Just a quick post to say that one side of the Mason River traps were checked today and we got another Stoat, quite large and badly decomposed but we were pretty sure it was a Stoat not a Ferret.
I am waiting to hear if we got anything from the other side of the river as some of the others were checking that side. Will keep you informed.
The Waiau River is running high again, so I am still waiting to get up there on a Jet Boat.
Tomorrow we are off up the Conway to see how the Black-billed Gulls have made out. The Chicks should be in nursery groups by now. Watch this space.
04-12-2013
The traps on the township side of the Mason river were also checked but nothing caught. The bait was changed out so we now wait and see. I can't believe we have caught everything, so I will go down at the weekend and a try adding some nice smelly fish meal to every other trap ( we are trying this on the other side as well) and see if that makes a difference.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
15-11-2013
We have just got back from checking the traps on the far side of the Mason.
We have our first Stoat, as well as a hedgehog and a rat. So we are quite pleased.
We saw a lot of Banded Dotterels and Pied Stilts and one lone Black-fronted Tern fishing.
The Banded Dotterels appeared to be mating!
We have our first Stoat, as well as a hedgehog and a rat. So we are quite pleased.
We saw a lot of Banded Dotterels and Pied Stilts and one lone Black-fronted Tern fishing.
The Banded Dotterels appeared to be mating!
Friday, November 8, 2013
09-11-2013
We checked the first lot of Mason river traps today and had a very surprising find - a young rabbit! Not sure what he was doing in there. With the remaining traps we had one which was sprung but nothing in there, 2 where the bait had completely gone and one Hedgehog.
It all helps.
It all helps.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
07-11-2013
Well what a hectic time we are having here in Waiau.
We finally got out last Friday and put traps out on the other bank of the Mason River.
This time we had rabbit, which was kindly donated by the Waiau Pig Shoot, to use as bait and as usual I am finding it very difficult to not go and see what if anything we have in the traps. The weather and time constraints have delayed us getting back to check the other traps but some are visible from the track and I know they have occupants. So it is now becoming urgent to get out and check them.
We took time this week and to take a walk down the lower section of the Waiau that we are looking after this year and were very disappointed not to see anything except 2 South Island Oystercatchers. There were a lot of Californian Quails about and a couple of Canada Geese flying over head. I had hoped to find the Black-fronted Terns nesting but apart from 5 fishing nothing. It was however an eyeopening experience seeing just how much of the river bed is silted up and the amount of growth in the form of Broom, Willows and Lupin that is there. The main channel of the Waiau is running along the town side and the rest of the riverbed shows signs of recent running water but nothing much is there now. The silt left behind by the river is so thick in places that it was more like walking on a Cobbled road than a riverbed. I am not sure who is supposed to take care of things that grow in the riverbed but I'm sure it must be someones responsibility. Any suggestions gratefully received.
The good news this week came from a group of BRaid members who took a walk down the Conway river to check out a report of a colony of blackbilled Gulls nesting there. What they found was a strong colony of about 2000 birds nesting with some chicks hatching. Some of the Waiau group will go back in about 3 weeks to check on their success. The good thing was that the local farmer was thrilled to find out that he had endangered birds nesting on his bit of the river and tells me that they come either to the Conway or the Charwell every year but not normally in those sort of numbers.
I was thrilled with this news as the Waiau has been so fulll that the chances of them nesting here this year were remote to say the least. At least they have stayed in North Canterbury and with luck will check us out next year.
So all that remains is for us to find out where the Black-fronted Terns have gone to nest and look after the Banded Dotterels nesting on the Mason.
The other thing I attempted today was to see if it was possible to get down to the area of the Waiau River behind Spotswood/Parnassus where the Wrybill nests were seen in the past. It is certainly possible to get to the river but unfortunately the deep channel was running along the bank there and there is still to much water there to get down to investigate. Roll on the dryer weather.
We finally got out last Friday and put traps out on the other bank of the Mason River.
This time we had rabbit, which was kindly donated by the Waiau Pig Shoot, to use as bait and as usual I am finding it very difficult to not go and see what if anything we have in the traps. The weather and time constraints have delayed us getting back to check the other traps but some are visible from the track and I know they have occupants. So it is now becoming urgent to get out and check them.
We took time this week and to take a walk down the lower section of the Waiau that we are looking after this year and were very disappointed not to see anything except 2 South Island Oystercatchers. There were a lot of Californian Quails about and a couple of Canada Geese flying over head. I had hoped to find the Black-fronted Terns nesting but apart from 5 fishing nothing. It was however an eyeopening experience seeing just how much of the river bed is silted up and the amount of growth in the form of Broom, Willows and Lupin that is there. The main channel of the Waiau is running along the town side and the rest of the riverbed shows signs of recent running water but nothing much is there now. The silt left behind by the river is so thick in places that it was more like walking on a Cobbled road than a riverbed. I am not sure who is supposed to take care of things that grow in the riverbed but I'm sure it must be someones responsibility. Any suggestions gratefully received.
The good news this week came from a group of BRaid members who took a walk down the Conway river to check out a report of a colony of blackbilled Gulls nesting there. What they found was a strong colony of about 2000 birds nesting with some chicks hatching. Some of the Waiau group will go back in about 3 weeks to check on their success. The good thing was that the local farmer was thrilled to find out that he had endangered birds nesting on his bit of the river and tells me that they come either to the Conway or the Charwell every year but not normally in those sort of numbers.
I was thrilled with this news as the Waiau has been so fulll that the chances of them nesting here this year were remote to say the least. At least they have stayed in North Canterbury and with luck will check us out next year.
So all that remains is for us to find out where the Black-fronted Terns have gone to nest and look after the Banded Dotterels nesting on the Mason.
The other thing I attempted today was to see if it was possible to get down to the area of the Waiau River behind Spotswood/Parnassus where the Wrybill nests were seen in the past. It is certainly possible to get to the river but unfortunately the deep channel was running along the bank there and there is still to much water there to get down to investigate. Roll on the dryer weather.
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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