Forest walk

in Sobehatunga— A photo essay

By Nakau

May 22^nd, 2024

Sobehatunga Conservation Area is a hum of life. A recent survey of plants, animals and insects has shown this secondary lowland forest is an important habitat for many of Solomon Islands' wildlife, including some species listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List.

Sobehatunga is located at Viru Harbour on New Georgia in Western Province. A biodiversity survey was recently conducted in preparation for a forest conservation carbon project across 1,500 hectares of the last remaining lowland forest in the province.

Here are some of the beautiful animals and plants recorded — signifying a healthy and important ecosystem worth protecting for future generations. All photos by Douglas Jnr Pikacha.

1. Birds

Birds — and bats — are important seed dispersers, pollinators and insectivores, and play a vital ecological role in maintaining forest dynamics, and 21 bird species were recorded during the survey.

This included the iconic Kolombangara monarch (Symposiachrus browni), above. Listed as near threatened by the IUCN Red List, the monarch prefers primary or healthy forests and is known to live only on Kolombangara, Vonavona, Kohinggo, New Georgia and Vangunu. Its presence in Sobehatunga is reflective of a healthy forest habitat and an important conservation area.

2. Flying foxes

Limestone karst caves, sinkholes and canopy provide perfect homes for some species of flying fox (bats).

Six flying fox species were recorded in Sobehatunga — the near threatened Solomons Flying-fox (Pteropus rayneri), Solomons bare-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia inermis), Umboi tubed-tosed fruit bat (Nyctimene vizcaccia), Northern blossom bat (Macroglossus minimus), Diadem horseshoe bat (Hipposideros diadema) and Raffray's sheathtail bat (Emballonura raffrayana).

“Birds and bats are crucial in helping to maintain the forest by spreading seeds in their droppings, by pollinating fruiting trees and even garden crops that we humans depend on”

3. Plants

For a forest once logged — 60 years ago — Sobehatunga has regenerated into a healthy forest ecosystem abundant with trees including Calophyllum peekelii, Dillenia salomonensis, Terminalia brassii, and Vitex cofassus. There are 119 different plants from 57 families recorded in the Sobehatunga Conservation Area, many of them valuable for timber and the threat of re-logging has been consistent.

Sobehatunga is in the process of formalising the protected area under the Solomon Islands Protected Area Act — an important step toward conserving this ecosystem and a requirement for every forest carbon project.

Native seedlings and saplings dominate the forest floor. And epiphytes like the Bird's nest fern, Epiphytic orchid and climbing pandanus species thrive in the understory.

4. Frogs

Frogs and reptiles are important signs of a healthy forest ecosystem — they love clean rivers and are critical in the food chain.

The Solomon Island Wrinkled ground frog (Cornufer solomonis) and Solomon Island Eyelash frog (Cornufer guentheri) were found right through the Sobehatunga Conservation Area near bush trails and in exposed areas.

The Eyelash frog has a lot of colour variations, from brown, black and white, to green, yellow, orange and red, and a mixture of all the colour variations — good for camouflage among the leaf litter and forest floor.

5. Skinks, snakes and geckos

Skinks and other reptiles play crucial roles in maintaining the ecological balance and vitality of forest ecosystems. They are an integral part of the forest’s biodiversity and food chain, helping to maintain a healthy and balanced ecosystem.

Schmidt’s skink (Emoia schmidti) and the Pacific Blue-tailed skink (Emoia caeruleocauda) were easily spotted in Sobehatunga, but less common is the Green-blooded tree skink (Prasinohaema virens) which is endemic to mainland New Guinea and the Solomon Islands archipelago.

The Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) preys on roosting bats within the limestone caves. And the stunning but near threatened near threatened Solomon Islands ring-tailed gecko (Cyrtodactylus salomonensis) — a large arboreal gecko — is only found in the Solomon Islands.

6. Insects

Tiny and critical, insects provide part of the important food chain for all life in a forest ecosystem. Without them, birds, reptiles, mammals and the entire forest ecosystem cannot survive.

Just like this forest, we all need plants, animals and insects to survive. But around the world, biodiversity and ecosystems are in decline and on the brink of collapse, impacting our health, our economies, our climate and our future.

New global goals for nature outline how the world can work towards stopping biodiversity decline, a plan that includes conserving 30% of all land, waters and sea.

Of course, protecting and restoring forests and other ecosystems is inseparable from the need to support the people who depend on them. And it is the communities, Indigenous customary landowners and forest rangers who play a critical role in caring for and managing Sobehatunga as part of a forest carbon approach.