Country Life: Schoolkids put buzz back into biodiversity on a Pāmu dairy farm

A two-and-a-half hectare paddock on a North Canterbury dairy farm was just that - a paddock - until the farmers made an important discovery.

The site, part of Pāmu's Eyrewell dairy unit, is now a restoration project which aims to protect the endangered Canterbury Grass Skink.

After skinks were spotted in the area, the area was fenced off, according to Pāmu's Brendon Stent, business manager for the state-owned organisation's Canterbury dairy farming operation.

"We involved the schools and the wider community to come and do plantings and the opportunity's grown into a community-involved asset."

The Eyrewell skink habitat restoration school day has been running for several years.

Hamish Fairbairn, from Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, organises the annual event at the Downs Road site.

He said students have planted thousands of natives to support the skinks and a growing number of other native species.

"When we first started it was pretty much a barren landscape and now we've got all these plants that have been growing and we can see some of the native birds and native bugs that are coming back."

This year, students from nearby Te Koromiko Swannanoa School and Wai-a-Raki West Eyreton School are learning about the skinks' habitat and feeding habits from scientists who are doing research at the site.

About 60 students had been split into three groups when Country Life arrived.

"They're doing some planting over in the far corner. They are with Anna (Veltman) from Environment Canterbury and Melanie (Walker) and Brad (Howlett) from Plant and Food Research and we're very fortunate to be also working with Ruud Kleinplaste, The Bugman," Fairbairn said.

In one group, Kaylee and Lucy, two Year 8 students, were learning which creatures pollinate in the area.

"The bumblebees, honeybees, normal bees. Some butterflies pollinate too. There's also beetles and flies. There's a bit more that pollinate as well, but those are the main ones that we remember!"

Another student, Lucy, had been planting trees and looking for skinks and native bugs. She said restoring native animals and plants is very important.

"Because it'll help everything in the ecosystem strive better. It also brings in some pollinators to help the farmers get more plants and that for their business and farm."

Bridie Gray, a teacher at Swannanoa Primary School, was with her team from the Seeds of Learning programme, involving horticulture, restoration and animal husbandry.

She said a lot of the children have come for the last three or four years and they love it.

"Last year, it was rainy and cold and the kids came for the whole day. And they went away feeling like they had accomplished something and given back, I think it's really important."

Brad Howlett is a pollination entomologist and has been doing some research at the site for the past three years.

"I lead a team called Beneficial Biodiversity. So we are looking at farm systems, how we can try and make them more resilient through promoting diversity of insects that we know are going to be providing functions on farms."

He said less than 0.5 percent of the native plant remnant habitat is left on the Canterbury Plains, due to very intensive agriculture.

"The skinks themselves haven't got a lot of undisturbed sites to flourish on so this is a way to protect and build that biodiversity back into this system."

Howlett would like to see more clusters of native bush thriving across the plains "so they can act as corridors to bring biodiversity into these sites."

Jayden, a student from West Eyreton School, was busy planting what he was pretty sure was mānuka.

"All the little bugs will come to get the food off it. And then the skinks will come and eat all the little bugs. So it's kind of like a food chain," he said.

Other students competed with each other to see who could plant the most trees. In all, about 700 natives went into the ground.

Under a bushy, dark shelter belt on the north side of the restoration area, Ruud Kleinpaste, also known as The Bugman, was instructing a group of students to go and look for all things creepy crawly.

"I'm a nature nerd and it's very nice to actually do stuff like this, take them out into the field."

Many creatures were uncovered including maggots, ants, spiders, caterpillars and grubs. He told the group they all help keep ecosystems in balance.

A student proudly held out two huhu grabs she had found in a rotting log. Others crowded around, fascinated by the wriggly discovery, and it was a chance for The Bugman to initiate discussion.

Moments like this are when kids are totally engaged, he said, and it's why he encourages teachers to use the environment as a context for education - helping make it an immersive part of the curriculum.

"Because if you have nature literate teachers, they will create cohort after cohort of nature literate kids. And they are the ones that are going to look after this planet."

Back at the restoration site, a juvenile skink skittled across greywacke river stones, set among native grasses.

It's the only skink seen on the day.

Perhaps the wiser ones decided to wait for the humans to leave, before sunning themselves on the flat, warm stones.

Learn more:

• https://www.reptiles.org.nz/herpetofauna/native/oligosoma-aff-polychroma-clade-4?fbclid=IwY2xjawGrXt1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRdi8njJ0YEb9sLqByYeMEpLM-6we0bbiM_oYF4UJI16hsWaUTq6fF3iXg_aem_-wLqm2zOLJuFgBmFrnK5TQ