By John Lawson
During Friends of Wainui’s working party on Monday morning it was noticed that there are dozens of fly agaric toadstools growing in the oak grove, where the track to the beach turns sharply left at the top of the first hill. Presumably they’ve been waiting for the rain.
Friends of Wainui look after the 10 hectare reserve, either side of the Wainui Stream, beside Wainui Rd, which is part of the 140 hectare council reserve. They have planted about 15,000 trees since 1993.
Work teams from Friends of Wainui tackle a variety of jobs every couple of weeks on Monday mornings. The main work is mowing the tracks, trimming the vegetation beside the tracks, cleaning the ornamental pond and keeping weeds and animal pests under control.
From time to time new plants are added. A major planting is planned when the ground is wet enough. The few treeless gaps in the Reserve will be filled with new plantings. It’s likely work will start on preparing the ground for the new trees from 10am on Sunday 5 May, continuing the following day. If you’re interested please ring John on 825 7866.