Friends of Lord Howe Island Newsletter No.26 Summer 2009 Weeding dates for 2010 Friends Reunion Music afternoon Dates have been set for 2010 weed trips these are: As mentioned in the last newsletter, the FLHI are April 24 to May 1 (note this trip already full) trying to organize a reunion, get-together with the June 12 to 19; Moods playing jazz, at Eryldene Historic House, July 3 to 10; Gordon, Sydney. July 10 to 17 Aug 29 to Sept 5 The committee has decided that more time is required to guarantee success, so will be worked on This is the first year that a trip has been offered in further before nominating dates. April, and already the maximum number of 24 have booked on it already– it is bound to be a great week Relief at last to the dry summer and achieve a lot of progress on the remaining infestation of Climbing asparagus. The ocean will The second half of 2009 was very dry on Lord be a focus of afternoon activities – as the ocean Howe Island, with the amount of 267mm from July temperatures should still be 23 to 24 degrees- great to November being about half the average. for swimming and snorkeling. November received only 15.4mm, the driest November since 1888. This was followed by the Bookings are coming in for the other 2010 trips, driest December since 1911, with just 25mm of rain and it looks like being another great year of falling for that month. November 30th 2009 also achievement for weed eradication. See the back was the warmest November day on record- at 28° C page for booking form. Many residents had run out of water and the LHI Board arranged for delivery of water supplies from tanks attached to public buildings.

The effect of the dry on the forest is evident in many places around the island – several large brown patches of dead vegetation appeared on the north hills. On Mount Gower, the summit vegetation had some protection from the dry conditions by the cloud cover providing humidity and moisture to leaves, but plants, such as the fern Blechnum contiguum growing just below the cloud base did suffer.

last big wall of Climbing asparagus going.

Marine scholarship

The Lord Howe Island Marine Parks Advisory Committee is setting up a fund to sponsor island residents who may wish to undertake a course in some area of study related to the marine environment, with priority given to conservation.

The Friends of Lord Howe Island Group will be

involved as a community group with tax However relief came in January with some good deductibility to accept and hold funds while waiting falls from the middle of the month, totaling for applicants of the scholarship to apply. Further 120mm. details will be noted in the newsletter.

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Presidents Report In December 2009, DECC Nicholas Carlisle plus local and mainland volunteers began surveys, A Happy New Year to all Friends of Lord Howe including overnight stays on Roach Island and Island. 2009 was a very successful year for our Muttonbird Island. This was only achieved with a effort in eradicating Climbing asparagus. lucky window of good weather, as access is limited by sea and swell conditions. As part of the surveys, In 2010 the Friends of Lord Howe Island are special rodent baits were placed on the offshore needed more than ever. Over the past five years the islets, to be checked in February, to ascertain if the LHI Board has received generous funding from the islets are rat free, as so far presumed. Commonwealth government to make big inroads into the weed problem on the Island. However the Millennium Seed Bank Project Board’s latest application for ongoing funding under the Caring for Our Country program was During May 2009 and January 2010, staff from the unsuccessful. In a major setback for the LHIB, its NSW Seedbank at Mount Annan Botanic Garden application in the 2009-2010 budget year for were on Lord Howe Island to collect seed for $400,000 to fund weeding, plus for the next three conservation and research, in partnership with the fiscal years, has not been approved. The local part- Millennium Seed Bank Project, of the Royal time weed team is already out of work. The LHI Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. This project aims to Board is now looking to apply for funding from collect and store a representation of the world’s other sources. It also intends to re-apply under the plant species for long term preservation. As Caring for Our Country scheme in the 2010-2011 different plants have seed ripe at different times of year. the year, two visits were made, in order to collect as many species as possible. The latest trip was also The progress made against the Transit Hill financially supported by the Department of Climbing asparagus infestation is remarkable and a Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW for great example of what a volunteer force can ex situ conservation of Lord Howe Island species. achieve. It is hoped that 2010 will see the removal of all remaining mature fruiting Climbing In May 2009 collectors Leahwyn Seed and Richard asparagus plants from the area. Johnstone were here and collected about 46 species, from all over the Island, including Mount So the continuation of the efforts by the Friends of Gower summit. In January 2010 Leahwyn again LHI volunteers that began nearly fifteen years ago, visited, this time with Graeme Errington and made and played a big part in getting weed eradication to collections of those species not available in the the front of the environmental management, is very May visit. The record dry summer had resulted in much still needed and appreciated. very poor seed development in some species, but the trip was worthwhile, with 21 species collected. Des Thompson President The seeds, after initial cleaning on the Island, are Seabird surveys on offshore islets. taken back to laboratories at Mount Annan. The larger fleshy-fruited seeds are tested for desiccation As part of research around the proposed rodent tolerance as part of the Rainforest Seed Project eradication project, seabird surveys are being research. The rest are processed through final undertaken on Lord Howe Island and its offshore cleaning, sorting and storage at -18°C. Half the islets. Surveys will be carried out December 2009, seeds of each species collected will be sent to the and February and May 2010. Millennium Seed Bank for long term storage.

2 Report on week July 12 to 19 The task for the weeding mornings was to take on one of the last really dense patches of climbing Ian Sinclair started the diary with “Well here we asparagus- and one huge area about 40 x 40 metres are again, a very mixed and excited group of of 100% asparagus infestation was demolished, weeders. Some old faces and some new people yet leaving total bare ground, as no natives had to be initiated into weeding.” survived from long cover by the weed. The group continued into the surrounding forest on less dense Some of the very experienced weeders included infestations, with a total of 301 hours put in for the Rae Allen, Gwenda Lister, Annie Hawker, Richard week. Waterfield, Ian Sinclair and Gail Grace, and we were very honoured to have Rymill Abell along too. Recent converts along for a second trip included Bryan and Jenny Hacker, and Gil Crossly, who brought two daughters, Julia and Marguerite, along this year.

On Malabar Hill

Generally the weather was fine, and the group enjoyed walks to Malabar, Rocky Run, Little Island and North Bay. A fit group most participated in the walks- and when it came to Mount Gower, six weeders went along, with Robert and Ian. A good The two July trips were in school holidays, and as day with a few other tourists along, as all guides Robert Coenraads had volunteered as leader for the were off the island. Although the morning had weeks, and he enjoys bringing his family over for started overcast with a light shower, the decision to the two weeks, we had informally promoted these go was made, and was shortly vindicated as the two trips as weeks to bring children along for a cloud disappeared and a fine day developed. All weeding experience. climbers made it to the top, enjoyed the view, the moss forest and Providence petrels before starting For this first week we had four children – Robert’s the downward leg of the trek. With a reasonably daughters Leonora and Francheska, plus Rosemary large party, it was near dark when we reached the Fong was here with her mother Karen and Harrison boulder beach at little Island - and Robert had to Evans was here with his grandmother Hazel Evans. make a hurried dash back onto the Lower Road to The entire group encouraged and nurtured the retrieve a camera left behind!! children and they soon got into the swing with tools and techniques; and thoroughly enjoyed the whole week- the weeding, the walks and company of our weeders.

After attack by the group

This group was able to enjoy the jazz band The Moods – one of the favourites of these weeks, as Before attack by group the weeders and The Moods go back into the

3 1990’s. So each evening before dinner and also enough beds to go around, so some volunteered to after dinner we crowded into the bar area to listen. sleep on couches, or the floor. At 2..30 a.m. some were ferried back to Pinetres, those who had found beds went back at 7 am. The following night The Moods played a rendition of a tune they hurriedly put together- Tsunami Charlie- about the surfer who didn’t go to high ground, but waited with his surf board on the beach, to catch the big one.

Lots of funny stories around the whole night, and a good practice run for future warnings.

Overall a very successful week – Rymill penned in the diary “On our last day of weeding I am so Tsunami alert impressed by what has been achieved by this particular group. What was a wall of impenetrable On the night after the big Mount Gower climb, Climbing asparagus last Monday is now a cleared everyone was sitting feeling quite relaxed, area with old logs and piles of cut plant material. contented about the day. Shortly after dinner, the We are over the summit of this hillock and now the jazz was interrupted when Pinetrees Manager John ground slopes away from this newly cleared area.” Blackett stopped the music to announce “a tsunami warning has been issued”. Yes, an earthquake south Richard Waterfield, veteran of eleven weeding west of the south island of New Zealand had trips, told me that out of all his weeding trips, this occurred at about 5pm, and the Australian one was the one he enjoyed most. Government has issued a tsunami alert for LHI and the coast of NSW. The LHI Board had issued (I must say it was also one of my most enjoyable, directions for all residents and tourists at low lying because of the fabulous people along. It was areas to move to high ground- the site of the Old particularly good to have Rymill back and I do Met station near Jims Point- at about 45 metres hope he continues to join in future years to see the above sea level. So we all had 5 minutes to gather finish of what we started together many years ago. ) what belongings we wanted and were ferried to the safety site. Some of our weeders had already retired Karen Fong contributed this entry to the diary: and had to change into clothes for the evacuation. Who are the weeders? The mood was reasonably cheery, with much chatting and song. One subgroup of weeders Willing camped in a Pinetrees bus and after running out of Enthusiastic well known songs to pass the time away, began on Eager a number of dirty ditties, one of which prompted a Diggers celebrity guest present to recite the Lords prayer as Environment-loving an exorcism. Responsible Special

People

Temporary accommodation at Beachcomber

Around 11pm, no officials would give the order to return to Pinetres, so John had arranged for Pinetrees guests to be housed at Beachcomber- not The junior weeders with their certificates

4 Powerhouse Fire Report weeders trip July 19 to 26

There were fourteen along on this week – and mostly newcomers to the program. Veterans John and Soie Zyla were along, with Robert Coenraads and his two daughters as the experienced Lord Howe Island weeders. We welcome new weeders – Peter and Moira Lloyd, Richard and Thomas Bird and Lynne walker, all from Armidale; Hugh Capes, Barry Enkelman and Bronwyn Campbell. All the crew has had some experience in different parts of Australia. Furthermore, all were inspired when they viewed the weeding site on the first morning, and saw the progress that had been made just this year Late on the evening of Friday 13th November, a fire by previous groups. started in the powerhouse and destroyed most of the roof and nearly left the Island without power.

Only the quick action in the early hours of Saturday morning by local RFS volunteers and residents contained the blaze before the building was burned down and the diesel generators put out of action. The blaze took about 20 minutes to control and a further 2 hours to put out.

The new diesel generators were not damaged, and only one back-up generator incurred some water damage. The island was without power from midnight to about 4.30 am. This crew kept up the march towards the end of this infestation, and by day three had struck the last A structural engineer and forensic fire investigator high wall of Climbing asparagus left- very arrived on the Island Saturday to carry out excitedly they tackled this and soon had it removed. investigations. It is believed that the cause of the blaze was a short in electrical wiring in the roof, For this historic event, the activity was recorded for probably wires connected to a light fitting. posterity on video. The French film crew from Thalassa was on the Island to make a documentary. The Island Trader made a special voyage the The producer Chantal Perrin had been in touch following week to transport three containerized about the weeding program six months prior to generators and associated equipment. These coming, and arranged their visit to coincide with portable generators have been set up outside the the weeding trips. Chantal and the video camera powerhouse, enabling the permanent generators to operator Gilles Ragris visited the weeding site on be removed while repairs to the building take place. Transit Hill over two mornings, and came on several afternoon walks, including North Bay and Over the past 20 years there have been proposals to the Old Gulch. relocate the powerhouse away from the town centre, and a special report is being undertaken, to determine whether this will happen or the current power house be rebuilt.

Crushed glass being used on the Island.

LHI Board manager Technical Services Barry Rogers has arranged a glass crusher for the Island to deal with waste glass from bottles and containers. The crushed glass product is now being mixed with gravel for use in road sealing projects on the Island. Each tonne of glass used to replace imported gravel saves the Board about $300. Tackling the last high wall of Climbing asparagus

5 Thalassa is the name of a weekly program made for French TV5 and syndicated in 84 countries. The documentary style program focuses on the sea and anything to do with it- islands, coastal environment, fisherman, sea creatures. The documentary will go to air in France 22 January, and on SBS Australia sometime in 2010.

Mount Gower climbers

What motivates people to give their time To come to an island, oh so sublime Weeding and walking, trudging uphill To clear the island of a terrible ill It’s called commitment, or so they say Rock platform at Blinky Beach It may be mad but it’s the only way To rid the island of this terrible weed A strong group of walkers, everyone tackled Those who come here have a powerful need Malabar, Rocky run and Little Island. The tides To make a difference, perform a good deed were exceptionally low this week, so the group not Imbued with enthusiasm, concern and great care only enjoyed a fantastic low tide reef walk at Ned’s For World Heritage values , ever so rare Beach, but had a rare treat exploring the rock shelf They have so much to give and so much to gain exposed at Blinkie Beach only on rare low tides These weeders are tough, they don’t mind the pain such as this week. There were lots of interesting Of day after day trudging uphill shells, algae and formations in the rock to explore. To rid the island of a terrible ill Asparagus weed is what it is called At North Bay the tide was low enough to venture Fern-like and dainty, preferably balled around the rocks to the Herring Pools, and here the Into mountainous weed piles, at least six\feet high Thalassa crew interviewed a number of weeders on All over Transit Hill these weed piles lie how they felt about Lord Howe Island and the Bearing testimony to weeders, who gave of their weeding experience. time To weed on this island so so sublime.

Moira Lloyd

North Bay bbq

The North bay bbq enjoyed by all

On Saturday, the last day, five weeders ventured to Mount Gower summit, including Thomas Bird- Interview at the Herring Pools who enjoyed this as a great 16th birthday experience.

6 Mystery beds. They have been spotted in North Bay, Sylphs Hole (Settlement Beach) and at Cobby’s Corner By Dr Mandy Reid (Lagoon Beach). Whether the cuttlefish that were seen are, indeed, baxteri remains a mystery. Almost seventy years ago, Tom Iredale, a self- However, the possibility is a strong one. I found taught ornithologist and malacologist, was sent Sepia baxteri cuttlebones on all of these beaches, as seven cuttlebones from Lord Howe Island. Six of well as on Ned’s Beach. They all appeared clean them matched common eastern Australian species, and undamaged suggesting they had not floated but one was quite different. On the basis of this vast distances. The largest one is 9 cm in length. single cuttlebone, Iredale named a new species, Blandosepia baxteri (now Sepia baxteri), after the I also found numerous cuttlebones of Sepia opipara person who sent him the bones, Mr. Robert Baxter. (Iredale, 1926) (in good condition and known from eastern and north-western mainland Australia from Cuttlebones come from cuttlefish — about 80–200 m), and single weathered examples molluscs that are closely related to squid and of: Sepia plana Lu & Reid, 1997 (a very deepwater octopus. Unlike squid they have a fin that extends species (400–500 m) from north-eastern and north- all the way around the body and are usually much western Australia); Sepia plangon Gray, 1849 broader than the torpedo-shaped squid. Like squid (from eastern Australia, living in the shallows to (and different from octopuses) cuttlefish have two ~200 m) and Sepia whitleyana Iredale, 1946 (from tentacles in addition to their eight arms. These are eastern Australia to about 130 m depth). used to capture their prey.

The cuttlebone inside the body of the cuttlefish is used to regulate buoyancy, so cuttlefish can hover, appearing weightless, in the water. They live for about one year, and die after mating. When this occurs, the hard cuttlebones get washed up on beaches, sometimes in large numbers.

The interesting and puzzling thing about the supposed Sepia baxteri is that it is only known from Iredale’s single cuttlebone and a whole has never been collected to see whether it is a valid species, or even whether it actually occurs around Lord Howe. Sometimes cuttlebones can drift long distances, so it could be that the actual they came from live elsewhere. The cuttlebone of Sepia baxteri is quite similar to that of a species described Tom Iredale from the Banda Sea in , Sepia bandensis Adam, 1939.

Until whole animals of these two supposed species are compared it is impossible to determine whether they are indeed distinct or one-and-the-same.

While recently planning a week’s holiday to Lord Howe with my eight-year-old son I started thinking about the Sepia baxteri mystery and wondered about the possibility of trying to find and collect a few specimens to try and solve this longstanding puzzle and add to the knowledge about the marine fauna of this beautiful island. The original cuttlebone sent to Iredale and Unfortunately, on this trip I was unable to find any described as Blandosepia baxteri. The bone is live animals but this is very likely because I learned housed in the Australian Museum, Sydney. from locals (many thanks!) along the way that cuttlefish are found only very rarely and have either been seen by divers or fished at night over sea grass

7 Woodhens breeding at North Bay on 12 January- the first record for Lord Howe Island and for NSW (still here up to 1st February). This summer evidence of Woodhens breeding at North Bay has been observed. A Woodhen chick Hank Bower recorded a Long tailed cuckoo near with its parent has been seen around the picnic area the churches 7 November, a Shining bronze cuckoo at North Bay. While sole Woodhens have been and Baillons crake at the Old Settlement creek, 8 seen there for a number of years, this is the first December. A White – tailed tropicbird was confirmation of them breeding at North Bay. reported flying off Malabar on 16 December by M Graham from Tasmania. Predation by humans, cats, pigs and dogs had ------forced the Woodhens into mainly high mountain 2010 weed trip booking form. areas by the 1880’s and reduced the total population to perhaps just 20 or 30 birds. Following Dates: June 12 to 19; July 3 to 10; July 10 to 17 the removal of feral cats and pigs from the Island in Aug 29 to Sept 5 1979, and the release of 93 captive-bred Woodhens Cost: $2158.97 in 1983, the Woodhen population began spreading Sydney or Brisbane, twin share out across the Island, and reaching approximately (Sole rooms subject to availability - $2,333.97) 300 birds. However Woodhens did not take up any Deposit $ 200 (cheque made to PINETREES) territory in the North Bay area. Despite two Balance $1958.97 (twin share) or $2133.97(sole attempts by the project aviculturist Glenn Fraser to use) 45 days prior to trip. establish Woodhen pairs at North Bay, none stayed. Please book me on the Lord Howe Island bush Often in the past 10 years a Woodhen has been regeneration tour seen at North Bay, but none confirmed breeding. Included is my deposit of $200 per person Now it looks like a population of Woodhens may establish in the North Bay area, and on our visits Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss______there during weeding weeks, we may be joined at lunch by some Woodhens. Address ______

______

Phone ______

Email ______

QANTAS Frequent Flyer number ______

I prefer to go on dates: Woodhen chick and parent at North Bay Please send form and deposit cheque to: Unusual bird sightings Lord Howe Island Nature Tours PO Box 157 Four new records for the Island - owl researcher Lord Howe Island David Milledge reported a Black-fronted dotterel at NSW 2898 Moseley Park swamp on 26th August, the first record for LHI. Another first record was a Brown Next Newsletter Skua, photographed by British bird observer Matthew Rodgers off Clear Place on 30th Next newsletter will give a report on the final 2009 November. On 31st October, resident Stan Fenton weeding week (August 30), a map of Climbing found a dead Southern fulmar on Blinkie Beach. asparagus remaining, plus a summary of ongoing research and conservation programs on Lord Howe However, the star observation was by 14 year old Island. birder Ashwin Rudder from Sydney. Ashwin was here with his family on a holiday, all keen birders, Friends of Lord Howe Island Newsletter compiled by and Ashwin spotted a laughing gull at North Bay Ian Hutton PO Box 157 Lord Howe Island NSW 2898. Email [email protected] 8