September 2025
This year, the West Coast Penguin Trust has released both a colourful summary and the usual Annual Report for 2024-25. They are full of news about the trust’s projects, from field work to fundraising, foraging to fencing, and covering research, education, awareness and advocacy.
Our Vision remains “Sea and shore birds and their habitat of the West Coast Te Tai Poutini are healthy and thriving” and we have reviewed our field work programme to ensure it is fit for purpose and this vision. Combining and analysing our breeding success data with information about individual penguins through microchipping and then adding foraging study results gives us greater insight and understanding of the little penguins / kororā at the study site in Camerons, Greymouth. These findings will be related to marine parameters including sea surface temperature and nutrient availability, and potentially to our changing climate.
We believe this work is important and lies at the heart of the trust’s operation. From there, our findings feed into the other areas of the trust’s work.
Find out more and the key features of our work during the year to March 2025 in our annual report.
2024-25 West Coast Penguin Trust Annual Report
2024-25 WCPT Summary Annual Report
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!
