French actors-cum-reporters, Laetitia Hipp and Emmanuel Suarez, are travelling the world for three months looking for marine conservation stories to share via podcasts on the French public media service. While staying right at the beach in Waihaha bach near Fox River, they found information about the West Coast Penguin Trust and got in touch.
Laetitia and Emmanuel interviewed Trust Manager, Inger Perkins, about the origins of the Trust, local blue penguins, penguin research and conservation as well as everything else that the Trust does including education and advocacy.
The lovely bach, owned by a generous Supporter of the trust, is right above the beach and, with waves crashing noisily just metres away, the interview took place indoors. At the end of the interview, there was an opportunity to promote the trust to any future French listener – there may be some wonderful French folk who would love to support the work of the trust if they only knew about it!
The three then went down to the beach where footprints in the sand prompted discussion about being a penguin detective – a handy tool used by Education Ranger, Lucy Waller, with children on beach visits. You can find out more about identifying footprints in this useful guide from NZ Tracker.
If you’re wondering, the French for penguin is manchot (m) or manchote (f) .
And if you’re wondering about the acting element, Laetitia and Emmanuel present environmental education shows in France, often using puppets. Their company name is ‘et demain la terre‘ – which translates as ‘and tomorrow the earth’. It was a great pleasure to meet this couple and their three children on their three month trip. The podcast will be created when they are back in France and will be published mid 2023. As we often hear on RNZ interviews using another language, the English interview will start and then a translator will present the conversation in French.
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!
