Many of the Friends of LHI members have been on quite a few of the regular weeding ecotours that are usually held in May and August, which is the shoulder tourist season, when many of our seabirds are not on the island, and the water is bit cool. So this February 2025 ecotour was put on more as an Island Biology ecotour when the Island nature is more vibrant.

The walks were done with more observation and commentary to explore the many wonderful biodiversity stories of the Island, and more water activities. The group did some very good weeding as well, assisting the LHI Board with the weed program. This was the usual restoration site above Middle Beach, some sea spurge on various beaches and Formosa lily.

Four of the group, Elaine, Bob, Kathy and Dee, did the Mount Gower climb with Jack Shick and enjoyed that …. “cloud hid the tops of both Lidgbird and Gower, true to the conditions that make the summit such an amazing place.” “ The gardening gloves were much appreciated for the abseiling going down”. Those not climbing Mt Gower walked to Little Island in the afternoon to greet the returning climbers.

One day was spent doing the Boat Harbour walk, enjoying the large Scalybark trees, the Pandanus forests and the Christmas orchid Calanthe australasica was in flower. At Boat Harbour John, Ian and Lee all jumped in and had a swim.

With the longer summer days it was decided to have one evening meal at Neds Beach – so we had drinks and nibbles, followed by take away pizza; watching the Black-winged petrels doing courtship flights around the cliffs, and the shearwaters returning at dusk. This proved a very popular island experience and will be run again in 2026.