Now that the excitement of the trip is behind us, our sub-antarctic clothing has been washed and stowed, photos downloaded and the team has dispersed the length of the country, life is back to normal and we can look back on what we achieved during our 4 weeks away.
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The Trust welcomes Jim Young, a teacher from Catlins Area School, to their team. Jim will spend 2010 working on his project at Long Point thanks to receiving an Awarded Teacher Fellowship.
The New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowship Scheme is funded by the New Zealand Government and administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Jim’s career in teaching has taken him from around city and country schools in Queensland to the rural community of Owaka in the Catlins. He has previously been involved with conservation work in the Catlins, growing native plants and assisting Fergus Sutherland at the Forest & Bird (Southland) Te Rere Reserve.
Jim ‘s project ‘Whakaora Irahuka: restoring the white cliffs’ will be investigating aspects of seabird restoration at Long Point / Irahuka, including surveying and mapping seabird habitat, establishing vegetation plots, examining predator species composition and abundance and surveying the lizard fauna and distribution. We expect that Jim’s work will contribute significantly to the Trust’s planning processes and development of seabird conservation and restoration in the reserve. His professional experience as a science teacher will greatly assist in aspects of the project, but as the fellowship is designed to do, it will also present new challenges, information to acquire and skills to learn.
The Trust will act as the host organisation with the responsibility of supporting Jim and providing the resources and equipment necessary for the project to be successfully undertaken. It is unusual for a conservation trust to undertake this role, which would usually be taken by universities, Crown Research Institutes, local authorities, and museums.
We hope that the Catlins Area school will be able to benefit from Jim’s experiences with the Long Point / Irahuka project; this may include hands on experience with aspects of the research.
Crucial support for the application was received from Dr Bill Lee of Landcare Research and Dr Jamie Newman (University of Otago) who will act as science mentors for the project.
Fencing / reserve opening / nest checking
Aaron Sutherland and his crew from South Otago Fencing completed the fencing at Long Point just before Christmas, despite the often challenging weather and terrain. All up around 3km of fencing went in, plus carparks were formed at Helena Falls & Manuka Beach.
The opening of the reserve is scheduled to take place in March, once the signs and route marking have been completed in the reserve. Access to Long Point will be as of right for the first time; with a ten minute walk from top carpark above Manuka Beach to the reserve boundary, and another twenty minutes out to the trig point on the tip of the peninsula.
The Trust worked with the Department of Conservation on the yellow-eyed penguin nest check at Long Point in late January, and also completed the check at Cosgrove Creek. Final figures have not been collated, but the chick weights were generally good. Unfortunately we were unable to match the “sumo” chick weighed by DOC at Nugget Point which was almost off the scales at a whopping 7.3kg!
Trust staff joined Jim Young and Jamie Newman (Otago University) on the 8/9 February to burrow scope titi burrows at Long Point, and 7 chicks were found, confirming their continued persistence in the face of introduced predators, such as cats and stoats. Jim is working with Dr Deb Wilson (Landcare Research) to establish predator monitoring lines to establish baseline predator relative abundance and species composition. The data gathered will contribute to the development of effective trapping regimes to protect titi, yellow-eyed penguins and other seabirds.
The population census of yellow-eyed penguins in the Stewart Island area was completed in November 2009 when the last remaining area to be surveyed, Codfish Island/ Whenua Hou, was visited. Last surveyed fully in 2001, Codfish Island / Whenua Hou is considered one of the strongholds of the Stewart Island penguin population and has been one of the study sites for the Trusts 2003-2008 research into factors affecting penguin breeding success. Two of the original surveyors, Dave Houston and Dean Nelson from DOC, and Sandy King from the Trust made up the 2009 survey team, with help from resident Kakapo Rangers Errol & Steve. The survey was completed within a week and found 46 breeding pairs, a drop from 61 breeding pairs in 2001. This could be a real downwards trend, or it could be just an extreme interannual fluctuation, but to find out more regular surveys and monitoring will be required. The Trust is working with DOC and the Southern Institute of Technology to ensure this can happen.
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This week we said goodbye to our Dunedin Gateway student from
Bayfield High School, Max Buxton, who worked with Nursery staff and
volunteers on Wednesdays during 2009. We are happy to know that Max is
heading to Lincoln University in 2010 to further his studies. Max has been a
very positive and lively participant at the Nursery and well liked by all.
We will miss him and wish him well for the future.
Now that the excitement of the trip is behind us, our sub-antarctic clothing has been washed and stowed, photos downloaded and the team has dispersed the length of the country, life is back to normal and we can look back on what we achieved during our 4 weeks away. 
