COMMUNITY WORKING TOGETHER

Rangers Report – January 2016

BHCT Volunteers, Trustees and supporters gather to toast the successful completion of the fully installed biodiversity management network and new

HQ.

Ongoing Operations: Happy New Year everybody, we hope you have had an awesome summer full of family, festivity and fun!! The ranger and volunteer teams have had a brief but pleasent break and have been very busy once again out on the reserve mainataining our intensive preator control network and monitoring systems. Summer brings an increased work load on top of the already busy maintenance programme, with some enjoyable added tasks such as the annual Lizard survey soaking up a lot of our time. This is when we get to truely test if our restoration project is succeeding; how well the indigenous flora and fauna are recovering is the true testiment

of biodiversity restoration success. It is a great privilage to get out there and monitor the outcomes of the hard work put in over the year by our dedicated bunch of volunteers and rangers. Continuing on this positive theme is the vey exciting upcoming start to our North Island Robin Translocation scheduled for release into the reserve in April and May this year, the icing on the cake!! As you will see in the table of predator control results, late December/early January brought about another small wave of Stoats to the reserve which were in turn all quickly cleaned up by our intensive trapping within a fortnight! We are however, planning to utlise a Stoat and Rat detecting conservation dog twice per year in the reserve as another tool to battle these incursions each summer. Other pests are again almost undectable across our vast network of traps this summer and the December Tracking Tunnels returned a 0% RTI (Residual Tracking Index) for rats and mustelids. That’s the fourth December since 2010 we have tracked 0% RTI for rats!! The RTI results for 2015 are: May 2015: Rat 4.17%, Mice 13.08, Weta 26.92. Aug 2015: Rat 1.33%. Mice 12.00%, Weta 31.33%. Dec 2015: Rat 0%, Mice 13.33%, Weta 30.00%. (Note: May 2015 result does not include rats tracked in tunnels in the eastern end of Area 4 which had only just started to be treated). Therefore the annual average RTI for 2015 was 1.83%, again well below the recommended 5% threshold for translocation of passurine bird species such as North Island Robins and Whiteheads (A notable feature of passerines compared to other orders of Aves is the arrangement of their toes, three pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching). Of interest also is the pattern of the mice RTI in correlation to rat control in the reserve. Each time an area has been treated, as rat numbers have reduced dramatically from around 90% to below 2% RTI, mice numbers spike quickly to around 40%. Then one to two years after initial knockdown, all areas have reduced in mice RTI to hover at around 10-15% steady.

Monthly Predator control results (December 2015):

Monthly Species monitoring results/updates (December 2015):

Pest # caught this month # caught this month prev.

year.

# caught this YTD # caught prev. year YTD.

Rat 1 0 55 103

Possum 0 0 32 37

Stoat 7 10 20 20

Weasel 1 2 23 24

Ferret 0 0 0 0

Feral Cat 0 0 0 0

Mouse 0 0 38 19

Hedgehog 0 1 21 17

Totals 9 13 189 220

Species # ID sex location Status/comment

Rodent,

Weta, Mustelid

Tracking Tunnel lines throughout

entire reserve including Busby Head.

Dec 2015: Rat 0%, Mice 13.33%, Weta

30.00%. (Note: May 2015 result does not include rats tracked in tunnels in the eastern end of Area 4 which had only just started to be treated).

Monthly Predator control results (January 2016):

Monthly Species monitoring results/updates:

Sensational success!! The BHCT had extra good reason to celebrate the recent festive season - the successful completion of our

intensive predator control/monitoring network and the first stage of the operational HQ facility. A party was in order and on a beautiful warm December afternoon, approximately 40 BHCT volunteers, supporters, trustees, rangers and their families gathered together to eat, drink, laugh and tell stories about the journey of the Trust thus far. A guest appearance from WDC Mayor Cheryl Mai was evidence of the importance of this success and a reflection of the level of local support the Trust receives.

Those who attended enjoyed good food, some bad jokes and some interesting information from Chair Greg Innes, Trustee Geoff Pike and Ranger Adam Willetts on where the Trust has come from, where it is at currently and where we are heading. Past and current volunteers and rangers, especially Pete Mitchell, Evan Davies and Bruce Cole-Baker were thanked for their vital dedication, passion and hard work that has seen this project excel to great heights!!

Pest # caught this month # caught this month prev. year.

# caught this YTD # caught prev. year YTD.

Rat 2 0 2 0

Possum 2 0 2 0

Stoat 2 8 2 8

Weasel 0 6 0 6

Ferret 0 0 0 0

Feral Cat 0 0 0 0

Mouse 2 0 2 0

Hedgehog 2 1 2 1

Totals 10 15 10 15

Species # ID sex location Status/comment

Lizards Survey still in progress, results to come.

Tantalizing Translocations – the icing on the cake!! Two teams from the Trust will soon adventure south in February and March to begin the process of our North Island Robin/Toutouwai translocation to Bream Head Scenic Reserve with the actual release due in April and May. This first stage requires a small team to pre-feed the Robins so there are familiar with human contact making it easier for monitoring post release. The February excursion will head into the beautiful Kaweka ranges between Taupo and Napier in a reserve area known as Mangatutu. March’s team will sail out to the conservation haven that is Tiritiri Matangi Island (yeah, I know...but someone’s got to do it right)?! Both teams will spend four days feeding our little friends some delightful wormy treats, building trust and repore with the friendly birds. In April, a specialised team will head to these locations again, this time to carefully capture the necessary 40 birds (20 from each site), and ready them (including ID banding) for the quick trip back to be released during celebration at Bream Head. Onced released the birds will be monitored closely by the Trust and a student from Northtec who is using this translocation for his thesis. There will be opportunities for those of you out there to get involved with the monitoring, so if this sounds like you watch this space for further information closer to the time!!

Snazzy summer snail surveys…. BHCT rangers Adam Willetts and Evan Davies supported Limestone Island ranger Bernie Buhler, Gerry

Brackenberry and other volunteers on two Placostylus (Flax Snail) population surveys over summer. These

surveys were conducted in Bream Head Scenic Reserve as part of a process to see if a viable population of the

snails exists that will allow a translocation from Bream Head to Limestone Island. Gerry Brackenberry has been

leading the project

and has just received

permission from DOC

to translocate 15 of

the snails as an initial

population to be

transferred.

The ‘A’ team (of the snail monitoring variety that is). BHCT ranger Evan Davies can be seen

demonstrating the very effective ‘stunned mullet’ technique, a vital snail searching ability.

Luscious lively little Lizards…

It’s that time of year again, the hot summer sun beats down upon the rocks and out scurry our Lizards on the

hunt for food and a place to warm the blood. This means we have a far greater chance of capturing these little

beauties as part of our annual Lizard survey, providing valuable data as to how the Trust’s restoration

programme is affecting their population change over

time. As you can see from the photo some delicious tasty

treats (pear and cat food) are prepared and frozen each

night of the survey. These delights are placed into either

a pitfall (small plastic bucket in the ground) or a G-

Minnow trap (like an eel trap) which are covered with

debri and left through the

heat of the day and that

night before being checked

early the next day. Any

captures are species

identified, measured for length, weighed, and a photo taken for future ID

comparison and then caringly released again. This year we were fortunate to

have the help of volunteers keen to get up close to some of Bream Head’s special

creatures. Recently graduated Environmental Science Masters’ Student Tehani

Withers proved a very excellent Lizard survey team member, assiting Trust

Rangers with the baiting and monitoring of the traps. This photo shows Tehani

checking one of the 25 G-Minnow traps for any guests of the reptilian nature. The

BHCT is very keen to increase our support of student involvement and research in

the field of conservation, restoration and environmental management. The

ultimate aim is to be able to provide sustainable opportunities for studies/projects

in conjunction with the Trust and its partners that offer professional development

for students and research groups and outstanding biodiversity results for the trust

itself.

Vivacious new Volunteers… Thanks to the generosity of their personal time and the hard work of volunteer coordinator Melissa Arseneault,

the Trust has acquired some recent volunteer additions keen to tackle the steep,

undulating terrain of Bream Head. Three new volunteers are pushing themselves

hard to manage some of the Trust’s tough bait station and trap lines on the main

part of Bream head Reserve. These new recruits join the small but elite team of

dedicated volunteers Laurence Sullivan and Tony Climie that have already been

assisting the ranger team for some time now to maintain the large predator control

network. The service lines they will be working on are not formed tracks but rather

just marked lines through the bush and require excellent bush skills, fitness and

agility as well as perseverance and attention to detail 100% of the time.

The Trust of course has many other amazing volunteers that have supported the

work of the Trust for a sustained period of time now, helping to achieve the many

successful outcomes, and to them we are truly thankful too!!

Here is a photo of new recruit James Allison of Reotahi training to service a DOC200

Mustelid trap with Ranger Adam Willetts during a routine bait station and trap

check.

Fantastic five minute bird counts…

In mid December 2015 I had the very fortunate experience of joining three very dedicated ornithologists (bird enthusiasts/experts) to conduct the first five minute bird counts in the reserve for many years. Les Feasey (BirdsNZ/OSNZ Regional Representative...sitting and left in the photo) organised the survey with me and

brought with him two highly experienced international avian experts (Dr. CJ and Dr. Carol Ralph, both PhDs

and professional Ornithologists) to setup the transects and the standard 5 minute bird call count listening

protecols. CJ and Carol are quite famous in the ‘birding’ world. I was very lucky to witness and learn some new invaluable experience from this passionate and learned team. We enjoyed a pleasent walk and some great views from the summit as well as calls from the wide variety of birds that live and visit Bream Head. Some Bellbird calls were recorded and there were plenty of Kaka and tomtit to excite the crew over the two days of survey. The aim is to conduct these surveys twice per year (summer and winter) and combine them with the historical bird count data DOC holds from previous surveys in the reserve. The data will be loaded to the Ornithilocigal Societies’ dedicated website for bird count survey results from around New Zealand (I will provide a link in a future report). A huge thank you has to go to Les Feasey for the giving of his valuable time and expertise to the Trust in this matter!!

Coming up in February: North Island Robin pre-feeding…A small but passionate crew head down to Mangatutu to ‘fatten up’

our future North Island Robins.

Lizard Survey continues…Checking under the 40 ACO’s (artificial rubber covers around tree trunks) for

geckos, and two nights of Gecko spotlighting still to come as part of the annual Lizard survey.

Spray and walk away…Evan Davies, Geoff Pike and Adam Willetts will spray that nasty rank Kikuyu grass

for this winter’s planting days.

Phew – got cramp in my fingers from all this typing, better get out on the hill tomorrow and stretch my legs!! Here’s to a fabulous 2016, I have a good feeling about the year ahead, it’s going to be a whole lot of fun and we hope you will enjoy the ride with us!! Ma te wa (catch ya later) Adam M: 021 155 738009 h: 972 7996 (local Heads number) e: restor8@yahoo.co.nz