Wild Dalmore Reserve

27/07/2026

SOMETIMES DOING IT WELL TAKES TIME
Half a bag of alumimium plant for an hour or so's work doesn't look like much - but we're aiming for zero return!
On Sunday we took our time, removing the roots of the aluminium plants carefully and treading lightly so we didn't damage regenerating native seedlings. We hope our efforts will pay back with not having to come back in three months! (it works for Clare - who has truly got the knack of skillful w**ding, the Bradley Method way!).
We got a bit cold at the end so retreated to my house for hot drink and nibbles brought by Young.
Next week we'll be back to some more vigorous activity!

21/07/2026

FREE THE TREES - AND THE VOLUNTEERS!
We worked with great gusto along the top ridge on Sunday, releasing trees that still need it. Each year the job gets quicker (I like to imagine) as more of our trees rise above the parapet of w**dy grasses. Blackberry keeps us on our toes however.

Followed by banana walnut cake and a cuppa. Come join us! We meet Sundays at 2pm. Message for more details.

29/06/2026

ADVENTURES IN DALMORE RESERVE

As a break from w**ding and track maintenance, this weekend we went on an explore of the steep reserve with some new and old members of Wild Dalmore Reserve. There's a jungle feel to the base of the reserve - with quite high humidity and some cool ferns where the stream used to run.

Along the way, Clare recorded useful places for us to come back to w**d as well as rubbish sites on our new mapping system that we can use in the bush. Thank you Clare!

Overall we had a fun walk that was pretty strenuous at times for folks - but everyone was smiling by the end of it and said they're coming back next week. Hurrah!

25/06/2026

I try to keep the compartments of my Facebook lives separate - but this current episode of Rewilding in Action is about Wild Dalmore Reserve! Thanks to Jon Bakos for interviewing me!

EPISODE 36 - Growing Dalmore Wild, Naturally
With guest host Jon Bakos and guest Maureen Howard
Listen to at https://tinyurl.com/36-Rewilding-in-Action
Or on your favourite podcast app or YouTube (links below).

In this episode of Rewilding in Action, guest host Jon Bakos takes the mic and talks to Maureen Howard about some of the restoration activities happening at Dalmore Reserve, an urban piece of council owned land in Dunedin that’s being cared for by the community group Wild Dalmore Reserve for the last six years. What does the group do and in particular what techniques are they using to tackle the w**ds there that don’t involve chemicals?
Many thanks to Ribbonwood Nurseries for kindly sponsoring this episode (www.ribbonwoodnurseries.co.nz).

This episode of Rewilding in Action was first broadcast on the 25th June 2026 by OAR 105.4FM Dunedin - http://oar.org.nz. Many thanks to OAR FM Dunedin - Community Access Media
Listen to ALL the Rewilding in Action PODCAST episodes on:
▶️ OAR FM Website: https://oar.org.nz/shows/rewilding-in-action/
▶️ Spotify (latest episode): Listen to the episode on: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyRewilding
▶️ Apple Podcasts (latest episode): https://tinyurl.com/ApplePodcastRewilding
▶️ YouTube (latest episode): https://tinyurl.com/YouTubeRewilding
▶️ or your favourite podcast provider!

16/06/2026

Another productive Sunday was had removing gorse and broom from the skidsite - and very importantly from the path leading down the hill! Pippa the dog was finding it much too prickly for her paws!

Next weekend we'll do something different! Gorse fatigue!

03/06/2026

In most of the reserve we don't mind patches of gorse and broom - they will get shaded out in time by the native trees. However it's a different matter in the skidsite - our little wetland where we have small plants that include sun orchids.

So over the last few weeks we've been focusing our efforts on removing the gorse, broom and Spanish health - roots and all - from this small ephemeral wetland. Disturbance favours w**ds - so we tiptoe about and we fill in the root holes we make. There's still plenty of gorse etc left but it looks so much better!

Meanwhile, Nature is busy planting. Through natural regeneration quite a lot of harakeke / flax and manuka has come in via the birds and the wind. It will be interesting to see how it changes!

12/05/2026

Knife in one hand, w**ding hook in the other - the aluminium w**d and blackberry shoots don't stand a chance! (Well, so we like to tell ourselves😁)

It was worth the effort to get out of the house on that cold wet and windy Mothers Day Sunday we just had!

03/05/2026

Nature loves to keep us busy! Keeping on top of the tracks is a bit of a mission. But we cleared the west side of the Big Loop Track today. Last time we did this it was overgrown again in two months. Hopefully this time coming into the cooler weather we won't need to do it again until spring!

26/04/2026

I just didn't imagine that a single soul would come to our rather wet bioblitz date at Dalmore Reserve today. But I should know better that we have a hardy core of marvellous troopers who quickly got stuck into uploading photos of wet vegetation to iNaturalist! All in the cause of the City Nature Challenge. Go Dunedin!

After an hour we were getting genuinely soggy so we retreated to my house to dry out, get warmed with a cuppa, some pizza (a treat - thanks Fiona!) and to spike our sugar levels on cookies!

How lucky we are🍀

23/04/2026

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