If you don't know it Valley Road is a beautiful little street opposite Northcote College. It is bush lined at the bottom on the western side and the narrow street becomes a walkway down into Le Roys Bush at the bottom. Council organized a planting bee many years ago planting flax on the west side berm. And there was a subsidence below the road just past the last townhouse on the western side and Council stripped out all the planting the bush group had done and replanted it - unfortunately Council's contractors don't maintain this berm and it's overgrown with kikuyu and tall weeds.
Behind the weeds on the western side (right side going down), the Le Roys Bush weekly Wednesday Working Bee volunteers and the Beyond the Fence Valley Road cluster have been looking after the bush on the reserve and on private land. It's subject to a number of invasive plants such as moth plant, wattle, wild ginger, privet, blue morning glory, elaeagnus, japanese honeysuckle, jasmine, climbing aparagus, agapanthus, montbretia, etc. etc. But there's some great native trees (a few kauri) and regenerating kohekohe etc.
Valley Road is on the cusp of being one of those delightful lanes like Dingle Dell in St Heliers that convey a sense of beauty and tranquility. Down the bottom, some residents are doing a wonderful job of tending the road reserve outside their property so that the street segues into the bush clad steps leading across to Glade Place on the Birkenhead side of Le Roys Bush and up to Highbury along the new upper wetland boardwalk.
But the bush requires regular attention. The four volunteers who turned out on 3 Feb, were focussed on tackling the moth plant. There were several large vines opposite #14, 16, 18 and 20 which had been missed last year. One vine already had large pods - hopefully none are left as each pod has over 500 seeds.
Under the canopy there were dozens of small moth plant vines which were individually cut and pasted. The following photo shows a large kauri behind - and if you squint you can see the moth plant vine entwining the native bush.
The team also carried out a big black rubbish bag of bottles and cans - but that was only a small proportion of the rubbish being chucked down there by passers by.
On the east side, they cut & pasted wattles, privet, agapanthus, pampas grass, sweet pea bush and ladder fern on the road reserve. Seeds from all of these can spread into the bush across the road or be carried into Le Roys Bush down the gutter.
Down in the bush on the western side of the road, previous working bees have made great progress removing large wattles and enormous vines - but there are still seedling moth plant, wattle, wild ginger, privet, blue morning glory, elaeagnus, climbing aparagus, agapanthus, montbretia etc emerging under the mahoe and karamu - if left to grow, they would again take over the area.
The footpath disappears to nothing at the bottom of the road, so pedestrians share the street with residents cars. Hopefully one day, Council contractors will add the road reserve to their maintenance list and the weeds will be replaced by suitable non invasive plants.
After the working bee, the volunteers had a coffee and a chat up in Highbury. They talked about how pleasant it is working in the bush and how it helps to keep you fit in your retirement. They'd love to hear from anyone else who'd like to share their love of our natural heritage to come out at 10am on a Wednesday to help preserve the ecological treasures of Le Roys Bush. Email us at LeRoysBush@gmail..com If you live locally and would like to borrow rat traps, tools or herbicide to work around your property please get in touch.