cp trip

For those who aren't in the know, cp's are carnivorous plants. Yesterday I went for a walk to a site where native cps can be found. Thanks to Andrew for being out guide and Peter for driving!

The track was about an hour each way, through really nice bush, and we saw heaps of cool stuff along the way. First off there was LOADS of Parataniwha (Elatostema rugosum). This plant was everywhere along the banks of the streams, and was nice to see as we don't get it in Wellington. It's got great colour in the leaves.

There seemed to be lots of bird food around (here coprosma berries) but surprisingly few birds - I guess that's what happens when there isn't any pest control :(

One of the few birds we saw was a Green Finch - nice to see as they're very rare back in the UK where they are from.

One of the highlights was definitely finding several Powelliphanta snails. They are endemic, carnivorous and pretty rare too. I've only seen one shell before; on this trip we found about 5 shells and even one live one!

And here is what we went for: Drosera binata (I think). they absorb insects that get stuck on their 'leaves' and are a very cool red colour.

It was a great walk, and we managed to avoid the worst of the rain too which was good!

Once we got back to Palmy I had a quick look at some of Andrew's other cp's, very cool plants it must be said!