Monday 15th May 2017

Penguins relaxing

​Hello friends and family
With a few days of glorious weather, I was able to get the bees checked on Monday and had a session with the gorse at Hampden on Tuesday. My job with the bees was to remove the Varroa treatment strips and I was pleased with the number of bees in each hive. The boxes were very heavy which tells me that they have a good supply of honey for the winter. I have 5 more to do next week.

Kaka beak blooming in the Moeraki colony

​The goal of clearing gorse on Tuesday was to be able to fence around the Hazelnut trees so the sheep could go back into the bottom sections. I was pleased with my efforts and will get more done next week, weather permitting.

Just chatting before heading off to go fishing

​Wednesday was my day at the Top-tip shop and a chance to catch up with locals including Patrick who came out in the afternoon and emptied his freezer. He plans to take it away on Sunday. I now have no excuses to not do a bit of maintenance on the bee hives stored in the shed. I will be able to get more of them under cover too.

Another basket fungus

​It was also the day that DOC announced their draft conservation plan for 150 endangered species. I immediately looked it up and Yellow-eyed penguins are on the list – the only penguin species.  There is a focus on using science to inform spending - Maybe this means we may get some funding – I am forever hopeful (naïve!)

The lighthouse is beginning to look fantastic again

Stewart also phoned on Wednesday evening to let me know that we have trapped our first stoat at shag point. After we installed them, I went online to You tube and found out how to use the setting tool correctly – much better!
I left for the conference first thing on Friday – more about that next week.
Have a great week
Rosalie
​