TRIP REPORT : Dunvegan Station and Bankview Station, Wairarapa

3-4 February 2007

Ileostylus micranthus. Illustration by Eleanor Burton.

3 February: Dunvegan Station

The weather failed to dampen spirits as a group of 16 people visited Dunvegan Station north of Masterton to survey the forest remnants on the river flats and scarps above.   The bush consists of a fenced area with some very large podocarps, an adjacent treeland that is grazed and another fenced site which adjoins the Trimble Foundation pine forest.

The trip started in a fenced area of bush which contains some very large podocarps and black maires.   With a season or two without grazing the understorey is starting to come back with ferns and some sedges and grasses on show and regeneration of the main tree species also evident.   The area consists of a river flat flanked by a boulder scarp which was steep and rather slippery in the conditions.   Some people managed to find the Korthalsella lindsayi growing on Melicope simplex.

We then proceeded through the treeland area to look at the two larger species of mistletoe, Ileostylus micranthus (mainly on Podocarpus totara and Tupeia antarctica (on Pittosporum eugenioides).

The afternoon took us into another area of fenced bush again with some big podocarps but with much more understorey and a slightly different assemblage of species.   Five additions were made to the original list.

The Wyeth family is very conservation-minded and is to be complimented on their having fenced off these two areas of bush.

Myrsine divaricata. Photo: Jeremy Rolfe.

4 Feb: Bankview Station

Sunday saw much improved weather conditions for a visit to Bankview Station.   The area of interest is locally called Longbush Gully and consists of a broad-bottomed valley seasonally ranging from boggy to standing water in parts.   The valley doglegs giving a range of aspects to the valley sides with a consequent variance in vegetation.   There is an area of permanent standing water surrounded by raupo towards the head of the valley and another area that has standing water for a good part of the year drying out in summer.   The area is grazed but had not had stock on it for some time prior to our visit.

Where we entered the valley the True Right is a shaded, damper bush area with Hoheria angustifolia, Myrsine divaricata and other species that like these sorts of conditions.

On the ground here was quite a bit of Mazus novaezeelandiae subsp. novaezeelandiae in flower.   The valley floor at this point is very wet for most of the year and supports a good population of Coprosma pedicellata growing under kahikatea.   Olearia virgata is also common here.

Of interest also was a population of Ranunculus macropus growing on the drying mud.   Several “islands” in this wet area were showing two or three Pterostylis species in seed so a return visit will have to be made to find out just what they were.

We lunched where a small side stream entered the main valley where the vegetation was more suited to the rather hot dry conditions set up by the dogleg in the valley.   Quite a few additions were made to the list in this side valley.   As time was moving on the pace increased as we proceeded up the valley to get past the raupo area and cross over to botanise the True Left side on our return to the cars.   This side is again a bit damper and the vegetation again changes with black beech with an understorey of coprosma species, Pittosporum divaricatum, swamp lawyer, a few more Coprosma pedicellata bushes and small patches of the mazus.

Coprosma pedicellata.   Photo: Jeremy Rolfe.

Our thanks to Sean Dunbar for permission to visit the area.

Participants :   Bev Abbott, Gavin Dench, Geoff Doring, Jenny Doring, Pat Enright (leader / scribe), Bryan Halliday, Chris Hopkins, Chris Horne, Olaf John, Rodney Lewington, Pat McLean, Barbara Mitcalfe, Donella Moss, Mick Parsons, Darea Sherratt, Sunita Singh, Trevor Thompson, Julia White.