Kapiti Mana
October
Branch Newsletter
Grand Waimeha Planting Day
Amelia Coulter proudly
plants her little tree.
GREAT GIFT FOR KIDS
KCC membership makes a great
gift for the child in your life.
Single subscription
$12 took part and to Kapiti F&B for their
Family subscription
$20 Waimeha Restoration Group
2006
Grandparents and their grand-
children joined members of Kapiti-
Mana Forest & Bird and the
Waimeha Restoration Group at
Waimeha Lagoon, Waikanae, on 5th
September, for a Grand Planting
Day.
With a lot of help from the adults,
the industrious young enthusiasts
planted all of the 300 grasses, flaxes
and trees donated by Kapiti Forest &
Bird.
When we mulched them a few days
later, several children turned up with
their grandparents to help. It was an
enjoyable, educational time for every-
one.
We are absolutely thrilled with the
result. The new, wide planted area on
the west side of our lovely lagoon will
help with food and nesting sites for
increasing numbers of birds.
A very big thank you to all who
initiative. – Pam Sinclair, Co-ordinator,
 DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!
Kapiti F&B members had a preview
of Nga Manu’s new dive tank for scaup
on Thursday 19th October.
Nga Manu Trust chairman Peter
McKenzie thanked Kapiti Mana F&B
for their $4000 donation.
The scaup were all resting on the
surface when staff member Rhys Mills
dropped some food onto the bottom.
Branch members watched, fascinated,
as the birds dived deep and sucked it up.
– David Gregorie
Photo: Randall Walker, Kapiti Observer.
Chairman to stand down
David will not accept nomina-
tion to be Branch chairman at the
2007 Annual General Meeting.
He is willing to accept nomina-
tion to the committee, to edit the
newsletter and to arrange the
programme, but will not take on
any other administrative tasks.
Monthly Meetings
Attendances are up at our monthly
meetings this year.
We have had some outstanding
speakers so far, and more have been
arranged for the new Summer
Programme. Why not come along?
Bird Song at Nga Manu
Ralph Powlesland will give a
presentation at Nga Manu on
Friday, January 12, at 2 pm
on attracting native birds to
your garden.
Donation to Library
Chris Thomas gave an outstanding
presentation on waterfowl and wet-
lands at our July meeting.
His “New Zealand Odyssey”
DVD is user-friendly and contains
some remarkable photography of
native wetland flora and fauna.
We have donated copies to the
Waikanae and Paraparaumu libraries
and we recommend that members
take the opportunity to borrow them.
– Maurice Andrews
 The Pharazyn Reserve KCC Day at Nga Manu
This new recreation reserve Around 90 KCC members visited
will replace the old sewage treatment
Nga Manu on Saturday 14 October
plant at Waikanae.
for a day of fun and activities.
Preliminary planting and devel-
opment work is being carried out by KCC members were admitted free as
KCDC and Nga Uruora volunteers. an appreciation of F&B support, but
Five Branch Committee members most families gave a donation to help
are members of a focus group to upgrade the owl’s cage.
provide input into the development. Rhys Mills spoke on the work of Nga
There will be more opportunities Manu and allowed a kiwi (stuffed) and a
for the Branch to be involved as the live tuatara to make an appearance.
project develops. – Maurice Andrews
Nga Manu guides Judy Childs and
Judy Petterson, assisted by KCC leaders
Street Stall Sales Janet Hollow and Angela Murton, ran
workshops for the children on ferns and
Our August street stall sales were other plants, birds and insects.
down on last year, but about average
for the last three years.
The stalls brought in:
Raumati
$336.65
Waikanae
$526.40.
The bulk of the sales were of
plants from our Branch Nursery.
Many thanks to those who pro-
vided home produce and plants.
Thanks also to Liddle Wonder,
Gus Evans and Coastal Nurseries Victoria has a conversation with Keko
for their support.
Keko the talking tui was an enormous
Calendars and Diaries attraction while the scaup sat by their
new dive tank studying the children with
Our annual sale of F&B calendars
interest.
and diaries is coming to a close and
we expect to net about $2,300, The day finished with Rhys feeding
slightly more than last year. the eels at 2 pm.
Many thanks to the volunteers who KCC girl Bonnie thanked him on be-
put in many hours going from door to half of everyone. – Sharyn Gunn
door. – Maurice Andrews
 Krista and Alyssa McCullum help their Nanna Lorraine Woolton plant flax at Waimeha.
Volunteers
In response to our telephone survey
we have received several offers of
assistance with our various projects.
We may not have taken advantage of
your offer yet, as the projects are
seasonal, but we will be in touch.
We also hope that some of you will
be able to help with:
Publicity Officer
Membership Secretary
Minute Secretary
Web Site Manager
For further information phone
Maurice Andrews — 904 2961
Profits Used for
Community Projects
Branch Nursery profits have
enabled the following grants to
be made in the last few years:
• Pharazyn wetland (KCDC) -
$10 000
• Support for F&B Field Officer -
$5000
• Scaup Dive tank at Nga Manu -
$4000 (See page 2)
• Portable generator for Nga
Manu - $1495
• Fluttering shearwater project
(Mana Island) - $2000