Jo had previously attended a planting propagation workshop at which Rima had offered to help source native plants for restoration projects in the District.

eMail from Iana Stoliarova at ECan to ask if Rima was aware of any restoration projects in Motunau district

ECan sends Rima plantlist (6000+ plants) available

Rima floated the idea of trying to find a sponsor for a large restoration planting project at the Reserve.

Momentum seems to be building on many fronts. Many potential stakeholders are expressing enthusiastic support for the idea. In the meantime, the Reserve Committee had done a load of work on clearing the willows from the stream bed.

Rima contacts Jason Butt, ECan's wetland expert, to discuss the opportunity presented at the site.

Willow Clearance had been initiated by the Reserve Committee well before any of this started and there were plans in place to steadily enhance the biodiversity of the wetland by first removing the invasive willows that were choking the stream.

The donors wish to remain anonymous. The Birdsong Team and the Scargill community are overjoyed and grateful.

Field trip to the Reserve with Jason Butt, a wetland expert from ECan, Rima Herber and Dave Nicholls (now a Trustee). Jason made a comprehensive list of all the plants he found at the site, which will become part of the baseline data for the site before planting begins.

Rima starts to fly a kite with “Birdsong” as the name of the project.

Jo lets people in the Scargill Community know of tentative plans for the project and invites people to become involved.

Rima and Sue visited the site to discuss the potential. Sue agrees to become the ecological lead for the project and starts work on researching the biodiversity and history of the area.

How to organise bank account, potential Trustees for a Trust, potential volunteers

At a community funding workshop run by Hurunui District Council, Rima spoke to the Rātā fund representative about the Birdsong Project. Rātā fund large projects and require that the project contributes at least a third of the project cost. Vimbayi, from Rātā thought Birdsong could fit within their funding criteria and suggested a meeting in the near future.

Jo and Rima visited two nearby properties with indigenous biodiversity to collect seeds. Gough’s nursery will grow plants for the project from the collected seed.

Rima and John visited the reserve with the philanthropists. They loved the reserve and trust that Rima will guide the project to it’s potential.

Rima met with Shawn Nicholls to formally discuss his role as paid coordinator for Birdsong. He already does this for the Hurunui Biodiversity Trust and is passionate about the Birdsong project as his family has mulit-generational links with the reserve.

Rima, Shawn and Dave met to discuss the project and to discuss forming the Trust. Dave is keen to be on the trust and will do the work to form the Trust.

The complexity of the online world is increasing (security, online interaction, performance factors including response time and consistency, new functionality, AI components, changing usage norms, interchangeability of devices (desktop-mobile) and other underlying technical layers that a website’s user never sees) .

The development platforms and productivity tools available are burgeoning.

Finding the right solution for the Birdsong Project took a while but in the end Squarespace was a clear winner.