Northtec Practicum Students
Two practicum students from Northtec studding Environmental Management have started with me recently – working 12 weeks to complete 90 hours of work on the island as part of their curriculum. It was their first time on the island ever, so on the first day I showed them around, including some of the more far to reach places. After lunch we cleared some of the island traps. They then checked the petrel boxes and cleared some oleander
behind the Visitors’ Shelter.
Following their first day, they completed various other jobs such as spraying the kikuyu on Knight Island, pulling gravel groundsel, completed a 5MBC for the whole island, and helped clear all the island and outer island traps. They were also lucky enough to see dolphins on their second day here during the barge trip back. Not a bad way to start!
NorthTec Environmental Management practicum students getting a taste of professional conservation.
Volunteer Day
18 volunteers came to help out with jobs on the island. Funnily enough, the job this month was to visit Knight Island and clear an area for a potential Caspian Tern nesting site. Cathy (the previous ranger) came out with us and directed us on how best to clear the site for them. Our first attempt to land was thwarted by the tide
so we had to back out and try again in half an hour (which was successful).
We then had to work fairly quickly as we only had a few hours to clear the whole site before the tide got too low. Luckily, we got most of the site cleared and, as mentioned earlier, the practicum students sprayed the rest of the site out the following day! Volunteers also painted roofing iron that will be going on to the bird hide at a later stage.
Volunteers getting stuck into painting the roofing iron of the bird hide.
Trapping
Not much to say regarding the traps this month. The first check resulted in two mice on Knight Island and nothing in the rest of the traps. Second clear resulted in nothing in any of the traps. I did hear from Dave who does the Onemama traps and he said he recently caught a stoat so that’s great news! Good to catch them before they can cross over.
New Ranger
I mentioned in my previous report that my time on the island is coming to an end soon. The committee of course in the meantime have been looking for a new ranger which I am happy to say they have done. Zara will be starting in late October/early November taking over as the ranger of Matakohe Limestone Island. She, along with her partner Dylan are locals, and I have heard are very excited to be taking on the role. I won’t mention too much about her as I am sure she can introduce herself once she has settled. But big congratulations to her and I am sure she will do great!
Other goings on
Last weekend 18 people came over for a quick walk around the island as part of a birthday party. We had to push it back as the weather was borderline but luckily it cleared up enough for a crossing in the afternoon.
We are looking to install a water tank behind the Visitors’ Shelter to catch water off the roof that we can use to try to keep an area damp over summer for the kiwi. The students have been clearing the oleander to make space, but the biggest hurdle seems to be how to get the tank on to the island as it is too large for the barge. We may have found a solution so keep tuned for that.
We had our Maritime Operator Safety System (MOSS) reviewed by a Maritime officer yesterday as part of our requirements to operate the barge. He was happy with how we operated with just a few minor changes for the upcoming ranger.
See you next month!
Bevan