​Hello friends and family
We have a new problem this week – a possum is eating the apples in the garden here. I have set traps and it keeps right on eating the apples. In the end I picked them all and hopefully the bait in the traps will seem more interesting and I will catch it.

​Chris and Hiltrun came up on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday we met to hear the plans of the reserve owners as to how they will manage the place going forward. We had the opportunity to express our ongoing concerns about the penguin welfare and then we had to leave the meeting while they made the decisions. On Thursday, we brought 5 penguins into care – underweight in all cases. There was another one reported at Moeraki but we could not find it.

​On Friday Morning Anne Claire and I got up early and went to the Boulders to catch sunrise, and then back to Moeraki for another futile penguin search. In the afternoon we went to Trotters Gorge to enjoy the Bell-birds, Wood pigeons and Fantails. The reserve has a new toilet and a familiar looking stile.

​Yesterday was the day for harvesting the honey. Walter and his team came down from Wedderburn and extracted the honey. The Varroa treatment strips went in and all hives but the one here have enough honey for the next little while.

Today it is drizzly so we will just get out there and get damp!
Have a great week!
Rosalie

​Hello friends and family
I began my week with a trip to town. It was too wet to do any work outside, so town it was! I had a long list so I took a photo of it and managed to get everything done. It continued to drizzle on and off on Tuesday so Wednesday was a big clean-up day. 

​On Wednesday night, I picked up our new volunteer, Anne Claire from the bus and she was straight into the deep end as Chris and Hiltrun arrived on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, we picked up 3 new penguins and a 4th on Saturday. They are all juveniles struggling with their first moult. Some are starting to lose their feathers too thin and others are emerging from under their old feathers like skeletons covered in skin. Most of them hatched here but we had to mark 3 who must have come from elsewhere. Some have been in care before and for others it is a new experience. We now have 11 penguins in care here and 4 in soft release.

​The weather has been glorious so that makes it all easier as washing dries quickly and even weeding is pleasant when the sun is shining. 

Most of the juveniles and the non-breeding adults have finished their moult and are looking spectacular and the breeding pairs are arriving in the colony to moult together. Their breeding season begins with the spring equinox and the autumn equinox sees them moulting, ready for 6 months off!
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
On Monday I walked 8 Km. This was mostly beach searching after a penguin was reported at Katiki Beach. I eventually found it in the car park at the north end – it is a long beach to search!

​Chris and Hiltrun came up on Wednesday evening and we spent Thursday and Friday catching up with monitoring requirements and rescuing some penguins and releasing others that were ready to go. Friday was very busy with 3 releases and 4 new patients. Robyn took me on the farm bike down to Keeper’s Bay to collect an exhausted, un-marked, pre-moult, underweight juvenile which was very exciting!

​This made for a lot of cleaning on Saturday. Every time we move a penguin it travels in a sack. Every time the sack gets cleaned with the water-blaster. I can remove feathers, fleas, crap, blood and dirt very efficiently with the water blaster.

Today it is drizzly so I will need to take extra care on my beach searches – I will be on the lookout for mushrooms too!
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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​Hello friends and family
The much-heralded arrival of summer here produced some very pleasant but grey days. I went around the bee hives and it is still only one apiary that has produced any quantity of honey. This week was the big release of chicks to fledge, 9 all up have set out into the big blue and only one has decided that it was not ready yet!

​There has been a steady release of moulters fat enough to get through the moult and some more arrivals that are underweight to survive. We now have 7 Yellow-eyed penguins here and 3 in soft release. 

​The new path into the reserve is now completed. The old path has been blocked off so this means real progress in the protection of the penguin colony as now the human disturbance is confined to the south end. People will no longer disturb the colony to the north or the west. How fantastic this is! In December, the Council recorded 100 vehicles coming out here each day. Now there are even more. The next critical step is to enforce the closing time.

​Chris and Hiltrun came up on Thursday evening and we spent our time updating rabbit protection and weeding. Chris is battling with Boxthorn and me with Poro Poro. The visitors here this week included Cedric and Maureen Wilson, Bronwyn Judge and Bill and Judy Eason. The garden continues to produce food at a great pace.

Have a great week!
Rosalie
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