Quail Island Planting

8th August 2026

We had a small group this year but other volunteers boosted our team to eleven. To avoid the worst muddy tracks, Quail Island Trust Chairman Ian took us on a scenic route to our planting site, looking across to Cass Bay. The sloping north-facing site is very dry in summer, so the aim is to develop a grey shrub area with hardy, drought tolerant species. Trust employee Mick had set up the area for us, so after a detailed planting demonstration we got to work.  The area was well prepared and colour coded sticks told us where to plant the species of the day, Coprosma crassifolia and C. propinqua.  This year we were spared from planting matagouri.

The sun warmed our backs and the soil was easy to dig, so by early afternoon we had put in 250 plants. Great effort everyone. This is a great effort towards the intended 1700 plants for the year.  

Planters:  Kerry, Mike, Sue, Carolyn, Callum, Pat, Merv, Fiona, Danny, Lucie, Chile [SB] Photo by SB