News in brief

Field of daffodils for cancer fundraiser

A field of bright yellow daffodils at Ravensdown near Richmond has added buckets of flowers for Cancer Society Nelson Tasman’s annual fundraiser this Friday. Karly Allsopp from the ANZ bank team joined other volunteers, including Salisbury School students, for the field’s first harvest. Funds generated locally from Daffodil Day and other fundraising initiatives directly support the community, providing essential services for people affected by cancer.

Tasman’s community housing waitlist grows

Tasman District Council’s community housing waitlist has grown, increasing by five people overall since the beginning of July. Councillors requested they be kept updated with the waitlist at the June operations committee meeting. Staff now provide information showing the change by month for the new financial year and how it is trending. The waitlist in Golden Bay grew from 24 to 25, while Motueka’s list increased to 29 from 24 waiting at the end of May.

Supermoon captured on camera

Motueka photographer Chris Symes managed to nab a photo of the ‘blue’ sturgeon supermoon last week. While, NASA said the first supermoon of the year would occur on Tuesday, 20 August at 4.26am AEST, it was still an impressive sight on the nights and early mornings surrounding it. The Moon looks larger because of the optical illusion that occurs when the moon is sitting low on the horizon that makes it appear larger. The Moon doesn’t actually grow bigger - it just looks that way. According to NASA, the term refers to when the Moon, either its full or new lunar phase, syncs up with a close swing around Earth. That is, when it is within 90 per cent of its closest approach to Earth, to be exact. But since we can’t see new moons very easily, the term most often refers to when the Moon is full. Because the Moon’s orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle, there are times when it is closer to Earth. That’s when it looks biggest to us on Earth.

Community planting at McKee Domain

Recently, Tasman Bay Guardians bought a group of senior students from Māpua School together with Project DeVine Environmental Trust contractors to plant around 350 native trees in McKee Domain in Ruby Bay. The area was previously infested with banana passion vine, pampas and gunnera, so the new plantings will provide important buffering for a nearby stand of native bush. This was the last community day in a year which has seen volunteers from schools and community groups stepping up to take charge of the ongoing maintenance of the domain, as well as Shedwood Reserve in Tapawera, Paynes Ford in Golden Bay and Teetotal Flats in St Arnaud. The toilet blocks at the McKee Domain Campground are also receiving a new lick of paint in preparation for the upcoming increase in users over the summer season.

Trees, trees, and more trees

Hundreds more trees have been put in the ground thanks to Nelson College Preparatory School. The fourth and final class headed out to Sandemann Reserve, Richmond, earlier this month for two hours of digging holes and planting trees to assist the Battle for the Banded Rail. The school has been involved with the programme for the better part of a decade, planting thousands of trees in the reserve along the Waimea Estuary.