Cygnets born at Westlake

Cygnets have been born at Westlake. Arina Riley-Biddle has been watching and photographing them. 

She writes:

At the end of summer, when the lake level was low due to the drought, a breeding pair of of swans built a nest on the bank of the main lake in Westlake Reserve.

The nest was made out of stones, flax and feathers which they had gathered. Five eggs were laid and the female swan (called a 'pen') sat on the nest to keep the eggs safe and warm. Anyone who happened to get too close was hissed at by the male swan (called the 'cob'). 

When the heavy rain came, the water level rose quickly in the lake, right up to the base of the nest. But the pen stayed on the nest to keep the eggs dry.

After battling the rain for two days, the rain stopped. The nest was lucky to escape from flooding. After a few days just two of the eggs hatched into cygnets and can be seen with their parents on the lake.

Arina Riley-Biddle (aged 12)

Autumn

The pumpkin plants yielded a ridiculous 27 pumpkins this year, far more than we could deal with at once! The great majority have been given away, with three now left for us. The walnuts ran late this year, and needed a good breeze at the end of April to bring them down for harvesting. The four trees produced many bags full of nuts, and our share are now drying on the patio. The poplars and walnut trees are losing their leaves at pace, though the willow leaves are still green.

The paddock has got two semi-permanent puddles thanks to the rain in the last few weeks, and both are unlikely to dry up entirely until late spring. Fortunately the soil is still soaking up the rain in other places, so I don't yet have to wade across the paddock. The horses are very keen for their tucker each evening, with the three in the big paddock galloping down to get their hay if they are not already waiting by the gate. Fending off three hungry horses is not easy when you are carrying their dinner! 

I have recently been hearing little owls out at the paddocks, which is lovely. As the name suggests, they are not big birds, and I rarely see them unless they are running around gathering moths from under streetlights as I bike past. It will soon be time to make bird pudding for the other birds to eat during winter. 

The grass is still growing, albeit slowly, and I am hopeful that the frosts will hold off for a while longer so that it can continue to grow. It is a hardy little plant when you think about it - grazed almost to ground level it still keeps growing in spite of what can be less than ideal conditions.

Fresh, locally grown produce available in Halswell

A new Food Box delivery is beginning May 9 in the Port Hills area stretching from Halswell, along the Port Hills and Heathcote River to Sumner. Produce in the Food Box is high quality, organic and sourced directly from local farmers, meaning most of it is hand-picked and delivered on the same day.

The organisation delivering the Food Box, Garden City 2.0, is a new social enterprise applying a standard business model to achieving what are traditionally considered ‘charitable’ objectives.

Garden City 2.0’s mission is to show people where their food comes from, better communicate the challenges growers face in producing high quality goods, and increase local residents’ access to more nutritional foods.

In turn, it supports small and micro-scale growers to do what they love and do best – growing that nutritious food. It also means that more of the average $170 spent on food per household a week (source: Stats NZ), is fed back into the local economy which can lead to multiple positive spin offs for businesses and the wider community.

The Garden City 2.0 business model aims to reach a surplus in profits that can be reinvested in community food initiatives. The organisation hopes to generate enough revenue in the future so it can continue to support the growing local food industry as well as invest in areas of Christchurch most exposed to food insecurity (poor access to affordable healthy foods).

Co-directors, Bailey Peryman and Michelle Marquet are interested in establishing bulk collection points in the Halswell area, due to strong supply from local growers in nearby areas. The couple are keen to hear from local residents interested in accessing this service or think that a bulk collection point (minimum 10 orders) could work in their area. People interested in coordinating a distribution point at places like schools, churches or equally suitable locations in return for a Food Box should also get in contact.

For more information about the initiative, to contact Garden City 2.0 or to order a Food Box, go to www.gardencity.org.nz/delivery.

Halswell Supermarket shops

A lot of people have been wondering what is happening with the Halswell shops/ supermarket area.  To find out, I rang Foodstuffs, the owners of the facility.   I was told that although the buildings are quite safe at present, in fact it has been decided (I'm not sure by whom!) that the buildings will come down and be rebuilt rather than being fixed.  

At this stage Foodstuffs are in the process of trying to get a consent from the CCC.  Once they have this they will be moving into designing and rebuilding the shops.  This will be done in such a way that the current tenants will have premises over the rebuild period and be able to keep trading.    

Foodstuffs are uncertain how long everything is going to take and when the demolition and rebuild will begin, because they are uncertain how long the consent processes will take.  In the meantime, they were keen to reiterate that the shops as they are at the moment are safe for all who enter them and work in them! 

Bellbirds in Kennedys Bush

Port Hill Bush - a great place for bellbirds

Have you noticed bellbirds increasing in number around Halswell over the last few years? If so, this is because of a successful project being run in Ohinetahi Reserve up around the back of Governors Bay and in Kennedys Bush to increase bellbird numbers. A joint project between CCC rangers and a group of volunteers headed by Steve Muir regularly replenishes bait stations placed at intervals throughout the area. The poison in these bait stations is aimed at killing rats and possums – animals that have been photographed raiding the nests of native birds such as bellbirds and taking both eggs and young. Bellbird numbers have been increasing steadily in these areas over the last few years and it is now common to hear many bellbirds around Ohinetahi and Kennedys Bush. As the bellbirds increase in number, more of them are coming down into the city, and in particular to the Halswell and TaiTapu areas during the winter months.

Check out some great photos of a bellbird on a red hot polka flower in Christchurch

 

The end of summer (but not of the golden weather)

I am sure I am not alone in noticing how the length of the days is fast diminishing. I am still surprised by the streetlights coming on soon after eight, and, while I can still rely on the sun to dry the sweat on my horse following our afternoon rides, this will not be the case for much longer, as we lose a couple of minutes of light each day.

The temperature has definitely dropped in the last few weeks. As the days shorten and the temperatures decrease my horse has started growing in his winter coat. His summer-sleek lines looked distinctly fuzzy yesterday, and by May most of my finger disappear into his ample winter hair. The oldest of the horses I look after is already chomping through a full 20 litre bucket of hard feed each night, and this will increase to at least twice that amount each evening. 

The apples on the apple tree are nearly ready, and the birds and the dog have consumed the majority of the plums. I am sure that the plum tree welcomes this, as it is no longer bent over by the weight of fruit. My pumpkin patch on the horse manure pile is going slightly ballistic. Some of the pumpkins are so heavy that they have started sinking into the pile (we won’t tell that to the people who will hopefully be eating them!) so they have been propped up using bits of firewood. The dog thinks that this is a great game, and (un)helpfully drags the bits of wood back over to me once I have finished putting them in place. I am starting to hear the occasional ‘crack-crunch’ of walnuts as I walk under the trees, but it will be a few weeks yet before it sounds like I am letting off fireworks as I walk along because of the sheer amount of nuts.

The rain last week was much appreciated, but like almost everyone with stock, we would like more please!

Hope that you all have a good break this Easter.

Sabys Road Bridge and beyond

I was delighted to see the Sabys Road bridge finally opened.  Considering the mentality and the quality of our benighted council it was quite an achievement to see them actually repair this little bridge only two and a half years after it fell down in the first earthquake.  Of particular interest was the expert production planning which resulted in a neat illuminated sign which first assured us all that the bridge would be repaired by 18 November, then the sign changed to 18 December.  A few days later it read 21 December, a week later 18 January. At last it said "SOON".  I am so glad these clowns are not running a bus service ! Being a regular traveller over his bridge I frequently trotted by to see progress and I am pleased to inform local residents that my new book " Variations on the Theme of Leaning on Shovels - Illustrated" will be coming out shortly.

Anywhere else in the civilised world this work would have been done in a couple of weeks, but in The Peoples Republic of Christchurch, Marxist Leninism thrives.

Has anyone any one idea what the ****** is going on with all the long dragged out road works on the main Halswell- Tai Tapu Road ? I only wish I could make my "work" last so long, get paid, no doubt handsomely, and stay "employed" so securely. Or am I just a little bit cynical?    

Does anyone else feel, as I do, that earthquake recovery actually means mindless vandalism of beautiful heritage buildings, repair of roads that are serviceable while really ruined roads are ignored, badly planned disruption to traffic, construction of ugly concrete boxes and an end to any character or history of what was a shining example of British Colonial achievement?

 Thanks to Ron for this piece

Summer: Fruit and flames

Cut grass being turned ahead of baling.
Photo credit: L. Hawke

Recent grass fires around Canterbury have led to an increase of unease among those who are all too aware of the flammable nature of grass over summer. It was therefore a great relief to me to get the paddock topped in early January (topping is when the grass is cut, as if for hay, but left to lie on the paddock instead of being baled). While the grass is still very flammable, the shorter length reduces the fuel available to any fires. It also makes the fire more survivable for any stock, indeed, in the Victorian bushfires those stock that survived were often on well eaten out paddocks.

The various fruit and nut trees around the paddock are in full swing, with plums and elderberries ready to be harvested (if the birds don’t get them first). The four walnut trees have started producing nuts, and I expect that I will soon hear the chatter of feasting possums. The apple trees are also producing fruit, though it will be a while before the apples will be ready to eat. I have experimented this summer with growing pumpkins on the horse manure pile. I was worried that the only thing I was going to get from them was leaves, but they have just started flowering, so watch this space!

The welcome swallows that I mentioned in my last article are doing well. At least one pair managed to successfully raise a handful of chicks, so we now have nine resident swallows zipping around the paddock, snapping up insects as they go. I have resumed feeding one of the horses oats ahead of winter, and it is difficult to tell who is more enthusiastic about this development: the horse, or the sparrows! Every evening a crowd of sparrows now perches patiently on the fence wires, waiting for the horse to either move off, or tip over her feed bucket. As the days start to shorten this will become less of a feature, as these opportunistic birds will have retired for the night by the time the horses are fed.