I now know that I am certifiably insane! I have just stood and salted 6
ice-cream tubs of rabbit as bait for the predator traps. Luckily someone volunteered to gut, skin and chop them
into quarters for me. I think there was probably about 12 rabbits. At
least that should keep us going for this season. Where did I get 12 rabbits you may ask? - today was the Waiau Pig Shoot and the kids got a prize for the heaviest rabbit.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
19-10-2013
We are just recovering from some really bad weather with high winds and lots and lots of rain. The Waiau river spilled its stop bank in one place which made for some early morning phone calls and some hard work by our local contractor. The Mason which wasn't quite so full provide some gravel to fix the hole. The poor old birds must be having a very frustrating time as every time the start to mate the rain comes in and disrupts everything.
The rivers are finally dropping and hopefully the good weather we have had for the last 2 days is helping the birds food supply replenish. It is supposed to be settled for the next few days, so I will hopefully get out and see if any of the birds are still around.
We did manage to get out and check the 10 traps we got down before the rain. Despite the weather we had a result of 2 Pacific Rats and 1 Hedgehog for 16 trap nights. We just need to get some more traps out.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
06-10-2013
Well it has been a while since I had time to breath let alone time to write up the blog but today I have made time - mainly because the weather is threatening rain.
Since my last post we have had a considerable amount of rain which caused both the Mason and Waiau rivers to run very hard, fast and full. The Terns nesting rituals were interrupted with a bang as the island they had chosen was covered in water - again. Just when it looked like the weather had stabilised, it is threatening rain again but I hope it won't be quite so bad this time.
Two of the group attended a great workshop on Conservation management of native birds in braided rivers run over 3 days by BRaid. We learnt so much and were given so much information we both came back raring to go and get the traps out. Unfortunately we had to wait for the rivers to drop before we could get out and finally managed to get the first 10 out last Thursday. It was all hands to the traps and with the help of a Quad bike to do the heavy carrying we managed to get them out without incident. We issued a public advisory that the traps were going out in the local weekly newsletter and have had great feedback since with people saying someone should have done this years ago. If only they had.
I am hoping to get out this week and see if I can find the Terns. The Banded Dotterels, Pied Stilts and South Island Pied Oystercatchers are all busy on the Mason. If the weather holds I might get a chance to check for nests this week as well.
It is going to be very hard waiting for the time to pass before we can check the traps but patience is a virtue and I will just have to wait.
Since my last post we have had a considerable amount of rain which caused both the Mason and Waiau rivers to run very hard, fast and full. The Terns nesting rituals were interrupted with a bang as the island they had chosen was covered in water - again. Just when it looked like the weather had stabilised, it is threatening rain again but I hope it won't be quite so bad this time.
Two of the group attended a great workshop on Conservation management of native birds in braided rivers run over 3 days by BRaid. We learnt so much and were given so much information we both came back raring to go and get the traps out. Unfortunately we had to wait for the rivers to drop before we could get out and finally managed to get the first 10 out last Thursday. It was all hands to the traps and with the help of a Quad bike to do the heavy carrying we managed to get them out without incident. We issued a public advisory that the traps were going out in the local weekly newsletter and have had great feedback since with people saying someone should have done this years ago. If only they had.
I am hoping to get out this week and see if I can find the Terns. The Banded Dotterels, Pied Stilts and South Island Pied Oystercatchers are all busy on the Mason. If the weather holds I might get a chance to check for nests this week as well.
It is going to be very hard waiting for the time to pass before we can check the traps but patience is a virtue and I will just have to wait.
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