Ashburton Courier: November 26, 2020

www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Perfect spot for apicnic
NEWS
Ashburton Courier, November 26, 2020
25
BY MARY RALSTON
The Awa Awa Rata Reserve is one of
the district’s best spotsfor an outing.
It is about 15 km from Methven,
towards the hills. There’s alovely
picnic area set among
rhododendronsand native bush. At
this time of year, the flowers are out,
the lawnsare cut and it looks
magnificent.
The native bush is agreen
backdrop to the vivid coloursofthe
rhodosand it is peaceful and cool
even on the hottestofdays. There’s a
range of tracks to suit all ages,
abilities and time constraints –from
awheelchair accessible track to
short bush walks without much
climbing to the longer and steeper
walks for the more energetic.
The walkingtracksextend up the
hill into the Mt Hutt forest. The
forest hereisone of the more
easterly of all the South Island
foothill forests.
To the casual observeritjust looks
like beech forest but there is more to
it: thereare other big trees that form
acanopy with beech such as totara,
rata, kahikatea and whitey wood;
small trees and shrubssuch as
fuschia, the pepper bush or horopito,
putaputaweta, coprosmas; climbers
such as bush lawyer and clematis;
and ferns.
Broadleaf –commonly seen in
gardens as ashrub or hedgeplant –
grows into giant trees.
On the track up to Scott’s Saddle,
sub­alpinescrub features turpentine
shrub,astelias and manuka. Above
that, tussock grasslandand daisies
dominate. Further up again,scree
plants and vegetable sheep manage
NATURE MATTERS
Awa AwaRataReserveisasplendid spot.
to survive in the harsh alpine
conditions.
It’s rare to have such an
interesting uninterruptedecological
sequence from the plains to the top
of amountain.
The diversity of plants supportsa
range of native fauna –bellbirds are
commonly heard, and there’s
fantails, riflemen and tomits.
Kereru occasionally swoop
through the tops and kea were once
commonly seen up high. Efforts by
ski area staff to trap predators of the
kea may mean we see them back
again.
AManduriacu glass frog snacks on aspider in
the foothills of the Andes. PHOTO JAIME CULEBRAS,SPAIN
Top world animal
photos coming
Almost100 of the top entries from theworld’s
most prestigiouswildlifephotography
competitionwill be on show at Canterbury
Museum for four months.
The museum is just the third venue outside
the UnitedKingdom to host the2020Wildlife
Photographer of the Yearexhibition.
Produced and toured eachyear by the
Natural History Museum,London,itshowcases
stunning imagesofthe naturalworld from the
competitionof thesame name.
The photographs, which range from intimate
animal portraits to inspiring wild landscapes,
shine alightonstoriesand species aroundthe
world andencourage afutureofadvocating for
the planet.
The winnersofthe 56thWildlife
Photographer of the Yearcompetition were
announced at avirtual awards ceremony in
October. Russian photographer Sergey
Gorshkov’s picture The Embrace won him the
AdultGrandTitle.
The photo depicts an ecstaticadult Siberian
tiger marking her territory on atree.
WildlifePhotographer of theYear is on at
Canterbury Museum until March 28 next year.