Trust Cape Foulwind Ranger, Gerald Freeman, is retiring from his role with the Trust, having kept predators at bay there for the past four years.
Several years ago, the Trust had a goal of bringing more blue penguins and more sooty shearwaters to the southern tip of Cape Foulwind in an effort to enable more people to see more wildlife and to spend longer in the Buller area.
To encourage or entice both species to nest in the area, the Trust built a solar powered sound system that plays blue penguin calls as they prepare to nest and, later in the year, sooty shearwater calls as they prepare to nest.
For a variety of reasons it seems that blue penguins remain at very low numbers in the Tauranga Bay and Cape Foulwind area.
Sooty shearwaters are a majestic seabird – flying vast distances and able to dive over 60m for their prey. However they are very vulnerable to predation and generally survive on offshore islands. With trapping at Cape Foulwind, numbers have crept up to around a dozen nests but sadly no chicks have been recorded as fledged at this site.
Trapping, managed patiently and religiously by Gerald, is giving them the best chance of survival and breeding and it will continue.
The trapping programme at Cape Foulwind extends along the rugged coast there in order to keep numbers of rats and stoats down. Just offshore is tiny Wall Island, home to the largest seabird colony between Cook and Foveaux Straits. The numerous Fairy Prions as well as shearwaters, some penguins and shags on Wall Island have been protected by Gerald’s dedication since January 2017.
The trapping programme has involved fortnightly trap maintenance between October and April and monthly for the remainder of the year. Gerald has maintained access to the trap line and kept the Trust appraised of the situation with predators there, working closely with DOC to look at best practice and different approaches for the best conservation outcomes.
We wish you well Gerald and thank you for all your hard work, fitting regular trips to the Cape around wild weather, a covid lockdown and all manner of other challenges.
While materials were chosen that would stand up to the harsh coastal conditions, those same coastal conditions are conducive to plant growth! Occasional checks of the fences have been carried out by volunteers and rangers so that any maintenance needs can be identified and remedied. The never-ending need for maintenance is managing the vegetation that can grow through the fence, for example gorse, blackberry and hydrangea, pushing it to breaking point in places, or flop over causing damage from the weight of rank grass, rushes and weeds such as montbretia.
Volunteers recently spent a few hours tidying up the main fence along Woodpecker Bay north of Punakaiki so a big shout out to them - thank you Fiona, Jony, Reef, Katrina, Mandy, Marty, Teresa and Deb! Flax had been pressing down on the fence, but now the fence has been freed up by these wonderful volunteers - and they picked up a fair bit of rubbish too.
Volunteer Natassja Savidge has offered to check and help maintain the Hokitika penguin protection fence and joined Ranger Lucy Waller and Manager Inger Perkins in May to inspect the length of the fence. Some minor issues were found but the main finding was the extent of the vegetation growth that was damaging the fence in places. Big thanks to Natassja!
