Our Year 6 Leaders joined Barrytown and Hokitika Primary Schools in an Action Day organised by Enviroschools Co-ordinators Lauren and Laura.
Our focus was on Matariki, our trip coincided with the rising of Poaka and the Matariki cluster.
There was a rotation of activities. Robyn, a local landowner, shared her knowledge and family traditions, of Celtic origins, and the Hawthorne bushes that grow on her property. Learning about different cultures and their relationships with the natural world is interesting.
Our first activity was astronomical in nature. It centred around the position of stars within the Matariki cluster and the meaning of the stars. Students nominated a star and came up with an action to represent that star, before getting themselves in a position the star holds within the star cluster.
Then it was off to the planting station. Annie and Sarah, from New Zealand Conservation Volunteers, showed us how to correctly plant trees and protect them from marauding weka. The planting connects the existing bush edge with the coastline. This makes a mountain-to-the-sea connection that birds can use to traverse the ecosystems. This is very rare on the Barrytown Flats. The planting is on Robyn's land. It needs to be at least thirty metres wide to support the birds. It takes many thousands of trees to be planted to create the passage. The trees we planted were part of the billion trees planted worldwide to mark the coronation of King Charles III.
Our last station was hosted by Vanessa from the Department of Conservation. The focus of this station was on the ecosystem present in the Ngahere, the bush. We created a web of life based on local fauna, and then we shook the bushes to find creatures we don't always see as we traverse through the bush. The highlight was a stick insect but huhu's were also in high demand.
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