Abandoned

An afternoon walk, having spent a good part of the day letting go of the issues that take up so much of my head most days. Entering Grey Lynn Park from Williamson Avenue, I felt more than saw the emptiness in that corner of the park. At first it seemed as if it was just a bit of tidying around the base of the small pohutukawa trees. Then I realised that they had been pruned to expose their centres.

A few paces further on, I could see that a steep bank was exposed as all undergrowth has been removed. Further looking and I saw first one and then three or four other stumps where big trees have been felled. I climbed the bank and saw the abandoned hire bicycle by the first stump that I had seen from below, and all the other stumps.

I guess this is another example of the Council removing "unwanted" non-native trees. In this process they are removing significant carbon sequestering and the new growth will take many years to replace the old. Then again, maybe the trees were unstable; the stump looked unremarkable.

I've included as an extra, a photo of a myna. It looks as though it has lost most of the feathers around its head and neck. I'm hoping the bird site will have someone who can tell me what is happening.