 Mr 28 has a new wife Hello friends and family On Sunday, Hiltrun and I continued our work grooming the trees in the reserve. What we do is cut the bottom horizontal branches off so that penguins and people can move about the reserve. Then we must cut and stack the branches to keep the area open. It is a key winter job. The weather closed in after lunch so Hiltrun went home and I relaxed.  The winter sun accentuates the rolling hills Jan and Robbie came on Monday, so we planted a couple of houses and did the trap round. It is very soft underfoot and so we drove to the top of the hill and walked down to the Moeraki Colony to prevent slipping or getting stuck. On Tuesday Jan and I went for a visit to Tavora and walked the full track. It was beautiful.  Looking south from the hill at Tavora Jan and I chopped some more trees on Thursday and in the afternoon, we were visited by Sharyn from Tasmania It was the shortest day but absolutely glorious, not only warm(ish) and sunny, but with no wind. Robbie came on Friday and we re-aligned the fence and cleared a path at the north end of the reserve. These are wonderful days.  The Spotted shags are growing breeding plumage Chris and Hiltrun came on Friday night and we worked clearing trees yesterday. We also took the time to work on a planting plan for the new cabbage trees and watch some penguins coming home, so the list of things to do is getting shorter!
Have a great week! Rosalie  Jan releasing foot bird AKA George (Clooney) Hello friends and family We got a bit of rain this week and so it was inside jobs for me. On Monday Jan came and we got the trap round done and the new numbers installed onto the nest boxes just before the rain came. Jan also released foot bird who is one of the vocal ones. I have no penguins here, just Dianna in soft release.  Waiting for a wife... The top inside job for me was to make a space for the microscope. This involved a skittle drama where I cleared a shelf to replace a desk to move into the lounge for the microscope. To make space for the desk I have decommissioned the china cabinet. All of this uncovered a heap of treasures to recycle – the only problem is that they were all small so there was a lot of sorting without much progress being made!  The roof is all finished! Wednesday was my day for the Top tip shop. How quickly the months are passing. On Thursday Jan and Robbie came and we were able to complete the roof of the hospital. Hiltrun came up on Friday night and Jan joined us for chain-sawing down the hill for Saturday morning. We went to the Moeraki colony after lunch and it was very slippery, so I will be walking down the hill for the next little while. I am glad we went because we found 3 sheep among our small trees – not a good mix!  Coming home with a full tummy Have a great week.
Rosalie  Having a day off Hello friends and family Ah the winter job list! If an activity has not made the list, it will not get done. On Monday, Jan and I combined the trap round with re-numbering the nest boxes at Seal point. It sounds simple, but we won’t get it finished until next week. (we need to take a screw driver).  is spring here yet? Robbie called in on Tuesday and on Wednesday Jan and I did some chain-sawing down the hill. We took the last penguin in care down for soft release. By 3 pm we had in the next penguin. Jan picked up Foot bird from Shag point. His foot is looking great, but he had fungal throat so got a dose of anti-fungals. This often happens – if a penguin has a major trauma they have a second need for help, in his case, 6 weeks after release.  cold but beautiful Marian called in with my half beast to keep us in meat for the next year. She is looking wonderful and as usual; her visit was far too short! Thursday was my day for finishing the big hedge and completing the Charities return, it was sunny but windy so I enjoyed working in the shelter of the hedge.  The munch bunch On Friday I started a new hedge! With the summer that we had this year it is hard to stay in front of them all. I also walked the coast and found it much easier now that the sheep have squashed or eaten the rank grass on the coastal strip. It amazes me how they find the same tracks, even though this is a new flock of sheep.  it looks beautiful to me Yesterday I went to Shag point with Elaine. We checked out our locator app on our cell phones to ensure that we get adequate cover. We do! I love technology.
Have a great week! Rosalie  Our first returned Juvenile for the season Hello friends and family The cold weather arrived early this week and so penguins stayed home on Sunday and Monday. Jan and I did the trap round on Monday afternoon and were very pleased to see a juvenile yellow-eyed penguin on the main landing. It looked just fine, and as I had released the last of our young ones over 3 weeks ago, this penguin has clearly learned how to catch fish. This is our hope for the future.  Great progress on the hospital roof Robbie and I worked on the hospital roof on Tuesday and on Wednesday, Chris, Hiltrun and I went to a meeting with TRONT, TROM and DOC about managing the reserves. They were very nice and gave us lunch. We do get a chance to have our say, so I hope we can change things enough to save the penguins before they are all gone from here.  The canvas... Robbie returned on Thursday and we planted the gannets. This is a very exciting venture and I will put up a camera tomorrow to see what interactions result. The gulls checked them out at the first opportunity. In the afternoon I made penguin nest boxes. The one we put out last Saturday had been claimed by Monday!  Robbie in action Chris and Hiltrun came up on Friday night in all the holiday traffic. Now that there is snow at the ski fields, the number of visitors here has dropped which makes it a lot quieter. The 2 penguins in care will be released this week and so the hospital will be empty for a while!  The gannets are home. Have a great week!
Rosalie |
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