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Friends of Lord Howe IslandNewsletter No.46 Winter 2018

FRIENDS OF LORD HOWE ISLANDANNUAL GENERAL MEETING TO BE HELDAt 3 pm on Saturday 22 September 2018

At the home of Ian Sinclair and John Pemble, 28 George Street, Yowie Bay (Sydney) nsw 2228

(A byo bbq will precede the meeting from 12.30Pm)

Please contact Annie Hawker, 14 Cowles road Mosman NSW 2088 or by email at: hawker.annie@gmail.com

As the Friends celebrate 23 years of volunteer weeding and other conservation activities on Lord Howe Island we enter a new phase. The large infestations of Ground and Climbing asparagus that were rampant around the settlement forest have been beaten. The Friends now look to other activities. The next few years may include tackling the large infestations of the garden-escape Sweet pea at the North end of Blinkie Beach, Sea spurge on Lagoon beaches and Coastal morning glory Ipomoea cairica at various sites.

Following removal of rodents from the Island there will be monitoring activities to record the changes that will take place, and Friends groups are well placed to undertake some of this monitoring. One hundred years of impact from rats, and longer by mice, have changed the Island’s biota, and the years following their removal will see spectacular changes. Seedlings of many plant species will increase, we expect many seabirds will increase in number and two (White bellied storm petrels and Kermadec petrels), pushed off by rats, will recolonize the Island from offshore islets; the lizards will increase; and hopefully many beetles and other invertebrates, not seen for decades, will increase and become common. Friends may be able to assist with plans to reintroduce phasmids, the bush cockroach and some beetles still found on offshore islets.

In this issue:

1- future activities for Friends of Lord Howe Island2,3,4 Report on June 2018 weeding ecotour5 Low tides in August; Galapagos shark research6 Beetle Week7 ABC Gardening show; Calystegia affinis site8 Rodent Eeradication delayed; Blackburn Island9 Sallywood Swamp Forest rehabilitation update10 Unusual bird sightings; 2019 ecotours

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Report on June 2018 weeding trip

This trip was a very successful week, with many of our repeat Friends along:John Pemble and Ian Sinclair, Robert and Nancy Pallin, Jane and Stephen Gye, Annie Hawker, Terry and Catherine Kershaw, Gwenda Lister, Lee Courtwood, Trish Evans, Ann Millard, Carolyn Rae, Sue-Ellen Smith, Jeannie Davidson and Stephen Ranft, Anne Pickles (who was on her 10th trip). We also welcomed new weeders Lynne Webb and Suzanne O’Brien, who were invited by Terry and Kate Kershaw. Robert Coenraads was along as assistant, and brought his daughter Leonora, who has been coming on weeding trips since she was six years old.

The group got off to a good Island start - most arrived on the early flight from Sydney and after settling into Somerset headed down to Ned’s Beach for a sumptuous beach bbq followed by a wonderful low tide reef walk.

Our weeding activities included a follow up at the Edie’s Glen site – just one of the outstanding successes of the Friend’s activities - continuing each year to remove weeds such as Fleabane, Crofton weed and Solanum nigrum has allowed the seedlings of native plants to thrive, and many are now three to five metres high, and crowding to form shade and so limit any weeds growing beneath them. We collected about 100 seeds of Cryptocarya triplinervis and Drypetes deplanchei to push into the soil; and planted 40 small Howea palm seedlings, donated by the Kentia Fresh nursery.

Another task was to look at the infestation of Sweet pea near the north end of Blinkie Beach. This garden escape has been around

Ned’s Beach bbq Lovely low tide reef walk

The June team on North Blinkie Beach Sweet pea

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here for decades, but in recent years has spread up slope. There was a small patch that was just the size that we could tackle by hand removing all plants from around natives; then planting seeds of Cryptocarya triplinervis and Drypetes deplanchei, and Howea palm seedlings. We will follow this patch with interest and see if this technique is effective. We also trialled a small area by putting drops of roundup on leaves of the Sweet pea plants to see if that killed the plants – a preliminary look showed that is the case; so in some areas where there is the Sweet pea weed mixed with natives plants this could be an effective treatment method.

Another area we worked was at North Bay, treating the Coastal morning glory Ipomoea cairica. This weed is known in many parts of the island, but in the intact rainforest it can’t outcompete native vines. However where clearing occurs for various reasons such as drought, tree fall etc. it can get away. We did find a few areas like this and treated the vine by scraping the stem with a knife and applying Roundup. We did trial this method on this weedy vine on Blackburn Island in winter 2017 and it was very effective.

Further groups will work on these two weeds – the Sweet Pea and the Coastal morning glory.

Another two mornings were spent trimming native vines, which were smothering small native trees in an area where mature trees had fallen and let a lot of sunlight in. The aim is to allow more rapid growth of the native trees so that they can close the canopy and shade out weeds such as Cape gooseberry, Fleabane and nightshade Solanum nigrum.

the site four weeks laterRemoving Sweet pea from Transit Hill in June

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Our day at North Bay included the weeding of Coastal morning glory, and also a lunch bbq followed by walks to Old Gulch and Mount Eliza. The tides that day were extraordinarily low, so when it was time to go, Dean from Environmental Tours had a challenge to creep his boat in to the shore near Pebbly Beach for us to get aboard for the trip home. Another day the walk to Malabar and Kim’s Lookout was also enjoyed. While our week was on there was also an algae workshop week, and we enjoyed taking part in some of that activity on the Middle Beach rock platform. We also explored The Potholes on South Reef.

On our last night the Lord Howe Island Board CEO Penny Holloway and husband Jean invited the group to government house for thankyou drinks. Penny usually does this for our Friends groups, but this week was very special for two reasons: - it was the last weeding week for Penny as she has completed her term as Board CEO and is going back to Sydney. Penny has always been very supportive of the Friends and we wish her and Jean well in their next adventures.

The other social event was the formal marriage of Ian Sinclair and John Pemble. In May 2016 they had a wedding ceremony at Ned’s Beach on a weeding week, which was enjoyed by all who attended. However it was only this year that the Australian government made same-sex marriage legal, so they decided to do this on the June weeding week. The Island and the Friends are very special to John and Ian; and the couple are very special to all Friends who know them. All in all a wonderful week enjoyed by everyone, and some very positive conservation outcomes contributed to the Island.

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Galapagos Whaler Shark research

In February researchers from WA University, lead by Jonathan Mitchell, were on the Island to carry out the first detailed study of the Galapagos whaler shark here. This is the most common shark in Lord Howe Island waters, and this is the only Australian location for this species, which is also found on other oceanic islands across the Pacific.

Thirty sharks were caught and a small transponder device inserted into the body cavity. These transponders emit a signal that can be picked up by a receiving station deployed on the sea floor. Eleven receiving stations have been installed around the island waters. Whenever a shark with a transponder swims within about one kilometre of the receiver, the signal is logged. The sharks were also fitted with a tag in the dorsal surface so that they could be identified if caught and brought close to a boat for an observer to sight the tag.

In February 2019 the team will be back to lift the receivers and analyse the data on them. It is hoped to gain some insight into movements of the sharks. In June, one of the tagged sharks at Lord Howe Island was sighted at Elizabeth Reef, 140km north of Lord Howe Island.

Quite a delicate task getting the shark into the boat before an incision is made, the transponder inserted and then the skin surgically sewed up.

Extreme low tides in August

Tides well below what the predictions indicated were exoerienced in July and August.A phenomenon that has a dominant influence on the general circulation of the ocean is the ‘eddy’. This term refers to a cyclonic motion (in the form of a vortex) on the scale 10 to 200 km in diameter that forms, propagates throughout the ocean, and later decays. Throughout this cycle the eddies redistribute heat and salt. Common forms of eddies found in the Australian region are ‘warm-core’ and ‘cold-core’ eddies. These terms describe how the interior of the eddy is either warmer or colder than the surrounding ocean. A warmer, less dense water column has a larger specific volume leading to an increase in surface height and pressure compared to the surrounding ocean. A cold-core eddy has a lower specific volume leading to a lower sea surface height and pressure compared to the surrounding ocean. Good examples of these can be found in the Tasman Sea as part of the East Australian Current. The change in density between the eddy core and the surrounding ocean can be detected as a change in the surface height of the ocean of the order of one metre.

Sylph’s Hole coral exposed 17th August

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Beetle week

In July the Lord Howe Island Museum and Australian Museum ran a Beetle Week as part of the Island Citizen Science winter program. Dr Chris Reid, senior researcher from Australian Museum and Ian Hutton from the LHI Museum led the week’s activities monitoring beetles.

The focus was on the larger beetles that had been collected before rats arrived in 1918, but seem to be absent from the island since. Two of these large species (right) were located on Blackburn Island which is rodent free, confirming the negative impact rodents have had, and are still having, on the island’s invertebrate fauna.

The week included an introductory talk on the large beetles of the island, four afternoon searches and one night search and a day walk to Boat Harbour for some interested local participants. Chris and Ian also visited other sites. A total of 24 sites were visited altogether and, despite the survey being in mid winter, a generally poor time for beetle activity, 17 large species were found. These include the rediscovery of Cormodes darwini, thought to be extinct as it was last recorded in 1916.

Some of the sites visited had low numbers of beetles, however almost every site provided something of interest to the volunteers, to display or discuss or retain for research. Search methods included visual inspection of leaves, logs and tree trunks; plus sieving leaf litter collected and spread on a white sheet enabling a thorough search.

The high diversity of small animals produced by sieving leaf litter was always a source of fascination, with regular pleas for ‘one more sample’. Volunteers were generally adept at developing a search image for both live and fragmentary large beetles. For example, four of the sites were sand dunes, targeted to confirm the presence of Pimelopus noctis, a large endemic scarab rarely recorded on the island and apparently associated with dunes. Two occurrences were confirmed and both were fragments found by volunteers and both represent important range extensions.

undescribed Lilioceris species

Promethis sterrha

Cormodes darwini

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At the north end of the Old Settlement paddock is the only lowland occurrence of the endemic twiner Calysegia affinis, which is listed as an endangered species.

For several years the Friends groups have assisted with grass control and replanting at this Calystegia rehabilitation site.

Following large scale spraying of introduced Kikuyu grass, seeds of Scotch Thistle and Cobblers pegs invaded and began to take over. Following my recommendations, the Board staff have spread large quantities of dead palm fronds on the ground to act as mulch and suppress weed regrowth. Monitoring will continue to determine the best approach to improve the health of this Calystegia affinis population.

Old Settlement Calystegia affinis site

ABC Gardening visit Lord Howe Island

In May the team from ABC Gardening show visited the Island filming segments for screenng tbis year. The three stories filmed were - an overview of the Island and its flora; the effort to rid the Island of weed species - including footage of Friends of Lord Howe Island at work (above); and food production on the Island at the nursery and Thornleigh Farm. Below presenter Jane Edmonson on camera praising the work of FLHI volunteers.

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Blackburn Island restoration

In 2017 the May Friends of LHI weed group spent an afternoon preparing Blackburn Island for reforesting (above). In August 2018 staff from LHIB and Melbourne Zoo planted out 500 native plants (below) to provide habitat for potential trial release of the LHI phasmid. It is proposed to carry out a trial release of the phasmid and monitor what they do before releasing them on the main island after rats are removed.

Rodent eradication delayed.

It was hoped, that after many years planning, the rodent eradication project would proceed in winter 2018. However at the Lord Howe Island Board meeting in May it was decided to delay the program until winter 2019.

There were two reasons:

The final permit from the APVMA was delayed, and it was felt that there would not be enough time to plan and implement whatever conditions would be on the permit. This permit was given to the Board on 27 August.

The other reason was that there is still a minority of residents opposing the project, and the REP team want more time to work with those residents to come to an agreement about placing rodent baits in their houses. To ensure that all mice are eradicated it is essential that every rat and mouse be exposed to a bait- and any houses where baits cannot be placed pose a risk of some animals not finding a bait, and therefore a failure of the project.

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Sallywood Swamp Forest rehabilitation successIn 2002 the Friends of Lord Howe Island assisted LHIB in obtaining a grant for the establishment of the first rehabilitation of Sallywood Swamp forest on the Island. This is a plant community that is subject to periodic inundation by water following heavy rain, and is dominated by the tree species Lagunaria patersonia known as Sallywood. There were sites at North Bay, Old Settlement, Pinetrees paddock, Moseley Park, Cobby’s Corner and Soldiers Creek. The majority of sites were in the low accessible areas that were cleared by early settlers. In 2002 it was recognised as a threatened plant community and listed with Federal Government as such. The Friends obtained a grant to allow fencing of an area of the Old Settlement creek and start replanting with species that would have occurred there naturally. In subsequent years funds were sourced to continue this rehabilitation and now the plantings are doing very well.

Species planted: Lagunaria patersonia, Ficus columnaris, Hibiscus tileaceus, Drypetes deplanchei, Cryptocarya triplinervis, Howea forsteriana, Myoporum insulare, Dodonaea viscosa, Melaleuca howeanum, Cassinia tenuifolia, Ochrosia elliptica and Crinum pedunculatum.

Above and below: the Old Settlement Sallywood Swamp Forest today. Below right - Friends group in 2002 planting native trees.

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Unusual bird sightings December 2017 to July 2018

Friends of Lord Howe Island Newsletter compiled by Ian Hutton PO Box 157 Lord Howe Island NSW 2898.Email ian@ianhuttontours.com

In June a Wood sandpiper was spotted at Mosely Park Swamp by Andrew Silcocks. This was the first recod of this species for the Island. The bird stayed around for about one week.

In July, on a pelagic bird trip to Balls Pyramid we had 6 Prions around the boart - an unusual visitor to the waters around Lord Howe Island. When we do see them around the Island, it is rare for them to stay around the boat, and this year we were surprised to have them stay around for half an hour.

On 23rd June Jack Shick was at the Pyramid and photographed this Salvin’s albatross - this is the first record of this species at Lord Howe Island.

2019 WEED TRIPS

June 8 to 15 - Staying at Oceanview

August 31 to September 7 - staying at Leanda Lei

Contact Shelly at Oxley Travel to book 1800 671 546

The June 2019 Friends of Lord Howe Island weeding ecotour will be staying at Oceanview Apartments. This accommodation place is owned and operated by the Wilson family that started it originally as a guest house in the late 1890’s.

The guest house had a reputation for fine food and friendly hospitalty; and often family guides would take guests on walks and bbqs to places such as North Bay and Salmon Beach. In the 1980’s the kitchen was closed and Oceanview followed the trend of providing self contained accommodation for visitors.

The grounds have beautiful well-tended gardens, and the original lounge area will be available for our tour members to enjoy socialising after dinners.