A very windy month with me having to postpone a few groups due to weather forecasts.
Fortunately, we have found new dates for the groups and they have still been able to visit.
Next month is my last month before Zara, the new Ranger, takes over, so I am busy sorting
out the little odd jobs I want to finish before then.
Volunteer Day
14 volunteers came over to the island this month to help out. They filled all the northern side
of the island bait stations with toxin to keep the mice under control. I am always shocked how
quickly they complete this mammoth job as it was done well before lunch! We managed to
squeeze in some mothplant weeding before lunch and then afterwards we weeded the
vegetable garden for Zara. Other jobs done were more progress on the bird hide, and general
weeding of moth plant, Taiwan cherry and periwinkle. Quite a few new faces which was
awesome to see!

Kiwi
The first kiwi of the season was released on to the island. Todd monitors kiwi dads in Purua and brings their chicks to the island once they are 10 days old. There are multiple reasons we do this. Firstly, the island is predator-free, meaning the chicks can grow to 1.2kg which is considered stoat proof, before being released back on to the mainland. Also, there are no dogs on the island – they are the biggest killer of adult kiwi in Northland. Finally, the educational aspect, as at the public releases, when Todd has a captive audience and he can talk about the importance of toxin use, trapping and dog control (which in a nutshell is just using a lead!). Kiwi will also be starting to hatch on the island so it is important we keep on top of our traps in this crucial time period.

Water tank
The forecast for this summer is looking to be exceptionally dry so we are a bit worried about the kiwi, as they struggled a couple of summers ago finding food because of the hard ground. As part of this we decided to install a new water tank that catches water off the Visitors’ Shelter. Luckily the Shelter already has guttering so we can just connect the downpipe to a tank. We decided on the largest tank 25,000L (go big or go home, right??) as we would rather have too much water than not enough. With this tank we were planning on trying to keep an area damp over summer, Gerrys folly in front of the Singlemens’ Quarters. It would also be awesome to just have water accessible on that side of the island for drinking or filling spray packs etc.
The main issue was how do we transport the tank to the island. It is too large to fit inside the barge. We asked around to other barge providers but in the end decided we would just try to float it over and tow it with the barge. We picked a calm early morning with a high tide, tied it up and towed it over to the Shelter. It all went surprisingly well and the tank was very easy to tow! Getting it on to site was the next job, as the oleander needed to be cleared and the site prepared. We got this all done in a day and I am hoping to get it plumbed in this evening – Wednesday. Pray for rain!

Groups
I had a couple of groups over this month. Nature’scool brought over 10 children to visit the island. Most of them had been over before so they just did their own thing for the day. Luke, one of the people in charge, had a large backpack full of activities so I am sure they were busy!
I also had 14 staff from the Hundertwasser Art Centre come over to visit the island. The weather was amazing and we spent the day walking the island, stopping at a few locations to talk about the site.
Practicum students
The two students are still working on the island. They have been doing a wide variety of jobs. So far, they have cleared all the traps, done some more spraying, moved roofing iron to the other side of the island, mowing with the push mower, cleaned the landing ramp. They also stayed the night on the island so they could help out with the early start the next morning moving the water tank and they also helped clear and prepare the site to place the tank. Great work so far!

Other goings on
A month of servicing this month with both boats getting their engines serviced. The tractor was also serviced this month. Maritime also visited us to make sure our MOSS documents were up to date and we were operating within the rules.
I had a go at mowing the island with the tractor as during winter the island is far too wet. It went well but I nearly got stuck a few times. The island is surprisingly still quite damp in areas but does seem to be drying up quickly.
I have been doing quite a bit of spraying against the never-ending war against the weeds. Mainly mothplant seedlings, periwinkle etc. I will mention that a few months ago we got a drone over to spray and the kill from that seems to be excellent! Especially on the cliff face on the south-western side of the island where it’s covered in Mexican daisy.
That’s all, see you next month for my last report!
Bevan