​Hello friends and family
This has been a busy week. On Monday, I had a meeting with the Waitaki Tourism people that was held at mid-day in Palmerston. I explained to them that the penguins have all but gone from the historic reserve and the relentless visitor pressure is adversely affecting the wildlife. The opportunity for a self-sustaining tourist venture here, with its associated employment opportunities, is fast disappearing. Members of the local community board came out at 6:45pm and could see for themselves, tourists ignoring all signs, harassing penguins and seals, and the rampant weeds that are rapidly taking over the place.

​On Tuesday Joanne and her other guide came to offer help. Joanne brings tourists here in the daytime. Wednesday was the day that the local primary school visited to find out what was happening here.

​I visited Janice on Thursday and she is keeping in good spirits despite her challenges. Thursday was also my day for checking all the penguin chicks and they were all OK. The hardest part of these difficult times is getting out of bed in the morning. Once I am up, routines and protocols take over. I must deliver the antibiotics in a timely fashion and carefully check each chick in a thorough way. Of our 85 hatched chicks, 52 survive.

​Hiltrun came up for the weekend and continued the battle with the weeds. Penguins have very short legs so weeds and lank grass makes an impenetrable barrier for them

The predator of concern at present is the rats. We see them on the trail cameras checking the nests at night for spilled fish. It is a challenge to trap them.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
​

​Hello friends and family
Our hearts go out to those devastated by the 7.8 Earthquake in Kaikoura. Fortunately for the seals they have not had their pups yet so can hopefully relocate for the breeding season. It is a shame that the pups will no longer play at the foot of the waterfall. A quarter of the Hutton’s Shearwater breeding grounds were destroyed and they will have eggs or chicks by now so that is doubly damaging. It is a reminder of why we need to save our endangered species while the population still has resilience to cope with these natural disasters.

​I did not even feel the quake and our penguin habitat has not been damaged. The chicks, however, continue to die of unknown causes and for the ones that we can save from Diphtheria, we do our best. 

​On Monday, Marian and I did the annual health check of the bees. We check for American foul brood, a disease for which there is no cure, and fortunately, we did not find any. It was a fun and exciting day. We captured a swarm and re-homed it and I had a bee fly up my nose. (I got it out without being stung!) It is just as well that we did it on Monday as the weather has been foul ever since.

​Yesterday we went to the South-eastern Marine Protection forum consultation in Oamaru and afterwards we went for a delicious lunch.  Now we will each make a written submission, even though it is a waste of time. In spite of all the resources directed to the process it is impotent.

​Today the sun is shining and so we will continue trying to save these penguins and creating safe habitat for them to live in

Have a great week!
Rosalie
​

​Hello friends and family
On Monday, the builders arrived to replace the roof on the garage. It took them most of the day and while the roof was off, the bees discovered the honey boxes stored in the shed. It meant that the builders were working with hundreds of bees buzzing about. In spite of this, they completed the job very efficiently and the garage should be good for another 30 years.

​On Tuesday, the bees featured again as I was called out to capture a swarm. By the time I got there the swarm had gone! I planted out the carrots and now I have only beetroot to plant and all my spring seeds will be planted. 

​We are now treating chicks in 9 nests and have had 15 chicks die. Hatching out and learning to feed are dangerous activities and not all chicks survive. The vet came out on Thursday afternoon to offer support and discuss our protocols.

Chris and Hiltrun came up on Friday afternoon and started screening the nests in Harry’s Bay. The rabbits have eaten out all the understory of the trees and so the penguins are exposed at the nest which is not a safe way for things to be. Sadly, 2 of the nests there have had both chicks die so we are too late with our extra protection.

​Hello friends and family.
On Monday, I mowed the lawns for the first time this year. What with the drought, the rabbits and the hens, this was really just chopping up the inedible weeds – mostly stinging nettle.

​Tuesday and Wednesday were my days for removing the Varroa strips from the bee hives and adding the first boxes for honey collection, called supers. All of the hives, bar one, were in good shape, so I am now down to 13 of them. Later in the month I will divide some in two to make more.

​On Thursday, I went to Oamaru and visited Janice. She is in good heart. In the afternoon, I released the penguin from the soft release pen. I also treated 2 chicks for diphtheria. It seems that we must be very vigilant for this disease each season, but if we catch it early, it is curable in most cases. 

​On Friday, we had our first chick death. The poor wee thing had not been able to feed and died with an empty tummy. It is always sad to lose a chick, but part of the breeding process. We now have 53 live chicks so that is reassuring.

​On Saturday, Adrian and Michelle from Aramoana visited to see first-hand the challenges that the penguins here must deal with. They were shocked to see the spear fishermen – about 8 of them, within 50 m of the colony. The word they used to describe the visitors here was ugly.

My next few weeks will be ruled by the extent of the Diphtheria in the colony. I can fit other stuff around it, but treating Diphtheria is my priority.
Have a great week
Rosalie
​