Preserving heritage on land and water
Brian Hales, farmer at Wimbledon, is into preserving heritage. Over the last decade Brian has bred some of the rarest sheep in the world. Pride of his flock are 70 Karakul sheep, the oldest known to humans, prized by the Cossacks of Central Asia.
His flock includes Karakul, Gotland, Dorper, Damara, Awassi, East Friesian, Meatmaster, Pitt Island, Arapawa Island, Mohaka, Herbert, Lincoln, English Leicester, East Friesian and Jacob sheep
Brian wants to keep the feral instincts alive in his sheep. Breeds do not mix voluntarily which makes keeping flocks pure easier.
Last year Brian was on Country Calendar with his sheep, his work with Weber School developing wetlands and discovery and protection of ancient velvet worms called Peripatus found in his bush by Khan Coleman, and thought previously to be extinct.
On Sunday at the exotic sheep shearing day the public got to view how far he and a keen band of locals have come.
Peripatus examples were displayed, found just days ago by Emma McLaughlan who with her family has been coming down from Napier for six years to be part of the study.
Also found was a gecko so rare, 21 of the 39 species are endangered due to predation and habitat destruction and all are protected.
Wetland developments started with Weber School will help the gecko in the Wainui catchment but also there is a programme to raise awareness of whitebait and other fresh water fish.
Doug Bailey has been studying the ecology of the Wainui catchment for many years. He is keen to raise the awareness of fish life in the streams because they are endangered, particularly whitebait due to overfishing.
Displays of work from Weber School showed whitebait are the juvenile forms of three fish varieties — ı¯nanga, ko¯ aro and ko¯ kopu — all endangered especially the long finned eel and almost extinct ko¯ aro. Add in three types of bully — redfin, cran and common — which need to be protected by habitat management including riparian planting to cool the water increasing its oxygen content and increasing food sources.
With the passing of the Fresh
Water Fish Bill in Parliament recently it is hoped the waterway residents will become protected but Doug says everyone can help, especially farmers.
Also almost extinct are ra¯ ta¯ trees killed by possums and now myrtle rust. A survey shows there are only 12 healthy ra¯ ta¯ in the Tararua District but with a campaign to identify existing trees, propagate cuttings and seedlings ready for the 2020 Autumn in the headwaters of the Wainui where Brian’s property sits, Doug hopes in time the hillsides will be red with blossom in summer.
He hopes people will volunteer to help plant ra¯ ta¯ or donate warratahs, wire netting and mulch to protect the young trees. He can be contacted on 027 224 1358 or on Facebook Wainui Ra¯ta¯.
And what about the fossil? On Sunday a large boulder of mostly siltstone sat on the hill above Brian’s woolshed with an interesting imprint which may be a fossil dating 65 million years. Brian has recently recovered this ammonite fossil in the five tonne rock. The recovery was quite a mission but was worth it. Dating back 65 million years the fossil could tell an interesting story but on Sunday Hugh Morgans, a Senior Scientist at G.N.S. said the jury is out and only further investigation will establish its authenticity.