What's On at Zealandia

Through the ZEALANDIA youth ambassador programme, young people in Wellington were given the opportunity to contribute to conservation with support from the ecosanctuary. Elizabeth Werner is 18 years old and from Tawa. She is passionate about science communication and loves to creatively express the issues facing the environment through public speaking, art, and dance. 

It’s a beautiful calm summer evening. The last glow of the sunset is just fading from the sky and most of the daytime birds have fallen silent, although the kākā are still intermittently screeching in the tall pines at the top of the valley. I’m at the pylon, one of the highest points in the ZEALANDIA valley. I’m with another volunteer, and together we start unpacking torches, a clipboard and a compass, check the time, and settle ourselves down on a bench to wait.

It’s autumn and fungi are appearing all over the ZEALANDIA valley. There are also fungi sprouting up in the ZEALANDIA stairwell - but in the form of Hayley May’s beautiful photographs. Her exhibition, ‘an enchantment of fungi’, is running until the end of June 2019. Hayley’s photographs were featured in this online photo essay a couple of years ago and she has continued to photograph fungi in the valley ever since.

Here are a few things that you may not know about fungi...

You may not see very much of the newest arrivals in the valley, but they are being carefully monitored all the same.

Two hundred kākahi (New Zealand freshwater mussels) have just been translocated from Wairarapa Moana and the Parangarahu lakes to the Upper Lake with the help of iwi partners, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Rangitāne o Wairarapa. Two different kākahi  species were included in the translocation: Echyridella menziesi and Echyridella aucklandica.

ZEALANDIA’s recent open weekend, held on 5-6 May, attracted a total of 6,188 visitors to the valley – with over 4,000 of these taking advantage of beautiful weather to visit on the Sunday.

The open weekend, held annually, is when ZEALANDIA opens its gates to the people of Wellington for a donation of $2 – our way of thanking the people of Wellington for their continued support, and an opportunity to share our sanctuary with people who may have never visited before.

When Lynn Freeman is not hard at work in the Radio New Zealand studios, she can often be found in ZEALANDIA, which she describes as her “happy place”, a place where she can get away from the stresses of work, take a walk and listen to the birds.

The Great Kererū Count is starting soon! From 22 September to 1 October, thousands of New Zealanders will be taking part in this citizen science project by recording their sightings of kererū.

Michael McBryde, Paul Kitteridge, Ian Appleton and Alan Perry call themselves the ‘road gang’. They are members of ZEALANDIA’s Wednesday working group – a group that meets every Wednesday morning  to carry out a wide range of maintenance tasks.

Sheila Playford has been described as a ‘Giant Weta Woman’. Since 2011, she has carried out a weekly survey of ZEALANDIA’s Giant Weta population and her dedication recently won her a ZEALANDIA ‘kākā’ award for outstanding volunteer contributions.

Aged 13, George Hobson is one of ZEALANDIA’s youth ambassadors – a team of around ten young people who help with the work of the Education Team. George’s enthusiasm and dedication recently won him ZEALANDIA’s Tītipounamu Award for Future Leaders.