ARTICLE : Restoration at Titahi Bay

 Dec 2004 – Restoration at Titahi Bay

Melicytus aff. obovatus “Coast”.   Photo: Jeremy Rolfe.

A couple of years ago I decided to follow the adage of “think global, act local” and try to help the plants around Titahi Bay.   We have some very rare species in this area and they struggle with competition from mainly pasture grass but also bone seed and Senecio glastifolius.   I approached the local ratepayers group to back the idea of a restoration area and we approached Porirua City Council to grow the plants for us and spray the area for planting each year.   John Sawyer from DOC, Wellington checked and approved our species list.   I collect all the seed and germinate it and hand it on to the PCC nursery when the plants are due to be bagged up.   2003 was the first year of planting and we only had time to produce 80 plants, mainly from cuttings.   Although they weren’t planted until early September, almost all survived.   This winter we planted 350 in July and again have an almost perfect success rate.   I am looking forward to when Colin Meurk’s system for plant records is included on the New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network (NZERN) website so I will be able to be a bit more scientific with my records.

The planting list for this area includes Aciphylla squarrosa, Phormium cookianum, Melicytus aff. obovatus “Coast”, Muehlenbeckia astonii, Poa cita, Euphorbia glauca, Coprosma repens, Elymus solandri, Disphyma australe, Hebe stricta var. macroura and Tetragonia trigyna.   Next year I also hope to include Hebe elliptica var. crassifolia, Coprosma propinqua and Olearia solandri.   The plantings are on highly modified dunes near the south end of Titahi Bay and I hope the project will eventually include council land all the way to the parking area at South Beach access road.

 Leptinella nana

Leptinella nana.   Photo: Jeremy Rolfe.

The other project I am involved in is the trialing of new sites for Leptinella nana in erosion hollows on the top of the cliffs south of Titahi Bay.   Leptinella nana (pygmy button daisy) is a tiny perennial herb which forms low open mats.   It needs disturbed sites to colonise and is easily overcome by weeds.   L. nana has a threatened status of Category A, critically endangered.   It is found in only three sites in New Zealand, the Rai Valley in Marlborough, the Port Hills in Canterbury and Whitireia Park in Porirua.   After reading the species recovery plan, I decided to try planting it in erosion hollows along the top of the cliffs just south of Titahi Bay.   I chose this site as one of the aims of the recovery plan is to “establish at least one population at a new site” and because the vegetation surrounding these hollows is mainly native and not pasture grass.   I thought this could possibly enable the Leptinella to spread around and down the cliffs.

In the winter of 2002, I planted 43 plugs supplied by Richard Gill of DOC, Kapiti Area, in various places along the cliffs.   A recent survey of these sites shows only six have survived.   Although this doesn’t sound great, I find it incredible that they survived the crippling drought we had locally last summer.   Titahi Bay is much drier than Wellington and has a climate more similar with the Kapiti coast.   Apart from a few light showers during April, the rains did not come until the end of June 2003.   I will plant more plugs in winter 2004, as I believe it is achievable to increase the survivability of plants in this area and establish a community of plants long term.

Robyn Smith