming beach and heading back on the ferry. - Tony

View of Quail Island from the Ferry Ride Home