Auckland Shell Club

September Meeting
Fifteen members shared a trip to Australia with Heather.
The talk began with the Townsville and Keppel Bay Shell Shows which Heather says are always most enjoyable and well worth attending.
Next was a long flight from Brisbane to Broome and a 14 day bus trip from Broome to Darwin visiting many gorges and tourist spots including the Bungle Bungles and Kakado National Park.
In Darwin Heather and her twin Alison were treated to two days out with Dr Richard Willan - one day birding and one day shelling.
From Broome back to Brisbane. Heather joined Sally Johnson from the Brisbane shell club and spent 6 hours on a train to Gladstone. Here they joined members of the Brisbane Shell Club, and boarded the Eastern Voyager travelling out to Gould Reef, Lamont Reef and Mast Head Is. Many shells were collected and Heather had a selection for us to view.

Margaret Morley shared a sinistral Buccinulum linea (Museum Collection) that had been collected from Stewart Is. It didn't have a date on it but thought to be collected in the 1930's. An estimate of only one in 10,000 have ever been found so it was a special shell.

Next Meeting - Auckland Shell Club 80th Birthday
202 Gillies Avenue, Epsom at 7:30pm on Tuesday 12th of October (doors open at 7pm)
We are going to celebrate our 80th birthday by visiting Auckland Museum and seeing where it all started! (This will be instead of our normal meeting at Epsom Community Centre.)
The plan is to arrive at the south facing door of the Museum (opposite end to the War Memorial Door) between 7:15pm and 7:30pm and all go in together at 7:30pm. Don't be late!
We will be shown around by Wilma Bloomfield and Margaret Morley. Margaret would like requests of anything in particular that you would like to see. Give her a call. My request is to view an Alcithoe davegibbsi holotype, from Spirits Bay. Apparently they were collected by fishermen and none have ever washed up on the beach.
It would be wonderful to celebrate our 80th birthday with as many members as possible!
Supper will be provided.

Shell Auction - Saturday 23rd October 2010
Our annual Shell Auction will again be held at the Albany Hall, 3-21 Library Lane Albany.
Unfortunately one seller sent us the wrong list, so included with this newsletter is a correction for lots 1-38.

. Helpers are needed to set up the hall at 9am.
. Sales tables will be available from 10:00am to 11:30am
. Viewing will commence at 10am, and the auction will start at midday - one hour earlier than normal because we must be out of the hall by 6pm.
. Intending bidders please register with auction staff at 11:30pm as the auction will commence promptly at midday. Payment is required on the day (cash or cheque only).
. Light refreshments will be made available to members, however feel free to bring your lunch.
. There will be 269 lots of good NZ and WW shells and books. All care has been taken with labelling of the lots, however the Club cannot guarantee information. Changes to the schedule will be available on the day if required.
. Proxy bids should be emailed to Peter Poortman at petermwp@gmail.com or posted to 26 Pendlebury Street, Green Bay, Auckland 0604. If successful you will be sent an invoice via post/email (including any packaging and postal charges) which must be paid in full before items are despatched.

Not your usual washup!
Heather recently spent a week in the Far North visiting Coopers Beach, Rawera Beach, 90 Mile Beach, Tokerau Beach and Spirits Bay.
Not many shells on the beaches, but there was a big "wash-up" of pilot whales on Spirits Bay. Heather and Alison spent 6 hours pouring water on them.

Summary about the whales ...
Wednesday - at least 70 pilot whales struggled in surf at Spirits Bay. Helpers pulled 24 live whales up on the beach. These were kept cool and alive by covering them with sheets and pouring water on them.
Thursday - the day was spent shifting the whales to the lagoon behind Spirits Bay. They were each put in a sling, shifted on to a truck and driven to the lagoon, again lifted by sling with a crane into the lagoon. This was the day Heather and Alison spent with them. Heather counted 16 dead whales on the beach but some say there were as many as 44.
Friday - the 24 surviving whales were trucked 50 km. to Rawera Beach. 3 die on reaching the beach. 21 were refloated and set free together but an hour later 7 returned to the beach and it was decided the most humane course of action was to euthanize them.

Apparently this was the biggest undertaking in rescuing whales that the Department of Conservation and Project Jonah have ever taken on. It was the only chance for the whales and Spirits Bay remain wild and too rough for any refloating to take place there.

    Heather helping look after the whale named 'Honour'

New Zealand Shell Show 2011
The Wellington Shell Club invites you to the next New Zealand Shell Show in Wellington at the Lower Hutt Town Hall from 12th to 13th February 2011.
The show will cater for most classes of molluscs and levels of collector. Dealers are very welcome and sales and trading tables will be available at the venue.
Shell show program, classes, rules, and entry form, as well as some information on transport and accommodation is now available from the Wellington Club's website at: www.clublist.co.nz/sites/wellingtonshellclub.aspx.
For assistance or information please contact the Wellington Shell Club secretary Deirdre Standish at deirdre.standish@clear.net.nz, phone 64-4-9041080, or write to: 4 Sharda Grove, Paraparaumu Beach 5032, New Zealand.

Poirieria Magazine
We intend publishing the next issue in December, so please get pen to paper and send your items to Jan or Patricia by 15th October.
Anything related to shells or collecting would be greatly appreciated - Eg. shelling trips/finds, personal observations/tips, scientific research, historic anecdotes, notable washups, etc.
Please send to Jan Munroe at kevandjan@slingshot.co.nz, or 67 Oakway Drive, Albany, North Shore 0632.
Contact Patricia Langford on (09) 479 6149 if you have any queries.

Club Library
We have an extensive collection of books, magazines, and scientific publications available, as well as a biological microscope.

New Zealand Seashells Visual Guide
The new book "New Zealand Seashells Visual Guide" by Jenny Raven and Selwyn Bracegirdle is stunning!
This is a key publication for NZ shell collectors, comprising 76 A4 colour pages of over 800 species in a clear plastic protective sleeve.
The price for members of a Shell Club will be NZ$77.90 (a discount of $10 on the retail price), plus an additional $2 for postage within New Zealand.
Contact Selwyn Bracegirdle at creatus@paradise.net.nz or 04 9739410 for more information.

Other Club News
. UK geologist & molluscan palaeontologist Nick Zachariades would like to exchange NZ fossil Tertiary mollusca for English ones.
  Nick has a specialist interest in worldwide Tertiary gastropod & bivalve faunas, and has an extensive research collection from the various Eocene, Oligocene, Pliocene & Pleistocene Beds of England.
  He also has numerous spare fossils that he is looking to exchange. For instance he has many spare gastropods & bivalves from the world famous Eocene Barton & Bracklesham Beds. All are fully labelled with locality, stratigraphic & taxonomic data.
  Contact details are as follows...
  Email: nickzachariades@tiscali.co.uk
  Post: Nick Zachariades, 34 Fairlie Park, Ringwood, Hampshire, England, BH24 1TU

. Attached is an update of our members list.

. Peter Poortman has a new email address. Please change any relevant entry you may have in your Address Book / Contact List from peter.poortman@xtra.co.nz to petermwp@gmail.com.

. We will need a new Treasurer and a new Porieria Editor next year. Please support your club - if you have the time and the skills for either (or both) of these positions then we would like to hear from you.

. Items of interest for the monthly newsletter are always welcome - email to petermwp@gmail.com, or post to 26 Pendlebury Street, Green Bay, Auckland 0604.

Previous Newsletters