News from the Community Liaison Team – October 2021

Well it’s been a long lockdown hasn’t it, we’ve got to know our homes, gardens, and family members very well now, and if you’re like us you’re itching to get out and expand your space!

Although we’ve not been able to get out and about like we would usually do, in the community and local schools, we have been hard at work setting out the plans for future mahi, and some exciting get together and events for when we are all able to come together again.

Right now a lot of our time is being spent preparing for the Tamahunga Trappers’ planned release of Kiwi on Tamahunga, which is incredibly exciting. We’re supporting them, by ensuring that a large area of many thousands of hectares around the maunga is safe for kiwi, and we need YOUR help to do this! We would love to hear from anyone who lives on or in the areas immediately surrounding the mount, as we work with the community and landowners to put predator control into place to create Kiwi safe buffer zones. The good news is by controlling predators in the area for the kiwi, you will also be helping other native species survive and thrive, for increased birdsong in your garden, and a few less possum attacks on your fruit trees too! Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved – admin@theforestbridgetrust.org.nz.

Did you know that without predator control only 5% or less of Kiwi chicks survive to adulthood, and an estimated 25 million native birds are killed every year by stoats, weasels, cats and possums? But with predator control in place, chick survival can jump up dramatically to 95%. It’s breeding season at the moment, not only for our native taonga, but also the predators that hunt them, so it’s a great time to get traps out. You can read more about our amazing national bird and the work being done to save them here: https://www.savethekiwi.nz/about-kiwi/threats-to-kiwi/. There are also some amazing live camera feeds around New Zealand by the Urban Wildlife Trust, to allow you to see our wildlife in all it’s natural beauty and be inspired to create a safe zone in your patch of paradise! Visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLizlM6gpaVHTKPo7spoqlA. or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFCv3ROhD6E to enjoy flocks of Tui on Tiritiri Matangi Island.

We hope you enjoy the budding beauty of spring, and here’s hope for a sunny, social summer!