Sunday 10th December 2023

learning the ropes of rehab

​Hello friends and family.
All was ticking over nicely at the start of the week until the Tuesday monitoring rounds. The chicks in nest 6 were post guard. (I put a camera on the nest overnight – no adult was recorded coming home to feed the chicks.) We continued and when we got to nest 86, the male was there injured, badly enough to require stitches so we brought him in to go to the wildlife hospital and the chicks in to hand raise. The wonderful man from United Fisheries got back to me. He has sourced a pallet of fish for us which is fantastic. Changes to the MPI regulations have affected the supply of small fish so this was a godsend. We will have our freezer space packed to the limit.

A tiny new pup

​Wednesday was Toptip day. These seem to come around so fast. The next one will be next year!

On the uphill side of the excluder fence

​On Thursday we picked up the nest 6 chicks as they were losing weight. The next day, there were no adults home at the nest, so they have abandoned it. The rest of the penguins were fine. Robbie took a load of treasures from my shed to be stored at the Bluffs so we can fit another freezer in the shed if needed.

Life's first adventures

​On Friday it was time to get a WOF for the car. With the amount of roadworks, it took 50 minutes to get to Oamaru. The traffic seems very heavy these days.

The number of gulls just keeps growing with more eggs being laid.

Weeding has become the number two job. We have had enough rain for plants to flourish and the grass is over a meter tall.
Have a great week!
Rosalie