The project has had another fantastic six months with surprises and wins beyond our wildest dreams;

tuatara have been released, breeding programmes have begun for takahe, kaka and kakariki, seabird

translocations are now finely tuned and plans are underway for transfers of other seabird species. These

achievements now mean that Cape Sanctuary has the most diverse range of native bird life on coastal

mainland New Zealand. To top this off, we are finding good recovery of reptiles, the re-vegetation pro-

gramme has progressed and there are exciting research projects beginning with Katipo spiders and dune

restoration, to name a few.

The Cape Sanctuary project is a paradigm shift for conservation. Many species face extinction without

human intervention. We need to do a better job than New Zealand has done over the last 50 years to

save these species. The Cape Sanctuary project is taking a different approach, based on the assumption

that to save species we need to create a space where they can co-exist with human habitation, including

recreation and food production in a cost-effective way—the sanctuary is proving this can work. To do

this we recognise that there are four main pillars of support: landowners, Government (DOC), Iwi and

the community—it is comparable to a four legged stool in which every leg needs to be present to pro-

vide balance and for the whole to function effectively. We value everyone’s input.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a few people: Julian Robertson who had the

faith to allow his land to be used and who co-funds the project, Dr. John McLennan for putting his

reputation on the line and for his guidance, and Tamsin and her team of staff and volunteers for the

implementation. Thank you. We look forward to the next exciting few months.

Andy Lowe, landowner

Founders’ News

Takahē release and the little surprise

March 2013

Summer Edition

In this edition

The highs and lows

of takahe recovery

Kakariki transfer

and the breeding

programme

Kaka establish-

ment

Kiwi news

Update with sea-

bird programmes

Tuatara release

Lizard monitoring

Ocean Beach Dune

restoration

Pest control

Staff news

The New Year could not have started better. On Decem-

ber 29th, Oraka and Orehou, the takahē pair released into

the Seabird site within the sanctuary on September 14th,

allowed us a quick glimpse of their chick. The pair had

been monitored closely but was not thought to be nest-

ing. Discovering a chick was a huge surprise and a very

significant event for takahē and Cape Sanctuary.

The female Orehou, now only just approaching two years

of age, was hatched originally at Burwood Bush Takahē

rearing facilities in January 2011, from an egg sourced

from wild parents in the Murchison Mountains of Fiord-

land. Her partner, Oraka, hatched in 2005. They had

been held together at Burwood Takahē Rearing facilities

for only a few months before their transfer to Cape Sanc-

tuary. Takahē generally do not breed successfully until around 3 years of age, and so Orehou is

certainly helping her cause by starting so young and being such a good parent.

The pairs’ release on September 14th was a very special day attended by many people including

Stephen Ricketts (Mitre 10), Alan McKenzie (Wellington Conservator, DOC), Phil Marsh

(Takahē Liaison Officer, DOC) and sanctuary landowners, iwi, staff and volunteers. Representa-

tives from the Kaitiaki Roopu o Murihiku, Stewart Bull (Oraka-Aparima Rununga), Gail and

Bubba Thompson (Awarua Rununga) and Phil Marsh (DOC) travelled with the takahē from the

South Island to their new home.

The chick will be managed as part of the wider takahē meta-population and may be transferred to

another location to be paired with another bird when it is independent of its parents. Cape Sanc-

tuary plans to establish three more pairs within the sanctuary over the next year. In following

years breeding pairs may be wandering all over Cape Kidnappers peninsula.

Unfortunately, (since preparing this newsletter) in late February we found the takahē chick dead.

A very sad day. The chick was almost fully grown. No cause of death could be found. On the

positive side, it is good to know this pair are capable of breeding and raising a chick. Better luck

next time.

Takahē continued…...

The takahē is an endangered species and classed as critically threatened. Takahē

number less than 300 with only around 50 breeding pairs known. The North Island

species or Moho became extinct in the 1800s. The takahē being established at Cape

Sanctuary is the South Island species also thought to have been extinct until it’s

rediscovery in 1948 in Fiordland by Dr Geoffrey Orbell.

The takahē family – 7th

January 2013 – chick ap-

proximately five to six

weeks old (photo by

Heather Carter)

Inside Story Headline

“We hope that Cape

Sanctuary will provide a

large, safe and suitable

environment for a thriving

population of takahē and

be able to make a

significant contribution

towards the long-term

recovery of this critically

threatened species in the

years to come”. Andy

Lowe, Cape Sanctuary

Page 2 Summer Ed i t ion

“It is the first time in many

100s of years that takahe

have roamed the Hawke’s

Bay region so receiving a

pair here at the sanctuary in

September was a very spe-

cial occasion. To have them

breed is even more unbe-

lievable and one more pre-

cious bird to help put the

species back on the road to

recovery”. Tamsin Ward-

Smith, Cape Sanctuary

Manager

Releasing Oraka and Orehou at the Seabird site – 14th September 2012

Kakariki transfer and........

...the captive breeding programme

Efforts to bring back the wonderful chattering and green flashes of red-crowned parakeet or kakariki to Cape

Sanctuary are in progress. This has involved a release of birds sourced from Kapiti Island in combination with

a captive breeding programme.

A total of 44 red-crowned kakariki (18 males, 18 females, 8 unknown) were transferred from Kapiti Island to

Cape Sanctuary in September 2012. A team of ten people spent almost two weeks mist-netting on Kapiti Is-

land. This involved many pre-dawn starts and many hours waiting patiently for a kakariki to fly into the net.

Once caught the birds were held temporarily in an aviary that had been filled with soft foliage, shade cloth cur-

tains and hammocks. Wild kakariki are prone to stress and so this reduces the risk of them flying into the walls

and ‘self-harming’ if agitated.

On transfer day, the kakariki were packed into individual transfer boxes lined with dry grass. They received a

farewell blessing from Kaumatua Ake Tiaki and Tuki Takiwa of the Te Runanga O Atiawa ki Whakarongotai,

who also travelled with them by helicopter to the sanctuary. All 44 birds rocketed out of boxes in front of a

large welcoming party of Tangata Whenua, staff and volunteers.

A further 60 kakariki are planned to

be transferred from Kapiti Island in

winter 2013.

A captive breeding programme for kakariki has also been successful. In February 2012, 14 red-crowned

kakariki chicks from four wild pairs on Matiu—Somes Island, in Wellington harbour, were transferred to Pu-

kaha—Mt Bruce for rearing. Annette Harvey’s diligence and skill enabled the chicks to be selected just a few

weeks away from fledging. Six kakariki (3 males and 3 females) survived to adulthood and provided three non-

sibling breeding pairs. Two of these pairs are now held in aviaries at John Berry’s, a local breeder. His care

and attention for the birds has produced 12 chicks so far. A pair held at Pukaha—Mt Bruce, has also hatched

five chicks. These young, once fledged, will be released into a flight of the aviary at Cape Sanctuary for several

weeks before their release.

The link below is to a short U-

Tube movie of the release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=UcAeDOFqjdc&feature=youtu.b

e

Page 3 Summer Ed i t ion

Photo taken by DOC Poutiri Ao ō Tane Project

This process is called ‘soft-releasing’ and gives the birds time to acclimatise to the

new environment. Juveniles will be released progressively into the sanctuary with

some remaining in the aviary to ‘anchor’ those newly released and to act as a fo-

cus point for wild kakariki transferred earlier from Kapiti Island.

The aviary ‘anchoring’ certainly works as wild kakariki have been seen crawling

over the roof of the aviary. Breeding may also have occurred amongst the wild

birds this season as a flock was seen passing over the aviary in February.

Kakariki continued..

National kaka breeding programme

Caption describing picture

or graphic.

Cape Sanctuary is part of the National kaka breeding programme. Offspring bred

here will be released to boost wild populations, or start new populations in areas

where they have become extinct. Offspring from Ned and Ngaio will eventually be

soft released (allowed to move freely from inside to outside the aviary) to the forest

of Cape Sanctuary. Ned and Ngaio’s presence will help to ‘anchor’ their offspring

to the area and establish a population. Offspring from other captive breeding pairs

will also be released.

Ned (male) and Ngaio (female) were bred in captivity. Ned hatched on 23rd No-

vember 1996 at Mt Bruce—Pukaha, near Masterton. Ngaio hatched at Orana Park

in Christchurch on 14th October 1991. Both are getting on in years, although like

many parrot species, kaka are known to live 20+ years.

Kaka transfer – Sue Dryden, kaka and kakariki feeding coordinator The first kaka, Ned and Ngaio, arrived from Wel-

lington Zoo on November 14th. The pair was

caught, boxed and flown by Air New Zealand to

Napier that morning and arrived at the sanctuary’s

brand new aviary to a small welcoming party.

We are grateful to Simon Eyre (The Zoos Collec-

tions Development Manager) for his competent or-

ganisation of the whole transfer process. Paul Dip-

pie also once again provided excellent project man-

agement skills designing and constructing the large,

three flight breeding facility. We are very grateful

for his input. A big thank you also to Nick Cabot

and Kerry who put in many hours in tough weather

to get the job done.

Page 4 Summer Ed i t ion

Congratulations to the

Haumoana School ‘Young

Engineers Group’ who

recently won the Junior

Merits category for the ‘2012

Transpower Neighbourhood

Engineers Awards’ for a

specially designed feeding

toy for Ned and Ngaio.

The students, who are now

at Intermediate School, will

soon make a visit back to the

aviary to get Ned and

Ngaio’s opinion.

Kaka continued..

Kiwi news – Sue McLennan, Kiwi Worker

Ned loves hair and Sue.

In mid 2011, Ned and Ngaio were introduced to each other at Wellington Zoo.

The pairing was a success and they hatched three chicks in December 2011.

These chicks have now been released to the wild at Boundary Stream Mainland

Island, as part of the Poutiri Ao ō Tane wildlife restoration project, one hour drive

from Cape Sanctuary.

Since their arrival at Cape Sanctuary the pair has been under the careful watch of

Sue Dryden, who accepted the role as kaka feeding coordinator. The volunteers

undergo a training session and then take ongoing responsibility for particular

feeding dates via an online calendar. Each day a person travels to the sanctuary

to prepare the food for the kaka (a spread of walnuts, macadamia nuts, dates, wa-

termelon, apples......the list goes on), check on their health and provide any inter-

esting enrichment activities. The female of the pair has been dubbed “Dame

Ngaio” as she only makes rare appearances, mostly in the cool of the evening

when we have long gone home. The remainder of the time she sits quietly in the

nesting box.

Ned, is extremely sociable and friendly. He has got to know his regular feeders

well and what to expect from them, in fact sometimes we wonder if the ‘training’

is going in reverse. He loves taking nectar from flax flowers with his clever brush

-tongue, but his all time favourite is retrieving huhu grubs from wood. With his

amazingly effective beak, he spends hours ripping pine logs to pieces until there is

just a skeleton piece remaining. The result is a very impressive carpet of bark

covering the floor of the aviary. Travis and Will take care of the remaining

‘interior design’ by regularly refreshing the surroundings with large pieces of foli-

age and new log supplies.

If you would like to train

to be a regular kaka and

kakariki feeder please

contact Sue Dryden on

drydenstone@xtra.co.nz

Phone 0274 191854

Page 5 Summer Ed i t ion

It has been a busy few months for kiwi at the sanctuary. Sue and John McLen-

nan have been run ragged keeping track of young chicks. This year the sanctuary

has crèched over 60 kiwi chicks for other projects. A significant achievement.

At around 1 kg the chicks are rounded up and released back into the wild—the

majority have returned to Maungataniwha Forest.

At the sanctuary there are now over 70 resident adult kiwi, with 15 of the males

monitored with radio-transmitters. There have been a few nesting attempts and

although there has been no actual chick sighting we are confident that there has

been the first sanctuary hatched kiwi.

Kākā was once abundant in

forests throughout New Zea-

land but populations have de-

clined considerably. The main

threats have been loss of natu-

ral habitat and introduced

predators such as stoats and

wasps. Kaka nest in cavities,

which makes them vulnerable

to stoats, rats and possums.

Wild populations tend to be

biased towards males as fe-

males are often killed while

nesting. New populations can

only establish with the assis-

tance of captive breeding pro-

grammes and intensive pest

control.

Feeding a grey faced

petrel chick

The fifth grey-faced petrel transfer took place in early December. A total of 92

chicks were transferred from Moutohora (Whale) Island and hand reared at the

sanctuary’s Seabird site. 96% are thought to have fledged—the most successful

season yet. We are very grateful to the volunteer teams who have risen at the

crack of dawn to blend the sardine “smoothies”, feed chicks, wash-up and all in

the sweltering heat—thank you. The programme has been extended a further

year and so the final transfer of this species will take place in December 2013. In

March/April we hope to see the first adult birds returning to the sanctuary.

Unfortunately, an early breeding season for diving petrel meant that the second

transfer of this species from Motumahanga/Saddleback Island, off the coast

from New Plymouth, to the sanctuary was cancelled. The team arrived at the

same time as last year but found the majority of chicks had already fledged. It

was a big disappointment after all the preparation but better luck for us next year.

Seabird translocation programmes

Havelock North Scouts dig-

ging in the penguin boxes

Mottled petrel chick

In April last year a team headed to Whenua Hou—Codfish Island, off Stewart

Island in the deep south, to carry out a mottled petrel feeding trial. This was in

preparation for a trial translocation of 50 chicks in April this year. Ten chicks

were transferred to artificial burrows on the island and hand fed until they

fledged a few weeks later. The trial was successful as it demonstrated that mot-

tled petrel chicks can be reared using the standard techniques for seabirds. We

are now planning for the transfer in mid-April. A smoothly oiled construction

team whipped up 100 new burrows in record time and an equally skilled team did

the back breaking installation at the Seabird site.

The “smoothies” for all the seabird meals were made possible through a very

generous donation of 800 cans of Brunswick sardines from the Lucas family,

owners of the Hastings New World. We are also very grateful to Margaret Arm-

strong, Lucy Forlong and Brooke McCabe for their many hours spent ruling the

data books for the transfers.

Page 6 Summer Ed i t ion

Little Blue Penguins Thanks to a donation from SKEINZ, the coordination and carpentry skills of

Charlie Trask, many helpful hands of the Havelock North Scouts and a number

of volunteers, 50 nesting boxes were built and installed along the Cape Kidnap-

pers headland. There are now over 300 boxes along the coastline. We look for-

ward to penguins moving in this breeding season. Recently we also received a

generous donation towards penguin recovery from proceeds generated from

“The Penguin March” held on Marine Parade in Napier.

Tuatara release and update

Caption describing picture

or graphic.

On 16th October 2012, we welcomed the arrival of 40 wild adult tuatara from

Takapourewa (Stephen’s) Island, close to D’Urville Island in the Marlborough

Sounds, to Cape Sanctuary. Throughout New Zealand this was a very significant

day. 222 animals were collected and released at five sites; Maungatautari, Whan-

gaokeno/East Island, Young Nick’s Head, Cape Sanctuary and Orokonui Eco

Sanctuary, in what was the biggest transfer of tuatara ever attempted. Ngati Ko-

ata and staff from Victoria University of Wellington spent five nights gathering

up the tuatara from the island in atrocious weather. On transfer day the tuatara

were flown off the island by helicopter to Wellington Airport and 40 precious

animals driven up to the sanctuary accompanied by Anaru Paul and his son Tu-

kotahi Paul, Ngati Koata. The tuatara travelled packaged individually in long

round cardboard tube containers perforated with ventilation holes. After a brief

welcoming ceremony, each person – young and old – carried a container down

to the specially prepared enclosure at the northern end of the Seabird site where

individual shelters had been dug in. Everyone held their breath in anticipation

and when the tuatara were carefully pulled out, there were sudden excited (and a

bit scared) screams all around. They were big – some over 60 cm long and 600 g

in weight – and covered with impressive spikes on their crest. We were utterly in

awe of their beauty.

In addition to the transfer in March of 20 young

tuatara, this takes the total number of tuatara re-

leased at the sanctuary to 60.

They appear to be settling in well with the major-

ity of them having put on weight despite the ex-

tremely dry conditions, indicating the sanctuary

still has plenty of tuatara food on offer.

Page 7 Summer Ed i t ion

A local artist Russ Everson is producing and selling

exquisite bronze tuatara sculptures. He is gener-

ously donating $500 from each sale towards the

sanctuary. Please contact Russ directly if you are

interested in purchasing a sculpture (06) 874 9170.

Matiu Tupaea — Ngati Koata,

releases an adult tuatara

Bronze tuatara for sale

Stick insects (Clitarchis hookeri)

on plastic tag markers

A speckled skink, Oligosoma infrapunctatum

Sightings of five lizard species have been reported within Cape Sanctuary. These include two species of skinks

- common and speckled skink, and three species of gecko - common, forest and Wellington green gecko. Not

much is known about the population status of these lizards within the sanctuary, and therefore, a team of staff

and volunteers have established monitoring lines to check abundance, distribution and diversity. Over 140 arti-

ficial retreats using square Onduline sheets and wooden spacers and 275 pitfall traps were set up at favourable

lizard habitats throughout the reserve.

The Victoria University of Wellington students together with

volunteers carried out the baseline monitoring in February and

located at least 50+ Speckled skink and a number of common

skink in the Seabird site monitoring grids. This was an impres-

sive number and we expect to continue to see a positive in-

crease in lizard numbers with sustained predator control.

Over the next few years we also hope to assist in the recovery

of locally extinct species such as spotted skink and Duvaucel’s

gecko with captive breeding and release programmes.

Those (few) of you who like weta better than kiwi will be interested to know

that the latest count in the rifleman nest boxes shows that on average there are

1.3 Hawkes Bay tree weta in each of the 128 boxes. This is rather lower than

the maximum I have recorded of 1.9 but may be related to the fact that large

and equally attractive spiders also use the boxes, spinning web in the entrance

as well as outside and inside. The riflemen have used very few of the boxes.

It has also been observed that stick insects seem to be attracted to the vari-

ously coloured plastic marker triangles on the mature kanuka trees in the

Rough Block. This occurred in February 2012 and on a recent visit in January

2013 there appeared to be a similar gathering in the offing. Has anyone ob-

served this elsewhere—the experts don't seem to be aware of it? This phe-

nomenon would make a good research project. Contact Mike if you have any

theories 06 8778328 or mrlusk@clear.net.nz

Lizards

Weta and other things –Mike Lusk, volunteer

Page 8 Summer Ed i t ion

Did you know? New Zealand geckos and skinks are unique because they give birth to live young instead of

laying eggs (with the exception of Suter’s skink). This is thought to be an adaptation to cope with colder cli-

mates. They generally start breeding at 3 years of age—geckos usually have twins, while skinks can have be-

tween 2 to 8 young depending on the species. They can live an impressive 30 years in a predator free environ-

ment. Geckos and skinks feed on a variety of insects, nectar and berries.

….and Katipo spiders

Ocean Beach dune restoration...

Looking south

along Ocean Beach

Arnim Lettik’s work with Katipo spiders is gaining momentum thanks to his passion and commitment to these

fascinating creatures. Arnim has spent countless hours searching through the dunes to find katipo. He is par-

ticularly interested in habitat preference of katipo and how changing dune structure in response to management

(i.e. Marram control) may affect their distribution.

Arnim’s work has attracted the attention of some of New Zealand’s leading invertebrate scientists (and fanat-

ics); Ruud Kleinpaste (BugMan), Stephen Hartley (Victoria University of Wellington), Peter Sirvid (Te Papa

Museum), Cor Vink (Ag Research) and James Griffiths (DOC). Recently the team has trialled a small hand-

launched drone (similar to a remote controlled model airplane) equipped with a ‘near infrared othorectified’

camera to survey Ocean Beach. The camera is capable of high resolution (down to 30 cm) photos which will

enable us to map the vegetation cover of the principal native and exotic sand-binders. As data is collected over

time the information will be able to determine the response of dune topography to Marram (Ammophila

arenaria) removal and the extent of thermally-favourable habitat for katipo and skink. With a bit of tweaking

the use of the drone may prove to be a very cost effective tool to map large areas such as dune systems to assist

conservation management.

Ben Doggett has continued to work hard at removing weeds in the Ocean Beach

dunes. It has been a big job but he is now winning the battle with Marram and

blackberry receding. We are grateful to Dow Agro Chemicals for their extremely

generous donation towards this work.

2000+ trees sourced from local seed and grown by Ahuriri Nursery, Forest and

Bird Nursery and Marie Taylor—Plant Hawke’s Bay were planted in the dunes.

Over 50 people assisted including staff from the BNZ for the Bank’s annual

“Closed for Good Day” and many volunteers. The 100,000 natives planted on

the higher slopes have faired the dry conditions well and there is now certainly

the beginning of a coastal forest in the making.

Page 9 Summer Ed i t ion

Searching for katipo spiders

involves lot of crawling around

on hands and knees

Prior to Christmas the automated gate on Cape Kidnappers

became operational. Previously there had been only a cattle

-stop filling the gap, which proved to be a weakness in the

battle to keep predators out. In 2012, during a one month

period we recorded at least seven different feral cats enter-

ing the sanctuary. Our thanks go to Paul Dippie who de-

signed and coordinated the installation of the gate.

Over 30 native kakabeak have been planted at the Seabird site and around the new kaka aviary at the sanctuary.

These were grown from seeds sourced from wild plants at Boundary Stream and Maungataniwha and nurtured

at DOC’s nursery at Ahuriri Field centre and Plant Hawke’s Bay – a nursery run by Marie Taylor. Wild plants

are a unique crimson or purple colour, which may be distinct depending on their locality. They are very differ-

ent from commercial garden varieties.

In the wild, kakabeak is becoming increasingly rare due to foraging by goats, deer, possums, rabbits and hares.

The remaining few wild plants are found in some extremely isolated areas and hence great effort has been

made to source seed. Pete Shaw (Forest Life Force Restoration Trust) and volunteers rafted down rivers and

abseiled cliffs to reach the precariously hanging plants. Establishing plants at Cape Sanctuary will not only help

to increase the number of wild populations but will also make seed collection easier. Despite the possibility of

snail attack and the dry, hot conditions at the sanctuary, the majority of the planted seedlings are doing well.

Kakabeak

Page 10 Summer Ed i t ion

Pest Control — Travis Cullen

Cats

Six stoats were trapped for the year—three of these were in January. The location of where they were trapped

suggests they had reinvaded (two were trapped along the inside of the predator fence near the cattle stop—

now an automated gate, while the other four stoats were located along or near to the main gravel road into the

farm).

Weasels captures have been high with 32 trapped last year. Numbers have increased along Ocean Beach and

this is likely to be due to large areas being retired from grazing—the long rank grass has harboured good num-

bers of mice—an excellent food supply for weasels. The good news is that no ferrets

were trapped or sighted all year except for one animal that was shot by a volunteer

rabbit shooter.

143 cats were removed in 2012 with April, May and June again the busiest months; 74

(half of the year’s total) were caught during this time. The new gate will hopefully reduce

the numbers that reinvade and the resident population can be targeted.

Stoats, ferrets and weasels

Bait stations

Page 11 Summer Ed i t ion

Volunteers have helped with the gruelling task of bait station servicing and the hard work is paying off. Rat

numbers within the sanctuary have been maintained well below our target of 3% tracking rate for over a year.

To keep the rats on their toes we have recently changed the bait and poison type from Diphacinone to Broma-

diolone, both anti-coagulants. If you would like to become a regular volunteer assisting with checking a bait

station block please let Travis know email: tcullen@slingshot.co.nz or 0277694112.

Rabbits and hedgehogs

The good news for everyone (especially me as I am losing more and more hair) is that a large scale control op-

eration is planned for early autumn. It will cover a third of the sanctuary.

We are slowly winning the battle with hedgehogs (not Mrs Tiggiewinkle but the ones that chew through bird’s

chicks, eggs, invertebrates, skinks and geckos). In 2007, we caught 717 hedgehogs. This has declined to only

23 animals in 2012. Hedgehogs should be undetectable within the sanctuary in the next few years.

Steve Marsden, who has been the Cape Kidnappers Golf Course Superintendent

since 2008 left in December to take up the prestigious role of Superintendent

for the Royal Sydney Golf Course. Although not officially sanctuary staff, Steve

was certainly a very important part of our team. During his time at Cape Kid-

nappers, Steve worked hard to achieve International Audubon Certification for

the course—a certification which recognises standards in areas of wildlife habitat

and management, chemical use, outreach and education and water conservation.

Cape Kidnappers was the first golf course in New Zealand to achieve this certi-

fication which certainly complements the sanctuary’s wildlife restoration goals

well. In 2011, Cape Kidnappers Golf Course was also honoured as the most

environmentally friendly golf course in New Zealand and ranked 33rd in the

world by Golf Magazine, showing that quality and sustainability go together—a

huge credit to Steve and his team. Steve also made a significant contribution to

the sanctuary’s Advisory Group meetings. We will really miss him, his wife

Paula, and children Luke and Zoey, and wish them all the best in Australia.

We look forward to working with Brad Sim who has taken over the Superinten-

dent’s role at Cape Kidnappers.

Staff news

There is something for everyone including feeding kaka and kakariki, assisting with seabird chick feeding, trans-

porting kiwi eggs and chicks, checking bait stations and building trap boxes and bird burrows.

If you would like to know more about volunteer opportunities at the sanctuary please contact

Tamsin tamsin@capesanctuary.co.nz 0272273543

OR

Kahori kahori@capesanctuary.co.nz 0274355369

Other bits and pieces There have been a number of other exciting events over the last few months. In April we were asked to launch

the Nature Space website launch at Te Papa—a website designed for community groups to network and infor-

mation share. Check out our site www.naturespace.org.nz/search/node/cape%20sanctuary

We have also hosted a number of visitors including Katy Golding (Programme Officer for The Robertson

Foundation), DOC, a “Nest Flock” outing (20 little three year olds radio-tracking a kiwi), an Associate’s group

from the Prime Minister’s department, Havelock Intermediate (88 keen young students), Woodford Girls

School and the Haumoana School Teachers.

Volunteer opportunities

Cape Sanctuary host a visit from Trevor Taurima (Maungaharuru Tangitu Incorporated ), Katy Golding (Programme

Officer for the Robertson Foundation) , Rod Dickson (HBRC) and Chris Lester, Ben Reddiex and Kathy Houkamau