We’d like to introduce our ‘Protector of The Birds’ award.
The award is given out each season (winter, spring, summer, autumn) to the household that eliminated the most predators of any type for that season.
We figure it’s a good way to keep it light and also recognise the hard work of our members.
So (drum roll please), the ‘Protector of The Birds’ award for Winter 2021 goes to Bruce from Wairangi Street.
10 Rats! Plus Bruce got a possum on the 9th September 2021. So they are there.
Followed closely in second place is James and Kay from Masefield Avenue.
7 Rats! Plus they got a possum in November 2020.
Congratulations to our winners. A wee box of chocolates is on the way!
If you haven’t had any success yet please don’t give up. Most of us got none or one.
The award is there for the taking for Spring!
We’re now using predator control software called Trap.NZ. It’s used by other groups in Auckland.
Soon we’ll be able to get comparisons between the groups to see how we are tracking. And they will be able to analyse our data.
This map shows our traps as at 10 September 2021.
Our traps are recorded on the map. Then we record the results as they come in.
We are wanting predator killed, date and bait used.
If you want to record results yourself I can add you to the software but it’s probably easier to email me.
You can see our results thus far too:
Those Other? Mice :)
Take a look at the trap distribution for other suburbs close to us:
(Our traps weren't added at the time this PDF was created)
In other news we’ve greatly increased our members in Herne Bay.
With the help of some wonderful volunteers (thanks Glenys and Dinah!) we’ve been able to put a flyer in almost every letter box in Herne Bay.
We’ve had a great response from these and will distribute traps to another 14 households after lockdown. Then we’ll update the Trap.NZ map to reflect that.
If you checked the trap distribution PDF above you’ll see that there are no traps recorded in Westmere, St Mary’s Bay, Ponsonby and Freeman’s Bay.
Here it is again:
Urban Ark is the group that looks after groups like ours and they’ve asked if we can expand our operations to cover those areas.
Of course we said yes!
We’ve asked Auckland Council for some more traps. And we’ll be looking for some intrepid volunteers to help. Maybe dropping leaflets into letterboxes (good exercise, trust me on this one) or dropping traps to new members. Or even help with this website, emails or admin.
Please let me know.
If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend RNZ’s Fight for the Wild series on YouTube.
It’s a hard watch in places but it’s compelling and engaging. It helps to put the work we are doing into perspective.
You can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fFNY5Z27RA
Don't worry if you're getting trap fatigue. Add a note to your diary to try again in a month and take a well deserved break.