A sunny and blustery day saw us return to Pukekauri Dam after the holidays. Steve recorded a total of 14 rats/ mice and one possum over the holiday period – so they are definitely back out in force. Today OTP students also collected a good haul, with 3 and a half rats (only the head […]
Author: Jess Buhr
Ngā Kaitiaki O Pukekauri is a community trapping project established in April 2023 at the Pukekauri dam with the aim of increasing and protecting the population of the endemic Weiweia or NZ dabchick.
Students, teachers, parents from Bream Bay College, One Tree Point, Waipu and Ruakākā schools have joined forces with members of Patuharakeke iwi, Northland Regional Council (NRC) and Enviroschools.
We are also supported by Susan from the Piroa-Brynderwyns Landcare Trust (PBL) and the Waipu Menzshed with their generous donations towards our initial trap line set up.
Back for 2024
Yesterday a new group of keen trappers from Bream Bay College and One Tree Point Schools visited Pukekauri Dam to resume our pest trapping efforts for 2024. After having set the traps for the final time before the holidays almost 2 months ago, we were unsure what would be found. Steve made a trip up […]
Weweia Sighting and thank yous
Oh the excitement!! Steve’s visit to the dam the other day caught the elusive weweia on camera! Not only the pair that we hoped were still in residence but their two new babies riding on their backs, as is the weweia way! This is everything that the project is about and we are so grateful […]
Last check before summer holidays
What a year it has been! This project has been such an amazing collaboration between so many awesome people and I am very grateful to have been a part of it. Seeing the students’ engagement and enthusiasm for protecting our environment has been outstanding. To date we have caught 89 pests – 68 mice/ rats, […]
The holidays
Over the past 3 weeks, Steve and I have been checking the traps up at Pukekauri. The predators are definitely making themselves more evident again with the weather warming up. During the last week of term and the school holidays we have caught 9 rats or mice and 6 possums. With the addition of our […]
Last trip for the term
Today was our last trip to Pukekauri dam with the students before the holidays. It turned out to be a very interesting visit! We began our trap check and reached station 7, where Steve and I had left a rat in our DOC200 the previous week in the hopes of luring something else in. However, […]
Coming together as a Kahui Ako
One of the great things about this project has been working with our teachers, principals and students from across our four Bream Bay Kahui Ako schools. We had an article done by the Northern Advocate which was published today. Full article: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/pest-management-project-brings-together-bream-bay-kura/EGV6NBZIJVDPNNJ5WMIY6CAKI4/
Where have all the pests gone?
After visiting the site again on Thursday, we had only caught 1 mouse in the traps this week and I only collected 1 mouse the previous week. We discussed potential reasons for the lull in catches: change in weather, old bait, other predators could have some possible influence. We changed out all the baits on […]