Going Bush

Today my son and I went to Kowai Bush, which is a small, privately owned scenic reserve. It used to be a wonderful place to visit, with the black velvet trunks of the beech trees bristling with honeydew, the soft humming of bees, and song from many different birds. Then the millions of Vespula wasps moved in with their menace, filling the air with a harsh droning buzz. They crawled all over the honeydew so that there was nothing for the birds and bees that depended on the honey. This was the same for most of the native forests in the South Island. It was estimated that the biomass of wasps in S.I. beech forests was as great as the combined biomasses of the birds, rodents and stoats.The birdsong grew quiet.

Then a couple of years ago a new bait was developed to fight the wasps. This has been spread in many places, including Kowai Bush. We went there early this year and found the buzzing had stopped. All we heard were a couple of bellbirds. The honeydew was destroyed and even the black fungus looked sick.

In a few months that has all changed. The first thing I noticed as I climbed out of the car was the singing of bellbirds. The second was the sweet fragrance of honeydew. Once again the black trunks of the beeches are dripping with honeydew and there wasn’t a wasp in sight. It was so lovely to walk through the bush accompanied by native birds and that delicious smell.

I was hoping to get some fungus shots, but it is too late in the season and it has been too dry. Mostly we saw bracket fungi, as well as this tiny toadstool on the black fungus-covered root of a beech tree. See first extra.

The path was narrow and in places rather treacherous. See the second extra for two side-by-side photos of the track.

I made a recording of one of the bellbirds singing and hope to upload it to YouTube when it is ready. Here.