Sunday 23rd September 2018

Mr 26 is defending his territory from a lonely male who might steal his wife.

​Hello friends and family
The forecast for Monday was awful so the digger driver decided to breach the dam before the rain and came out early in the morning. The first raindrops fell as we were leaving so that was perfect. The 9 mm of rain was great for the new plants as well.

The dam is breached - one less breeding spot for Mosquitoes

​We did the rounds on Tuesday and planted some trees. The rounds these days include the lambing beat and by Tuesday we had a set of triplets, 4 sets of twins and 2 singles with 3 ewes yet to lamb.

The Karo is in full bloom

​Chris and Adrian came on Wednesday, so we got more flaxes planted and the gorse cut down. Thursday was a great day with Robbie and Chris building the rehab centre and Jan and I doing the rounds. After we had finished, we went to Doug and Robyn’s farm and collected some more baby native trees. 

No Spoonbills on Motiti Island yet, but the Otago Shags are in residence

​Friday was our day for the pre-season meeting with DOC in Dunedin so off we went with Jan, my truck is still in the garage. It was great that the meeting was in work time and 2 DOC rangers came up from Southland, so we covered the full area. There was still no evident sense of urgency visible to us, but at least we are now having a conversation about protecting penguins from tourists.

Our hill climbing triplets

Yesterday Hiltrun, Jan and I did the rounds and we now have 18 nests here and 16 at the Moeraki colony. We also have a new set of twins and only one ewe left to lamb.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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