Sunday 25th September 2022

The wonder of it all!

​Hello friends and family
On Sunday, Murray and I visited the Point Bush sanctuary out the back of Waimate. We went in their new Leif so caused no emissions on the trip. We wanted to see their fence which excludes predators. It was interesting in many ways. Firstly, it was built around remnants of ancient forest that had survived in gullies. It is on private land so there were daffodils by the path, poison stations for rats by the traps and a large stand of pines that will be removed later. The 2 additions they had made to their deer fence were a 1 m high fine mesh and 3 hotwires at the top of it. This could be an affordable option for us to make a staged effort to turn the Bluffs into an ecosanctuary. Exciting times!

an achievable predator proof fence

​On Tuesday when we did the rounds, there were 17 nests already. One is a 2-year-old that we beeped by the hide last season as a juvenile. In the afternoon Jan and I went to the pre-season meeting in Dunedin to make sure we are up to speed with the many requirements for the new season. Jim, our DOC liaison person gave us the traps and cameras that he had procured for us. Thank you, Jim!

Young and invincible! Who needs a nest box?

​There were more nests on Thursday and yesterday we found 12 nests at the Moeraki colony and 20 here. In the afternoon we went to the Bluffs and found 2 nests at the south end and 3 penguins at Kawariki bay behaving like they will nest there.

Look what I have got for you!

​All 3 were 3 years old and chicks that we had hand raised because of predators killing chicks in our colonies. How wonderful!

Soon this pair will have eggs!

Have a great week!
Rosalie