Rattie stats

I've had rat traps set since I arrived here but didn't keep any formal records until mid-August 2012. I now have 30 traps set around the house and the bush boundary and have checked them on a daily basis since mid-October. I've set a number of traps in pairs so that I can trial different types of bait including dark chocolate (still the favourite), peanut butter, white chocolate, bacon, FeraFeed and FeraFeed Smooth.

I only had 16 traps ready when I first placed them around the boundary so when I paired them up, the traps went a bit like this:

1/4: back deck
2/3: front of house by drive
5/17: shade house/garage
6/18: totara (there's also a GoodNature possum trap on the tree)
7/19: rubbish heap
8/20: mud puddle
9/21: boundary peg
10/22: clearing, back boundary
11/23: back boundary
12/24: back boundary
13/25: north boundary peg
14/26: small hillock
15/27: bendy bit
16/28: northern boundary bush end
29/30: water tank

Not the easiest and no doubt I'll change them soon to make it easier to pinpoint rat incursions.

I had a play with Excel's pivot tables this morning and here's the results from traps that have caught at least one rat from 15 August 2012 to 21 April 2013.

The 'unknown' column come either from bodies that are too eaten/decayed to be able to sex them, or when there's definitely been a catch but the body was removed (probably by a weka). Traps 4 (back deck) and 6 (totara) have caught almost half the entire tally - trap 4 used to be the winner with 11 rats caught up till 20 January 2013 but it's only caught 1 rat since whilst trap 6 has caught 14 in the same time period.

Interestingly, trap 18 that is paired with trap 6 has never caught a rat despite me swapping positions from time to time. All traps are now baited with dark chocolate drops (Pams variety) and it still catches rats even when it's gone mouldy. The FeraFeed didn't seem to work as well and the cost was way more expensive - plus it went mouldy much faster. I'm not tempted to nibble the chocolate drops as I go round as I've swished my rat gloves around in the container!!

I need to get some tracking tunnels set up which will confirm whether there are rats present but which don't like going into the traps. Almost half of my traps haven't caught any rats: 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 30 - if the tracking tunnels don't show any rat footprints in that area then maybe I could redeploy the traps where there are higher numbers.

No possums caught yet with my GoodNature self-resetting trap - but I haven't seen any possum poo or heard possum noises so maybe there's none around. I did my second bird listening survey last Friday night; it was much quieter than the first one with one male kiwi call plus a couple of ruru 'cree' calls as it flew around.

Being watched

Since moving to the island I've had plenty of time to watch the birds. I don't feed them as I don't want to interfere in their lives; human food isn't the best for birds plus there's plenty of tucker in the bush for them here. I do toss the dead rats into the bush and no doubt the weka find them; I wear gloves so there shouldn't be any human smells to associate food with humans. It's a real buzz, then, to find that some of the birds are really curious about what I'm doing - the little ngirungiru (tomtits) and piwakawaka (fantails) often come to watch me as I work outside and even the korimako (bellbirds) will come for a closer look as I check my rat traps around the boundary. New Zealand bush birds will show themselves when you are still and quiet, so take time to stand still when you are out in the bush.

It's pretty difficult identifying the same bird in the wild - they don't keep still long enough to notice if they have a unique feature but they do tend to have their own territories. Easier by far for humans are small colour bands that get put on either before the young birds fledge or as adults when they are caught. The released toutouwai (bush robins) at Dancing Star are all banded and it was great to see that the bird I saw on Line 4 on 19 January this year was still alive and kicking. Pink-Pink (PP) found me as I trimmed the Line 1 track and I'm picking he was in Pink-Red-Pink's (PRP) territory as PRP was doing all he/she could to shoo PP off. They both followed me for a short distance but Pink-Pink stayed with me for the next 3 hours, down Line 1 to the beach and then back up the cliffs via another track - amazing that a wee bird has that sort of attention span. Every time I stopped to trim ferns/supplejack out she/he'd hop and flutter in front of me.

Pink-Pink on one of the rat traps

What a cutie!

Do I look prettier with the bands like this??

The Weka Family have been around a few times lately - they are also curious fellows and wander around unconcerned that I am watching them. The young ones keep close to the adult bird (?Mum) and even though they look fully grown, the parent bird is still feeding them occasionally.

Weka checking out my vege garden

The annual bird listening surveys have come around again with the purpose of counting all kiwi, morepork/ruru and weka calls over a 2 hour period in the evening. On calm, dry evenings over the next 6 weeks or so you'll find a number of us wrapped up warm and recording bird noises, compass bearings and estimated distances plus any other information that will help with identifying bird populations around the village. Three of the six sites are within the SIRCET project area (ie rat and possum trapped) and the others are dotted around outside the project area. Last Wednesday was a gorgeous night under the stars and I heard 4 kiwi calls and 5 ruru calls - I think they all came from the same bird and halfway through the listening period the ruru called for 16 minutes - about once every 5-10 seconds and didn't get one reply. My time finished at 9pm so the female/male kiwi duet at 8.58pm just made it in time. A magical end to the evening - roll on the next suitable night.

White morning

It was a cool start to the morning but I was gob-smacked when I opened the blinds and saw a boomer frost! Winter is certainly on the way.

Looking out from the deck

Frosty compost heap

I cheated on daylight saving time and put my clocks back an hour on Friday night which gave me a great excuse to sleep in this morning. By the time I got up, the sun was shining brightly and everywhere was steaming. It's been a glorious day - just perfect for spending the day with the birds and trees whilst track trimming at Dancing Star.

Whilst on the topic of daylight saving time, I put my clocks forward a day early last September too - it seems much easier to adapt with two days of the weekend to do it, rather than just the one and I wish I tried it years ago :)

Mina and Phil flew out on the 8.30am flight last Tuesday which meant a walk down to the Post Office (aka Flight Centre) in the early dawn. After they left for the airstrip I sat and watched the sun rise over Halfmoon Bay.

A free shuttle to the airstrip - bye guys, thanks for coming

 

 

What a picturesque island I live on!

 

My NatureWatching has taken a back seat for the last couple of weeks but I haven't stopped taking photos. There's a lot of fungi around at present - here's a wee selection...

 

Jelly fungus

I haven't found this one in my books yet - any ideas?

Puffball found checking Dancing Star traps

A different sort of puffball found on Deep Bay rat lines

This looks like the yellow version of the orange mosscap in my book

I'll have to become more methodical when recording the fungi I find as identification from a single photo isn't always easy; features like gills, spore colour, type of habitat, cap shape and texture will all help. There's still many fungi in New Zealand which haven't been discovered before so keep a look out in your neck of the woods.

 



Easter treats

My apologies for not putting up any blogs recently - have I already used the excuse that I was abducted by aliens for the last 3 weeks?? Not as exciting, but closer to the truth, is that fine weather, a mound of outside work and shortening daylight hours are to blame. With daylight saving ending this weekend, I'll have lots of evening time to blog to my heart's content.

A superquick catch-up:
1. a trip to Invercargill on 20 March - beaut weather, visits to the dentist and hairdresser and nice to get my shopping list completed
2. helping the museum committee with preparation for their Easter historic photo exhibition
3. enjoying Mina and Phil's visit at Easter
4. finishing the shade house
5. and getting 16 rats in one afternoon, most of them at Dancing Star

Leaving Invercargill

Bluff

Horseshoe Bay, Stewart Island

Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island

Home from the air - the new colour blends in so much better with the bush

My biggest buzz was meeting Phil's fiancée, Mina, for the first time - what a delight. Phil came to the island for 2 nights in May 2010 but it was Mina's first trip. We did lots of walking and enjoyed the fab Indian summer weather.

 

Mina and Phil at Sarah Cove

Paddling on Horseshoe Bay

Checking out the seaweed gardens at Golden Bay

Inbetween sightseeing, they helped me with finishing the bracing and then covering the dog run frame with micro-climate cloth. There's no instructions for this - we were making it up as we went along and I'm thrilled with the results. We used cable ties to attach the cloth to the frame, stretching it as we went. The cloth lets some water through but cuts out the wind and hopefully all frosts and hail. We assembled the smaller plastic greenhouse that I bought last October; I've also got a larger one but will see how everything fares during the next big blow before I set it up.

Putting the micro-climate cloth on the 'dog run'

Final touches

The new shade house hides the water tank nicely

Woohoo! Finished!!!

Fitting out the inside - the small greenhouse will be used for starting seeds
off, the fish table makes a great potting bench and just out of picture
to the left are potting bags with seedlings in

 

A highlight of their stay was going out on the fishing boat, Rawhiti, with Andrew and Sharon Leask - another first for Mina. The weather was misty when they left at 9am but cleared by the time they came back around 12.30pm with a large bag of fresh blue cod and trumpeter.

 

Setting out on the Rawhiti

Back at the wharf

The smiles say it all - fishing is fun!

Mina's fish and vegetable curry - soooooo yummy

Mina's culinary skills are fantastic - she made fish soup and a lovely fresh fish meal on Sunday night, and fish curry for their last night here. I have a lot of practice to do for when they visit again!

 

It's late and time for bed so will finish this and add another blog over the weekend.

 



Winning streak

A lot happens in a fortnight and I forgot to tell you in my last post about my winning streak. I reckon I'm the luckiest person on earth to be able to live my dream but two recent things in quick succession have now made me the luckiest person in the Universe!

Winning day #1: I filled in an online questionnaire for Swazi some time back; it was a privilege to give some customer feedback as Swazi gear is the best; my two 6 year old micro-fleece tops get a thrashing yet still wash up to look like new. They are warm, well-fitting and lightweight - and, being Swazi, extremely well made. Just over a week ago I got a call from the ferry to say I had a parcel to collect and imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a fab Swazi Matiere jacket, apparently my name was drawn out of the hat for filling in the questionnaire. Thanks, Swazi - check out their fab range (all proudly made in New Zealand) at http://www.swazi.co.nz/ - or call in to their shop at Levin if you are passing through. I've found Swazi to be the best value for money, the most durable clothing for the outdoors and I would happily endorse their clothing, even without winning a thing!

My new Matiere jacket
Swazi snugness - roll on Winter!

Winning day #2: a few days later I was surprised with another large package; I had won a prize in the Stewart Island/Rakiura Community & Environment Trust raffle (SIRCET). Two Hunting & Fishing polar fleece tops and a beanie, a comprehensive CRT first aid kit, 2 Easibake silicon muffin pans and a voucher from the 4 Square shop on the island. Wow!

SIRCET do a great job of clearing predators from the Ackers project area, running the Community Nursery at Horseshoe Bay and supporting revegetation projects around the township. I'm proud to support them financially and with weekly checks of rat traps at Deep Bay. Funding is not easy to come by and I really appreciate the time and efforts that the SIRCET board and members go to. Want to make a difference and keep the island intact for future generations? How about sponsoring one hectare of prime coastal forest for $50 a year so that rat/possum control can be financed? Check out SIRCET's website on http://www.sircet.org.nz/ and http://sircet.org.nz/index.php?pr=Sponsor-a-hectare

What a lucky person I am :)

Welcome rain

Oban has fared a lot better than the drought-stricken areas - we've had some light rain at nights and quite heavy dews but even so, our temperate rainforest had become as dry as cornflakes. Today's steady rain is most welcome and I can almost hear the sigh of relief as plants, trees and birds soak up the moisture. The beautiful filmy ferns, of genus Hymenophyllum, will transform from shrivelled, black, dead-looking leaves to lush green translucent fronds, often only one cell thick. There are at least 21 species of filmy fern on Stewart Island; I have a lot to learn to be able to identify them all!


Hymenophyllum ferrugineum

(above and following) Hymenophyllum spp - will put these pics up
on NatureWatch to get an identification

Recyclable packages of tiny sori - part of my thumbnail for size

 My big clean-up around the section is progressing slowly but surely. I had a bit of a setback last week when my scrub-bar (brushcutter) started making strange noises and losing revs. I don't want to do more damage as it doesn't seem to be a tuning problem and will take it down to work on Monday to see if it can be fixed here on the island.

Neat and tidy driveway - just before the scrub bar packed up

Many Islanders use mussel buoys for gardening in; I've tried a selection of ways but found the larger ones tend to splay out if they are cut lengthwise. Dale, the local policeman, has come up with this way of cutting them - a lot neater and more room for the roots...

Dale's bright idea - the bases are riveted on

With this in mind, I put my name down for some old ones and they've just been delivered. I've now got to chainsaw some of them in half and cut rings out of the others for the bases - oh, and get a rivet gun from somewhere :)

Old mussel buoys waiting for the chainsaw

The new dog run is at a standstill until I work out how I can make a removeable section. The door is too narrow to fit the mussel buoys through so, once the netting is on the walls and roof, it will be impossible to get the buoys inside. I'm putting wire bracing diagonally on the sections for strength and will tie the micro-climate cloth netting on to the bracing - this way I won't need to put the wire netting on, or that's the plan at present! Subject to change as I try and suss it out.

Our last cruise ship for the season, the Bremen, visited on 7 March - it's always nice to see the village full of interested tourists but I'm sure the tourism operators will be glad of a rest as the 'season' dies down. A number of schools are visiting this month and camping/tramping around the Rakiura 'Great Walk' Track; a great opportunity for them to hear, and for some of them, see kiwi.


The Bremen at anchor in Paterson Inlet

The NatureWatch.org.nz website is very addictive, especially once you start putting up your own pictures and getting them identified. It's great that beginners have access to such learned experts AND that the experts can have a vehicle for passing on their knowledge. Here's internet technology at its best and I hope you'll take advantage of it to learn more about the environment in which you live. It's also offers the best comedy - if you could see me dancing about trying to photograph a hover fly or doing contortions trying to snap the looper caterpillar that wouldn't stay still then you'd laugh long and loud :)

 

I haven't seen many wasps here until this year; the warm, dry spell has obviously favoured them and a number of wasp nests are causing problems - both in the village and in the bush. A DOC worker had to be medi-vacced off Secretary Island earlier this month when he was stung multiple times and reacted badly. There's a large nest on my rat line at Deep Bay which needs to be detoured around and I see that the pub has cans of fly spray sitting on the outside tables. What a shame social wasp species were accidentally introduced in New Zealand - they have no natural predators here and we now have some of the highest densities of wasp populations in the world. There's some good information on wasps on the DOC website here

 

Time to do the dishes and maybe put up another few observations on NatureWatch - have a serene Sunday.

 

 





Kiwi alarm clock - take 2

My tokoeka (Apteryx australis) alarm clock was very civilised this week with a 6.31am call on Wednesday. The male kiwi was right outside the house and, by the time he had got through 29 whistles, was sounding a bit breathless. When he stopped calling I turned the light off and peeked through the dining area window and, in the moonlight, saw him walking up the drive less than 5m away. What a magic way to start the day off!

Our island summer finished on a high note with a sunny and calm 28°C; overnight we got a gentle rain which carried on through the morning - it was lovely walking down to work feeling the rain on my face and you could almost see the bush smiling whilst lapping up the moisture. The mild temperatures and the rain are ideal for fungi so I'll have to look out for them on my track trimming tomorrow.

Looking closely at my environment brings huge rewards. I found a wee red Hygrocybe growing amongst the grass and dandelions on Tuesday - how's this for perfection?



It only lasted like this for a day so I was lucky to see it; the next day it was dry and brown. Yesterday I found a whole colony of chocolate-brown slime mould. Slime moulds aren't fungi - according to Geoff Ridley's 'Mushrooms and other fungi of New Zealand', they 'live in soil, litter and bark as single-celled organisms that eat bacteria. When conditions are suitable they swarm together and travel as a plasmodium (a slimy mass), and move to a suitable position where they change form and become fruit-bodies.' I think this is another Stemonita fusca - but I could be wrong!!

 

 

Close-up of some of the fruiting-body

NatureWatch is doing a great job at identifying all my finds and I'm learning the difference between lichens, mosses and liverworts - and this chappie, a Hybolasius crista!

I managed to grab two quick photos and then it flew away

Our beautiful island got its hooks into another one of our visitors - Wyn sent this poem back after she left and it's now pinned up on the noticeboard.

Stewart Island
I'm missing Stewart Island yet I only left today
Every sunrise I have seen that heralded the day
was different all, in colour and moving shape and form,
while birds at work already, looked determined, not forlorn.

Sometimes a bank of heavy cloud would hold a curtain up
as if the Island whispered, 'Oh no, don't wake me up!'
The mauve and pinks, the blues and greys left every flower to shame
For they could never, ever change; their colours stayed the same.

Now God Who made this Island knew that every single soul
would need to see the beauty that could form inside his own.
A quick impatient glance around would never give them peace
you need to breathe the Island air and breathe in God's own Peace.

So if you feel the end is near and you're not long for this earth
Perhaps you should do what I did and find this peace on earth
Come breathe the purest air I know, see skies that speak of heaven
Tell the Islanders that Wyn sent you, it is where I found my heaven.