Sunday 21st October 2018

What do you want? A penguin incubating eggs

​Hello friends and family
The weather was much better this week as we worked our way through the never-ending list of jobs. Planting will come to a halt as the ground hardens off. The next phase is weed control and we will spot spray the thistles which can best be described as lush.

The offending pond

​On Tuesday, Chris and Adrian came up to join Jan, Robbie and I. Jim our DOC penguin liaison person came up for the day too, so he could get an update of the work that we are doing. Fresh eyes are always a good thing and he found mosquito wrigglers in the salt pond that I had not even considered as possible habitat. It was treated on Wednesday!

An unusual visitor - a moulting Leopard seal

​Robbie brought his neighbours out on Thursday and they were very interested in helping with our work, which is wonderful as there is plenty to be done. More progress was made on the pens and the weather was glorious.

Lucky Shag chicks with doting parents

​Yesterday we candled the eggs. We have a special box to do this, which we bring out once a year and the whole process was smooth and a cause for great pride. The penguins behaved perfectly. and we have a very high level of fertility this season. Candling enables us to transfer any eggs that are at risk before they hatch, to maximise survival. This is one of the reasons why we monitor – to habituate the penguins to our care so they don’t stress too much when we need their co-operation.
We never forget that they are wild!

Busy bees - strips out and supers on! Let's make honey

Have a great week!
Rosalie
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