Sunday 20th March 2016

​Hello friends and family
On Sunday we got 2 penguins into care – one was an injured Yellow-eyed penguin chick and the other was a Snares-crested penguin that washed up on the beach at Moeraki. Both are still battling stress and starvation in the best conditions that we can offer them.

All moulted and beautiful, enjoying the morning sun.

​Finding penguins means doing beach searches and I found another Yellow-eyed penguin chick injured on the beach on Wednesday. I am walking the reserves daily and the coast every second day.

Sheep and penguins hang out together.

​On Tuesday we had rain – 8 mm and so very welcome. By Friday it was impossible to see where it had been. Nevertheless, it was a good signal to start planting Broad Beans for spring. This winter I am going to plant 3 kinds – I do enjoy them and they freeze well.

Jack sparrow enjoying breakfast on the path.

​On Thursday we were visited by a bus load of Masters students from Otago University and they are studying Tourism. It was interesting to see them do the same thing as all of the younger tourists do – walk straight past the signs and go too close to the seals. By the time they had moved away, half of the seals had left the point and it was a perfect illustration of the need to prevent such behaviour in the first place as there is no way to undo it. They reached the conclusion that the only way to control the visitors is to have guides.

Off fishing - the first penguin is just getting into the water.

I did the shopping on Thursday and called in to see Janice on the way home. She was in good spirits and pleased to be updated on the progress of the penguins.
Yesterday was a busy one when we rescued 5 penguins and let 2 go. We now have 9 penguins in care and 4 in soft release.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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