TRIP REPORT : Jubilee Park and Percy Scenic Reserve

 Saturday :   1 July 2006

Jubilee Park

Hymenophyllum flexuosum.   Photo: Jeremy Rolfe.

Jubilee Park, named to commemorate the jubilee of the then Lower Hutt Borough, was opened on 1 February, 1941.   It had a fern house donated by Mayor J.W. Andrews, with a comprehensive collection of ferns from all parts of the country.   It also had the re-erected, pioneer hut built in the 1940 Centennial Exhibition from split totara slabs cut from bush in the Trentham district.   The construction of the Western Hutt Road cut off direct entry into the park after which the fern house was abandoned.   Access is now from Normandale Road, with a generous car park, then a wide track leading north, parallel to SH2, to the park itself.

Our BotSoc party of ten came armed with the native plant species list first prepared by Stan Butcher as an attachment to Lower Hutt Forest and Bird’s submission to the draft management plan in February 1983.   Chris Horne had annotated the list with name changes and added other information.   This was the basis for checking and additions.   Identification began with members calling the number placed beside each species, for Chris to record.   An interpretation panel stands beside the ruins of the fern house.   We followed the path through the concrete foundations, with Fuchsia excorticata and tree ferns overhead and the ground covered with Tradescantia fluminensis.   Towards the pond is the kauri / Agathis australis planted for the jubilee.   Further along, the stone chimney is still standing, all that is left of the pioneer cottage.   There were king fern / Marattia salicina nearby and beside the stream parataniwha / Elatostema rugosum in abundance.   Retracing our steps past the pond, we turned right and climbed the track through a grove of kohekohe / Dysoxylum spectabile in flower and with capsules, a few with seeds still in them, lying on the ground.   Botanising continued as we passed from original bush to an area of regeneration with trees planted after a fire in the 1960s.   We completed the circular track and made our way back to the cars and then to Percy Reserve for lunch.

The following additions were made to the 126 taxa identified in the 1983 species list: Arthropteris tenella, Blechnum discolor, Carex flagellifera, Coprosma robusta, Entelea arborescens, Griselinia lucida, Hebe stricta var. atkinsonii, Hymenophyllum flexuosum, Leptopteris hymenophylloides, Leptospermum scoparium, Metrosideros umbellata, Pittosporum tenuifolium, Sophora tetraptera.

We left agreeing that that this little gem of a reserve is badly neglected and in great need of tidying and the removal of tradescantia and other weeds.   In 1983 and 1984 Lower Hutt Forest and Bird had a small Friends of Jubilee Park group who eliminated old man’s beard and tradescantia.   Lower Hutt City Council employed a full-time – later reduced to part-time – caretaker.   When that position was discontinued and the Friends ceased to participate, the Park was keft to run down to its present neglected state.

Participants : Jill Broome, Stan Butcher (leader / scribe), Barry Dent, Rosie Doole, Sue Freitag, Bryan Halliday, Richard Herbert, Dave Holey, Chris Horne, Barbara Mitcalfe.

Stan Butcher

Percy Scenic Reserve

After visiting Jubilee Park we lunched in the warmth of Percy’s smoko room.

We began by walking up the Beech Track, and saw the declining beech forest probably planted by the Percy brothers.   The site faces a southeast, is exposed to southerly salt-laden winds, and is very dry during summer.   Previously uprooted trees have created wind tunnels and a domino effect.   No apparent natural regeneration has been noticed.   The southern limit for beech west of the Hutt River, is Silverstream, in Upper Hutt.

The species list (from Land & Survey’s Scenic Reserves of the lower North Island 1983 – Wassilieff, Clark & Gabites) received several amendments.

We had been in foggy conditions most of the day, but emerged into the sunshine at the Stanhope Grove lookout.   The lookout area had been regenerating naturally and the vistas lost to the trees, so Excell arborists cleared three pockets to enable views of the harbour entrance, Wainuiomata hills and Hutt City.   Barbara noticed a hinau / Elaeocarpus dentatus under stress, and checked for possum scratchings, but there were none.   The tree is exposed to the northerly wind and full sun, unusual for its normal habitat of shady forested areas.   Other examples were sighted in better health on the south-facing hills of the rata track.

We marked off several ferns & rata on the aptly named Rata Track, also passing two large-leaved milk trees / Streblus banksii which were probably planted.   We came to the regenerating area of the Rata track, where a huge poplar tree had fallen during Easter 2003.   The growth of the regenerating species is well advanced (the species include nikau, kohekohe, mahoe, poroporo, karaka, five finger and coprosma) and have clothed the open space and suppressed weeds without gardeners’ intervention.   The Percy crew has planted the lower slopes of this area with tropical-looking natives with the intention of re-opening the original path and creating a fern grotto with seat.

Hutt City Council provided locally sourced plants, Metrosideros robusta, Dysoxylum spectabile and Rhopalostylis sapida, to help with the regeneration.

We had a brief look at the collections from NW Nelson, Mt Burnett and Northland before finishing and identified two Cyathea from Australia, taxa to be confirmed.

Participants : Dave Holey, Bryan Halliday, Stan Butcher, Chris Horne, Barbara Mitcalfe, Sue Freitag, Barry Dent & Jill Broome

Jill Broome, Plant Collections Supervisor