This past 10 months have seen 13 cats caught in live-catch traps on or beside Biodiversity Focus Areas (BFAs) in our local area. Five of these have been Domestic/Pet cats.
Category: Conservation
Stillwater Reserve and Okura Bush Walkway planting day a Success!
More than 65 people of all ages turned up at the Stillwater Reserve on Sunday 8th of August 2021 for the annual Friends of Okura Bush planting day. Two sites were planted this year after weed control measures to prepare the sites: 1. Areas along the creek at Stillwater Recreation Reserve behind the hall and 2. Cheniers at Weiti River…
Sun Orchids under the Summer’s Sun.
Date: 21st November, 2020. Place: Stillwater Reserve. It was a typical day at work. I woke up with the sun eager to be learn more about endangered birds nesting in Stillwater Reserve with Bernard Michaux. We were going to go out on one of the cheniers in Stillwater Reserve and scout the nesting sites of NZ Dotterels to formulate a…
Pateke at Stillwater
Pateke/Brown Teal on the Lagoon There are three pateke on the lagoon behind the Weiti chenier – one male and two females. The male is in front and has a greeny/iridescent head and one of the females is ringed – metal/white. Pateke have bred here for the past two years at least and it’s looking good for this year too.…
20/21 Karepiro Birds
Bird News from the Beach 20/21 Seasons The Weiti and Okura cheniers and Karepiro beach offer a wonderful opportunity to view at close hand some iconic New Zealand waders. These areas are ecologically sensitive and care should be taken to keep out of the roped-off areas where New Zealand Dotterels and Variable Oystercatchers nest, and remember not to disturb the…
Spring 2019 Bird News
Winter is over, the days are lengthening, and the Northern Hemisphere migrants are starting to arrive. The beach is a dynamic place and winter storms have helped reshape it. At the northern end the creek has eaten into the bank by Dacre’s Cottage and removed areas that Variable Oystercatchers have bred in, but a new spit has started to form…
Cute vs Ugly on the Creek East
I took a super cute (well I think it is anyway!), and a fairly gross pic this past week, checking traps on the Creek East Line … the rodent must have only just got hit it stil had a twinkle in its eye and peanut crumbs on its whiskers!
Dying Cockles in Marine Reserve Report
A report of an recent field inspection of the Okura Marine Reserve by Coastal & Freshwater Ecologist Treffery Barnett has fallen into our hands. The news about cockles is bad.
CatchIt videos for pest catches
CatchtIt, Rachel Fewster, from the Dept of Statistics, Auckland University, alongside Jonathan Baskett, FOOB’s Pest co-ordinator, record all the pests that are killed in the Okura Bush and surrounding areas. Do have a look at the videos which shows the hot spots of where the catches have been made: CatchIT Graphics for Friends of Okura Bush.
Trappers Report April 2017
1. Opening the closed Ridge line Lezette and I met with Simon Matthews, site manager Weiti Station, to discuss access to our closed ridge trapline. Simon reassured us of his commitment to assisting with our trapping program but said that for the next few months access by road to the ridge would be impossible because of continuing road works. He…
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