George Atfield’s year 3/4 wonder class at St Canice’s School in Westport take action for penguins!
We had a fun day at the school building nest boxes for little penguins and we were ever so grateful for the generous support we received from whānau and local community.
The students did so well with drills, hammers, nails and lots of paint, successfully building twelve nest boxes for the trust to put out where needed in the local colonies for next season. There were no blue thumbs in the process either!
We would like to say a big thank you in particular to Laurie Cockfield, Milah’s Grandad, who built seven penguin boxes at his house, two of which he funded himself.
We would also like to say a big thank you to Jake Orchard (Louie’s Dad), Chris Kennard (Hudson’s Dad) and John Noble (Hadley’s Dad), who all took a group and helped out on the day.
Our very grateful thanks go to Steve Atfield at Vetpak, who sponsored the materials for ten boxes.
Vetpak is a New Zealand owned company that manufactures a varied range of Veterinary products for the production animal sector. Products include Rotagen Combo, a non-antibiotic treatment for calf scours effective against Rotavirus and Cryptosporidium, feed additives, sanitation solutions, mineral supplements for sheep, dairy and beef cattle. They also produce a range of specialist nutritional supplements designed for penguin and kiwi chicks.
Vetpak is proud to support the West Coast Penguin Trust and the great work they do. You can visit their website here www.vetpak.co.nz
George Atfield’s year 3/4 class have embarked on a penguin journey with us, learning all about penguins and how to help protect them. We are very happy to have this wonderful class and teacher on board!
We managed to have a mini certificate award ceremony for the students and the last challenge of how many nest boxes could I get in my car in the pouring rain! I am sure class teacher, Georgina Atfield was glad to finally see the back of me and those boxes!
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!
