Canterbury BOTSOC visit the Canterbury Clay Target Club

The Canterbury Clay Target Club shifted to a 73 hectare block of Environment Canterbury leasehold land in 1994, in Chattertons Road, Mcleans Island (see www.cctc.co.nz).

This is part of the former floodplain of the Waimakariri river, and now protected from future flood by stopbanks. The land has not been cultivated, oversown or irrigated and the land is patterned by the relict river channels, bars and floodplain.

The vegetation reflects the underlying substrate with deeper, sandy soils in the former river channels, stony, free-draining channel slopes, and flat low floodplains with a mix of stony soils.

Several old kowhai and one caged tree daisy endemic to the Canterbury Plains (Olearia adenocarpa) pbreak up what is at first glance a flat, open paddock of grass.

The best way to see the native vegetation is down on your knees in the open, stoniest sites. Up close the moss, lichen, herbs, orchids, ferns and grasses, butterflys, moths and grasshoppers can be seen.

This is one of the last remaining sites for the suite of native plants and their associated moths, butterflies, spiders and other insects that covered the driest areas of the Canterbury Plains at the time of European settlement.

Dryland biodiversity disappears when the land is cultivated or irrigated, as this allows exotic grasses and weeds to establish and overtop the small native plants that have adapted to surviving on drought soils.

The Gun Club are inadvertently managing the land to the benefit of the native plants and animals. Usually sheep grazing is recommended to reduce grass competition and allow the native plants to survive. Here the land is not grazed, the rabbits are kept at a low level and land is not improved to the benefit of stock. less ↑