Sunday 30th September 2018

Incubation has begun

​Hello friends and family
We have been very lucky to have had about 1 m3 gravel donated to us by the Lighthouse repair men. The challenge is that it is in the drive and needed in the rehab pen. Little and often is my motto so I started shifting it on Sunday – 2 wheelbarrow loads at a time, at which rate, it will take weeks!

Titi footprints in the sand announce their arrival home

​Monday was wet, so I went to town with Jan and went to the dentist for a check-up and clean - $240 later and I have decided to only go once a year or else change my dentist. We got overalls for the monitoring and I have put our logos on them with Velcro so they can come off for washing.

The Spotted Shags are still laying eggs

​Tuesday was the day I got my truck back - 2 weeks is a long time to use a borrowed vehicle – thank you Robbie very much, for such a helpful, trusting gesture. This was also the first time this season that we saw signs of the Titi returning.

A seal poses under the rainbow

​Wednesday was the day of gale force winds, so I stayed close to home and got the garden dug for the carrots and beetroot this season. By Thursday it was only gusty and Jan and I did the monitoring rounds. We found 38 nests with 70 eggs and still hope for more! Robbie worked on the rehab pen. He brought out the timber for the soft release pens and also his saw bench. With that he sawed up the crooked timber to make batons to hold the insect mesh in place. To buy it would have cost $4.63 / m and he made at least 100 m. Wow!

Jan came out on Friday and we checked the little penguins on the island to see how they survived the storm. The first of the chicks have fledged and there are some new eggs.
Yesterday I went north with Chris to count nesting Shags while Hiltrun did the nest round. Our travels took us to the Waitaki River mouth where we had to wade through icy water to reach the Otago Shag roosting spot – the to Boatman’s Harbour to count Spotted Shag nests.
Hiltrun found 2 new penguin nests and so now we have 22 here and 18 at the Moeraki colony which is 5 less than last year.
Have a great week!
Rosalie
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