The Year In Review — 2021
2021 has been a rollercoaster of a year. Some months have been exhilarating, gaining momentum towards a number of collective goals, while others have chugged away slowly in the background. It’s been a big year and as the ride of 2021 draws to a close, we take a moment to look back on the highlights that made it memorable.
January
January started strong with expansion in sight. Te Korowai o Waiheke was named a recipient of the Predator Free 2050 Ltd Jobs for Nature funding, allowing the creation of seven new, full-time equivalent jobs on Waiheke Island.
February
February saw the first 2021 Covid-19 Level 3 lockdown. Te Korowai o Waiheke stoat team and delivery partners were able to continue with the island-wide eradication, with some restrictions. The project also celebrated its first birthday hitting 30,000 trap services and 70 stoats taken out of the Waiheke environment.
Trail cameras were put out across the island to measure the abundance of stoats. Analysis from the 180 cameras revealed only two stoats, giving the relatively low detection rate of 0.0008/100 camera days.
March
In March Elaine Murphy, DOC Principal Scientist, and her husband John Dowding, an ecology consultant, gave informative presentations on the technological advances currently being trialled to help eradicate stoats and the impact of stoat predation on NZ shorebirds.
Miriam Ritchie and her conservation dogs at the Ostend Saturday Market
Miriam Ritchie brought four of her pawsome conservation dogs to Waiheke. She spoke to the eradication team about how dogs could be used to find stoats in the “mop-up” phase and to hunt out dens. The pack went along to Saturday Ostend Market, where she answered questions about conservation dogs from the general public.
April
In April the island-wide stoat eradication received 50 DOC 200 trap boxes made by Waiheke High School Year 11 students.
Rats at the Easter Demolition Derby
Dr Andrew Veale’s genetic analysis of the stoats caught on Waiheke Island revealed that they have very low genetic diversity, suggesting there haven’t been any new arrivals for some time on the island.
Rats were a hit at the Easter Demolition Derby, but this time for a good reason. They hosted the annual lolly scramble for all the kids (and adults) of Waiheke.
May
May saw the launch of the rat eradication pilot with community meetings in Rocky Bay, Ostend and Shelley Beach with lots of great questions, feedback and enthusiasm for the programme.
Wild Parrot specialist Dr Luis Ortiz-Catedral visited the island to talk about kākāriki, New Zealand parakeets. Luis captured the crowd, speaking to his experience with translocating kākāriki in New Zealand and Australia for the last 17 years and his belief that they could return to the island someday.
June
June saw boots on the ground for the community liaison team who began gaining permissions from landowners and businesses for the rat eradication pilot. The first approach was good old fashioned door knocking to discuss the project and hosting a device. The team also presented at all three schools in the pilot area and hosted a stand at the Waiheke High School Careers evening to share the unique opportunity for young people on Waiheke to get involved in the eradication programme.
Richard Griffiths, (Technical Advisory Group Chair) visiting Waiheke
July
In July, Richard Griffiths, (Technical Advisory Group Chair) visited Waiheke to meet with the stoat eradication delivery partners to share his eradication experience - explaining the eradication ethic, and stressing a can-do attitude and determination as critical to the success of any eradication project.
Reports of kākāriki on the island started to emerge so the capture the kākāriki photo competition was launched. Local chef/photography enthusiast Lahiru Bandaranayaka captured photos in Whakanewha Regional park.
Te Korowai o Waiheke partnered with Waiheke Cinema to bring the documentary series Fight for the Wild to the big screen over two weekends. Attendees were asked to bring jars of peanut butter in lieu of payment to bait the rat traps. Every little bit helps.
Photo of kākāriki on Waiheke by Lahiru Bandaranayaka
The stoat eradication team hit the 50,000 trap services milestone. The Te Korowai o Waiheke trappers and delivery partners were also able to continue through level four lockdown. A win for the team and a win for nature.
September
As we humans spent most of September in lockdown, the natural world bloomed into spring all around us. Conservation week saw all the #fieldteamfinds come to the surface as we all took a moment to notice nature.
Maori language week saw an exploration into the weaving of te ao Maori and conservation through concepts such as kaitiakitanga and the connection between Maori mythology and the natural world.
When Auckland moved to level 3 at the end of September, the eradication team was able to start in the field marking tracks for those devices in dense bush areas of the rat eradication pilot area.
October
In October, the rat eradication programme got a helping hand as two groups from the Waiheke Retirement Village volunteered to make trap boxes and wax blocks for the programme.
The stoat eradication programme trialled a stoat bedding lure in 50% of stoat traps across the island-wide network. While statistically, it is too early to assess its success, the promising start has seen a string of catches in traps containing the lure.
For the second year in a row, the Waiheke Collective Pestival went online due to level three restrictions. Geneticist Rachel Fewster presented on what is known about Waiheke stoats and rats through their genetics and how this tool can be used to assist in eradication programmes.
November
November saw the first full street signed up for the rat eradication pilot, with Upland Road in Rocky Bay taking out the title.
In response to the growing reports of kākā numbers seen across the island, the inaugural Great Waiheke Kākā Count was launched for the month of November where members of the public could record their sightings. 313 reports were made with the biggest hoon (collective noun for kākā) of 11 birds.
The stoat eradication team welcomed stoat scat detection dog Wero and his human Brad Windust to help locate dens during the spring denning season. After a week traversing the island, covering around 75 kilometres, the dynamic duo found evidence in two areas, indicating stoat numbers are getting low.
A photo of a korimako/bellbird was captured in the Awaawaroa valley. Another native returning to the island.
December
December marked the first round of monitoring for the rat eradication pilot. With 19 lines set across the island, monitoring lead Markus Gronwald gained data from both inside and outside the pilot area to build on as the eradication progresses.
After months of planning (and lockdown delays) the rat eradication pilot team started installing bait stations in the pilot area. This will take several months as there are around 8000 to deploy - now that's a lot of walking!
With the island-wide stoat eradication progressing nicely and 1200 permissions so far acquired for the rat eradication pilot, we are very grateful to be on track through the year’s challenges and curveballs.
Although we are a predator-free project, we are at the core a people project. Thank you for all the support, community spirit, collaboration and innovation.
Meri Kirihimete me te tau hou, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
See you all for more in 2022!
Kākā on Waiheke by Peter Rees Photography