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NATURE by Forest and Bird
From one Lupin seed... The Russell lupin – is there a plant that is more loved yet so despised? Every spring, around early December, there is a flood of photos hitting social media pictorially celebrating the massed spires of mauve, orange, pink, cream and every shade in between. The comments flow – spectacular, amazing, they really brighten up the place, natives are so drab.... or: worst pest plant ever, spray them all, gaudy unwanted intruder! If you travel through the Lindis Pass now, you will notice a broad band of brown all along Pass Burn, wilted lupins along the highway and in the Lindis Pass Scenic Reserve, dug-out lupins strewn amongst the tussock (100% effective weed control!). These are efforts to rid our high country of lupins. Lupinus polyphyllus is a tough perennial originating from North America. It forms a green leafy mound by early summer when it pushes up tall colourful scented flower spires, which transform to brown seed pods later in summer. These open explosively with heat and project large numbers of very long lived seeds away from the parent plant. Then the plant becomes tatty and dies down to a bunch of brown stalks until next spring. As a result of this jaunty lifestyle these plants spread thickly and quickly, smothering out other vegetation. They love to invade riverbed and roadside gravels and being nitrogen fixers can invade poorer substrate. So what’s so bad about lupins? They are so pretty! It’s their aggressive spread that’s the main problem especially along water ways where the flow spreads their millions of long-lived seeds everywhere. They smother out other vegetation such as pastoral grassland and native grassland communities. Then if they are removed, only exotic species tend to fill the space – the native species do not return. Lupins change the soil, by making more nitrogen available. This favours stronger faster growing exotics, once again displacing native species. Lupins create vast areas of dense vegetation cover on formerly bare open gravel riverbeds. Essential breeding and nesting habitat for our braided river birds is lost, and the vegetation provides cover for introduced predators to hide in, resulting in further loss to riverbed bird populations. The dense infestations also interfere with the way braided river systems work, unnaturally stabilising areas of gravel and dramatically altering the whole ecosystem which is meant to be dynamic and open. The channels become deeper and more incised rather than shallow and shifting. Triple whammy – loss of nesting habitat, cover for predators and also loss of feeding habitat for
Anne Stevens, doing her best to rid the the Lindis Pass of invasive Lupins.
our threatened braided river birds like black stilt, wrybill and black-fronted terns. Given their rapid spread and prolific growth and the fact they are deciduous, there is the possibility they are contributing large amounts of nitrogen to freshwater environments. This question has been asked several times (by me) but never answered by a scientist. If anyone has an answer to this, I would love to be informed! How did they get to be such a pest? Simple - people liked them, so they blissfully scattered the seed along roads and other places to make them pretty. Cultivars of lupins bred to remove the bitter taste are also being planted as pasture for stock in some areas such as the Mackenzie Basin (where they are also one of the worst weeds). The “licence” to plant them relies heavily on the farmer following prescribed practice to preventing them seeding and spreading. The same once applied to gorse hedges – we all know how that ended! So what obligations do landowners and managers have to control and remove lupins? In Canterbury, they are a “pest organism”. In Otago, they are listed in the Sustained Control Programme group of pest plants. This means they must be removed (or not planted) within 200m of the edge of an open gravel river plain or river channel or within 50m of any other river and within 10m of your boundary. To not comply with these rules is an offence under section 154N(19) of the Biosecurity Act 1993. And what can you do as a non-landowner? Join a community group carrying out lupin control, like the Lindis Pass Conservation Group. Remove any you find on public land if you can or at least stop them flowering. If you like them in your garden make sure they do not escape. And do not celebrate them on lakesides and along rivers by posting pictures of them on social media unless you also say you immediately removed them all! Anne Steven is a committe member of the Central Otago-Lakes Branch of Forest and Bird and Chair of the Lindis Pass Conservation Group.
Top names revealed Charlotte is back at the top of the list of the most popular baby names for girls in 2021 and Oliver has remained the most popular boy’s name for the ninth year in a row. Manaia comes in as the most evenly split gender-neutral name, at a 50/50 split for boys and girls, with Quinn sitting just below the top of the list. Top of the lists of Māori names, based on criteria from the Te Taura Whiri Māori Language
THE WĀNAKA SUN
Commission, are Mia for girls and Nikau for boys. Every year the Registrar-General shares the most popular baby names by gathering information from SmartStart. In 2021 99% of babies born in Aotearoa were registered using the online tool for new parents. “SmartStart makes it easy for parents to find out all the things that need to be done when a baby is born, starting with registering the birth”, says Registrar-General Births, Deaths and
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Welcome, second wave Hello to the long-term residents of Wānaka and all the happy holiday makers here at the moment. I see the second wave of holiday makers have come to town now and the lake is being used flat out over the last couple of days. Just a reminder that motorised craft are to operate below 5 knots within 50 metres of another craft and also within 50 metres of a person swimming. There is a swimming lane in Roys Bay near Waterfall Creek marked by a rows of orange buoys. There is regular sailing coaching on our lake with young learners out there and if you rip past you are putting them at risk of injury. It’s a big lake so be considerate of others please. There is a good document on the Queenstown Lakes District Council website. Google “QLDC lakes and boating” super simple. We have had quite a few scams reported in the last few weeks so be aware. Don’t assume that if the bank or business that is calling you is who they say they are. It is worth checking the number online or calling the business directly and confirming. Do not give personal details or transactions details over the phone. Tens of thousands of dollars have been taken. As most people are well aware, there was a large fire in the Glendhu Bay area. We know the cause of the fire. Make sure you are careful cooking and use no naked flames - and smoking in the outdoors Marriages Jeff Montgomery. “Registering your newborn makes sure they have an official identity from birth, so they can access their legal rights as they grow up.” The site, which can be used anytime and on any device, also explains what parents need to do to get an IRD number for their baby, how to adjust a Ministry of Social Development benefit, and how to apply for the $60 a week BestStart payment. Registration is free and helps in the tracking of names. Isla and Amelia are the second and third most popular girls’ names for 2021, having fought Charlotte for the top spot for the last three
THURSDAY 13.01.22 - WEDNESDAY 19.01.22
where the ground is tinder dry. A fire doesn’t take much to start and gets out of control very quickly. We disrupted another cannabis plantation which we were advised of by a member of the public. Well done that person who let us know. If those persons would like to explain they can call me... There is a lot of found property at the station so if you have lost something valuable give us a call during office hours and we will check if it is here. We impounded a motorcycle in the Albert Town area. I understand there has been some local discussion in the Albert Town area about some problems. Please report issues directly to police. We can’t deal with a matter that has not been reported to us or information given third hand. We are catching plenty of drink drivers still. We stop a large number of cars every night. Don’t think we won’t stop you. Find another way home or better still don’t take your car to town or where you will be drinking at all. We dealt with a job where a customer did not receive their courier package when expected and made some bad decisions. Not that person’s shining moment, I’m sure. This just held up others from getting their packages. Please be safe and remember that we are all here hoping to enjoy summer so be mindful of others. Oh, and wear sunscreen. – By Bruce McLean Senior Constable, NZPD years. The same trend runs for boys’ names, with Noah and Jack coming in second and third after joining Oliver in the top three for the previous four years. A new addition to the top ten boys’ names is Theodore, which has been creeping up the ranks in popularity since 2019. In 2021, 56,013 births were registered in New Zealand and there was a total of 16,790 different first names. This shows a slow decline in births from the previous two years. A total of 17,749 different first names were given to 58,676 babies born in 2020. In 2019 18,816 different first names were given to 61,018 babies.
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