Tasman Every Day

There are different techniques for harvesting hops. This harvester cuts the bines off at the bottom, traps the ends of the bines and pulls on the bines until the suspension string they grew up snaps, releasing the bines into the trailer being towed behind the harvester. Another technique cuts the stems off near the ground and the bines are then draped along a harvesting trailer. A piece of equipment like a giant hedge clipper cuts the suspensions strings at the top and the bines fall along the length of the trailer. Whatever technique is used, harvesting hops is fast and an entire hop garden can be cleared in only a day or two.

Over the summer months, hop bines (not a typo) grow heavier and heavier on their wires until the autumn, when they’re ready to be harvested. In this photo, we see two stages of the harvest process. In the background, the bines and their flowers fill the spaces between supports, while in the foreground, a worker cuts away a remnant left on the overhead wires after the harvester has been through.

The common name of New Zealand’s smallest bird (Acanthisitta chloris) comes from an apparent resemblance of the male bird’s green plumage to the uniform of a colonial rifleman. Whether there is or isn’t a resemblance, there is one pressing question: What is the plural of rifleman? For birds with English names, it’s usually pretty clear: that bellbird/those bellbirds, that fantail/those fantails. And it’s clear for birds with Māori names, because with Māori nouns, the plural is the same as the singular: that kiwi/those kiwi, that kōkako/those kōkako, that tūī/those tūī. But do you write, “Rifleman are tiny,” “Riflemen are so fast they’re difficult to photograph” or “Riflemans are so aggressive that they’re hazardous to humans”? Clearly that last one is ridiculous, as “riflemans” is just odd and wrong. But do I write “those rifleman” or “those riflemen”? The plural of rifleman (the soldier) is riflemen, and so “riflemen” for the birds might seem to be the obvious answer, but I struggled to find references to “riflemen” in the context of the bird. Some websites choose to use the Māori name, tītipounamu, when referring to the bird in the plural. Some websites find ways to avoid having to choose between rifleman or riflemen by using phrases such as “male birds” or “adult birds”. Finally I arrived at Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, which, surely, we can trust to give us the low down on the rifleman/riflemen controversy? Their summary article on small forest birds refers to “the rifleman” while also talking about other small  forest birds in the plural. Does this mean “rifleman” is the plural? Ambiguous. But then their main rifleman article is titled “Riflemen”. Is that definitive? Maybe. Nobody seems to use it, though. Should I start using it? I just can’t make myself write “that pair of riflemen” and feel comfortable about it.

We had a cold snap early in April that saw Wharepapa/Mt Arthur sporting snow for a couple of days, but it quickly went back to being clear of snow. In the last few days, the snow is back and the temperature’s down in a way that suggests the snow is there to stay for the next few months. The Arthur Range and Mt Arthur are named after Captain Arthur Wakefield, the brother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Edward Gibbon Wakefield was an important figure in the New Zealand Company, which was a big player in the colonisation of New Zealand. In 1841, Edward recruited Arthur to lead the settlement of Nelson, and by 1843, around 3000 settlers had arrived. But there wasn’t enough land for all those settlers and local Māori were reluctant to sell. Tensions rose when Captain Wakefield tried to claim ownership of land that belonged to Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. Wakefield claimed he had bought the land off of someone who had bought it from Te Rauparaha, but Te Rauparaha denied ever selling it. A series of bad decisions on the part of Captain Wakefield and the Nelson chief magistrate led to outright conflict with Ngāti Toa. Wakefield, the magistrate, twenty other settlers and at least four Māori died. Governor Robert FitzRoy investigated ‘The Wairau Affray’ and concluded that the colonists had acted illegally because the land had not been sold and the Māori were simply defending what was theirs.

There are only about 150-200 white heron/kōtuku (Ardea alba modesta) in New Zealand, and there’s at least one who is a regular visitor to the Motueka estuary. It’s been named “Eric” by the proprietor of Samaritas By The Sea, a food and coffee caravan at the marina. There’s only one breeding colony in New Zealand, in the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve north of the Okarito Lagoon in South Westland. Kōtuku eat small fish, frogs, insects, mice and small birds. A stuff.co.nz article from last year describes a kōtuku feeding voraciously on silvereyes. The kōtuku became so practiced with this food source that it took to drowning its prey in a puddle before swallowing them down. That was nearby, at Kaihoka in Golden Bay, but I’m sure it wasn’t Eric, he’s just so beautiful. Then again, look at that stabby beak.

Kiwifruit orchards are common in the Tasman District. The kiwifruit in the photo are the more well-known green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa), but gold kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) are also common. Gold kiwifruit have a smooth (not fuzzy) skin, its flesh is pale yellow and it isn’t as sharp as the green kiwifruit. Experimental varieties are also grown, including a red kiwifruit that has yellow flesh similar to that of the gold kiwifruit, a red centre and a deeper flavour. These kiwifruit vines are grown on supports and are harvested from the underside, with pickers reaching up into the canopy and snapping the fruit from the stems.

“House sparrow” is the common name of Passer domesticus, which occurs almost everywhere people occur. In New Zealand, they’re found everywhere except high up in the mountains. Sparrows were brought here by the English in the 1860s, and since then, they’ve spread to our offshore islands and across the Pacific as far as Hawaii. The Hawaii introduction was via ship, not flight, when someone took nine birds to Oahu in 1871. Breeding males sport a natty black bib, white mutton chop sideburns, swept back chestnut eyebrows and a soft grey cap. Females and young males are a bit less showy, in various shades of brown.

One thing the Tasman District isn’t short of is estuaries, and the largest of these is the Waimea Inlet. This photo was taken at Grossi Point, which is a small peninsula on the northern side of the Waimea Inlet, near the town of Mapua. Grossi Point has views across the inlet and over to Rabbit Island, the largest of the barrier islands that separate the inlet from Tasman Bay. This boat was beached near Grossi Point last summer while being worked on, a cost-effective DIY option relative to marina haul out and hardstand fees.

Southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata) flower over the summer months, colouring hillsides throughout the South Island red. Southern rata is a member of the myrtle family and is vulnerable to myrtle rust, an invasive fungal disease that was first detected in New Zealand in 2017. Myrtle rust is windborne and when it was first detected, MPI’s approach was to eradicate it. It continued to spread in the North Island, though, and across Cook Strait to the Tasman District. In April, 2018, MPI announced that we’re going to have to live with it. As of May 2018, it’s been found at three locations in Golden Bay. Research is now focussed on discovering a treatment for myrtle rust and seed banking. This photo was taken near Wainui Falls in February.