News from the Valley

#wildwindows #openVUE Join us in the Wild Windows and Flighty Flags art display! Let’s celebrate this wonderful wild world and fill our valley with pictures of native birds in our windows (or fly a flag if your window is too hard to see for passers-by). Over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of May, let’s fill the community with birds to let them know how welcome they are here. This is one easy way to bring the Kākā to the valley, a true “window of opportunity”! Please take photos of your creations and post them on social media …

With many members of our community currently staying home, we have been offered an opportunity to spend time exploring our backyards and local parks. Maybe in the last week or so you’ve found some new invertebrate creatures hiding in the wood pile, or slinking through the leaf-litter in the corners of your backyard that you’re not too sure what they are. How about giving Creepy Crawly Hunting a go? Carefully lift up logs or tiles/rocks in your backyard and see what might be congregating beneath. You’ll usually find some good hangout spots for invertebrates (they’re definitely not sticking to …

If you find yourself walking along the Lindsay awa, see if you can identify the ‘riparian zone – a strip of vegetation that acts as a buffer between the land and water. In healthy systems, riparian zones are made up of a thick undergrowth of small shrubs and grasses and taller, canopy trees. Riparian zones provide unique habitats for wildlife, such as birds, and protection for water systems. The roots of plants growing in riparian zones provide bank stability and act as a sieve, trapping contaminants, like nutrients and sediments from surface water (runoff) before they reach the waterway …

Open VUE is hosting a free movie night and will be screening two 25-minute films from local film-makers, including one that has a special connection to North East Valley. What does Charlie the cat get up to when his owner is away? Paw and Claw: Finding the balance between pets and wildlife, by Tegan Good, explores how cats have impacted New Zealand’s native wildlife and looks for a future where the two can live in harmony. The second film, The Silent Invader – Can it be stopped? by Berenice Matthieu, takes the viewer to the coast to discover if …

The annual great Valley Spring Clean is coming up on Saturday 21 September from 11am-3pm. If you’re in the mood for a clear out but want to ensure you’re being responsible with what you no longer need, then the Spring Clean is for you. This year, with support from Dunedin City Council, we are going bigger and better, especially in avoiding sending items to landfill. We’ll have a team of dedicated volunteers assessing and diverting as much as possible away from the skip. The Te Rōopū Mānaaki class from North East Valley Normal School will be running a clothes …

What has Open VUE (Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary) uncovered about North East Valley wildlife? There may be many different creatures living in your backyard, from birds to mammals, right down to invertebrates and lizards! Working with our Open VUE educator, Clare Cross, local school pupils from North East Valley, Opoho and Pine Hill took on the challenge to find out exactly what was in their own backyards. They used many different tools and techniques, outlined below, and then combined their findings in what was truly a collaborative citizen science project. Here are the results of what they found out …

What a load of rubbish! The first part of the Creeky Awesomeness Kaitiaki i te awa challenge got off to a filthy start last month when about 40 people helped to clean up Lindsay Creek at Chingford Park. It was depressingly astounding how much we fished out, including three buckets of broken glass shards - yikes! And that is just from a short section of the creek, so better not go barefoot! Six sacks of rubbish were also collected in the one-and-a-half-hour-long effort. Co-organiser, OpenVUE (Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary) educator Clare Cross says she was surprised at just how …