Sunday 5th February 2017

A pair of contented penguins

​Hello friends and family
It took a few days for the juvenile Yellow-eyed penguins to settle into the berry cage. They were conflicted between hunger and fear of pain until the anti-fungal medication kicked in. I picked up a starving Little penguin in Pebble bay and he is a talker – having an opinion on his meals and feeding well.

Leaving early to go fishing

​Our first chick in the field has fledged. We have been weighing the chicks in the field at 100 days of age and they are now at good weights which may mean that the feeding has improved out there in the ocean. We got our first starving pre-moult adult from Shag point which brings our hospital number up to 28 penguins in care. We will begin releasing chicks next week.

the image is black and white because it is taken in infra-red after 9 pm

​I have not been ranting about the tourist behaviour, mostly because no one seems to care, but they are still arriving in groups after the reserve has closed and staying down in the penguin area until after dark when our cameras can no longer record them, even in infra-red as the photo, taken after 9 pm shows. During January, there were 180 cars in the car park after the reserve had closed at 7:30 pm.

stunning beauty of the Shag river mouth

​On Friday, we went to the Shag river mouth which was just lovely. There are now seal pups at the mouth and a fine grove of alpine daisy. We have still not had enough warm days to warrant checking the bees but I will do it this week.

the battle continues...

Have a great week!
Rosalie
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