 checking out a different nestbox Hello friends and family The week began quietly, still too cold for hosing down penguin pens! Elaine came out on Tuesday, and we did the monitoring rounds. On Wednesday, I visited Jan and took her to her son’s place.  catching the winter sun Bronwyn came out on Thursday, and we found one penguin at home. These days the penguins are not all coming home- some stay out for days at a time.  Pied shags at the Hampden inlet All the while, the Council have been working in the carpark and Dave is building a new fence. The storm arrived on Friday night. We got 25mm of rain.  spotted shag in breeding plumage On Saturday morning I went to Dunedin to pick Dan up from town. He gets the shuttle in from the airport. It was still raining in Dunedin, so we stocked up and came home. Last night we watched ‘Oceans” on our smart projector and even though the film had no surprizes, it was well worth watching.  busy, busy This is the last blog of the 24/25 season. It has been one where we have had many precious victories along the way, but overall, the 10% decline in nest numbers coupled with no juvenile recruitment has been brutal. The penguins will not be able to cope with many repeats of this.  glorious winter light Have a great week! Rosalie   A penguin is checking out nest boxes for the new season Hello friends and family, It was crunchy underfoot when I set out to walk the coast on Sunday morning. At 10 am I received a call from Nicky to say there was a whale tangled in fishing gear off the coast, and they were heading out to free it. She wanted to know who to call in DOC.  Sunrise is after 8am these days I said that I would coordinate the call for her and shortly after, I saw their boat powering out from Moeraki harbour and heading straight out to sea from where I was standing. All I could see was 2 dots on the horizon. After about half an hour, they headed back again – the whale was freed.  the 3 big shags have taken over the rock used by the little shags It was not local fishing gear. The huge seas last week may have dislodged the fishing gear from further south and the whale got entangled in it. The sun continued to shine, but when I got to the solar panels, it was easy to see that the trees had grown up to shade it. The batteries were only at 3v.  Mr 200 is already preparing the nest for the new season I came back in the afternoon to cut back the short trees, the taller ones had to wait until Tuesday. After a bit of detective work, we could see that the problem was not with the batteries, and the camera remains offline for now.  The 3 shags enjoying the sunshine This has been a quiet week. I am potting up native Broom and planting Ngaio trees, at a slow pace, limited by weather. The Kaka-beak seeds are germinating in the lounge and I am eyeing up the southern Rata seeds still on the tree – they are a few months off being ready. Happy Matariki! Rosalie  A sky view of our 3 reserves  Now we have 4 pied Shags Hello friends and family This has been a very quiet week. I was able to get outside for an hour or so, each day and not get wet. The team came out on Tuesday, and we did the rounds between the showers.  The five-finger in full bloom On Wednesday I went to Oamaru and visited Jan on the way. I went for a check-up at the doctors. My doctor has many talents, and he is performing in a show next month which requires that he grow a beard. What a different look!  Trotter's creek became a torrent Thursday was so wet I cancelled the monitoring rounds. It rained – 28mm all up and the ground is very soggy. It stopped mid-morning on Friday, in time for a DOC working group to re-gravel the path and remove a boxthorn.  The basket fungus loves the rain Robbie and I had a meeting with Jim Watts from DOC and had a good catch-up.  Always a rainbow! Saturday was glorious! Jan and I visited Stewart and then went out for lunch, sitting in the sunshine and enjoying a yummy quiche from Vanessa’s. Have a great week, Rosalie.  Winter brings beautiful skies. Hello friends and family The week began with reasonable weather, despite a poor forecast. On Sunday Youenn and I went to the Bluffs and planted trees. I missed the aurora on Sunday night, so had a look on Monday night.  The aurora on Monday night We were able to plant again on Monday and Tuesday, so it made a change to do the Toptip on Wednesday morning. The place was very busy, so the morning went fast. We went to Vanessa’s for lunch and then Youenn got on the bus to Queenstown.  Giant petrels - a likely vector for Bird Flu gather to eat seal pups The promised rain had not arrived by Thursday, but it was very cold. Since then, we have had hail and sleet showers but only 8mm in total. It is still very cold. Usually, we get our first cold snap at the beginning of July. I manage to stay comfortable by layering up so I can still do the rounds. The slow cooker is in action.  snow out the kitchen window Have a great week! Rosalie  checking footprints for size Hello friends and family Youenn is a hard worker and a keen cook. He planted trees at the start of the week and then cut wire for more protective circles. On Monday we went to Oamaru to get ingredients so he could cook. I do breakfast and lunch, he does dinner. On Monday evening he counted 26 Hoiho in Hide Bay.  home time The team came out on Tuesday morning and we did the rounds. Murray brought 13 more trees, so we planted them in the afternoon. On Wednesday we did more tree protectors on the morning and then went to the forest for a walk in the afternoon. The predicted rain arrived during the night, so all the tiny trees got a good drenching. We went to Jan’s on Thursday morning to collect a trailer load of trees for Murray to plant out in the weekend.  A trailer full of trees It stopped raining on Thursday afternoon, and we got 12mm. Youenn went for a tramp with Robbie on Friday while I did the rounds – no penguins home.  Winter sun The wind arrived on Friday, so yesterday was a quiet one. We have started realigning the path at Okahau to make it safer to do the rounds.  The Spotted shags are back nest building in the same spot Have a great week! Rosalie |
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