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Archives For 30/11/1999

Win a treasure unearthed from the Pink and White Terraces

 —  15/07/2011

The competition to win a limited edition copy of Wild Creations artists Rosy Tin Teacaddy’s new album All Mountains are Men is closed.

Jack van Hal, from Hillsborough in Christchurch, is our winner. Congratulations!

The challenge was to name the two New Zealand native birds featured in Bucketful of Bones and Beauty My Dear. The correct answers are:

_______________________

Rosy Tin Teacaddy’s album All Mountains are Men is a national treasure, and we have a numbered limited edition CD to give away.

Wellington folk duo Rosy Tin Teacaddy

But more on that later. First I’ll try to explain why I’m sounding like such a tragic fanboy.

It’s partly a pride thing. The whole album was written and recorded in an isolated DOC cottage beside Lake Tarawera while the ’Caddies were on a Wild Creations artists’ residency so, in some small and frankly delusory way, I feel I contributed. And the whole Bon Iver, lonely-cabin-in-the-woods vibe doesn’t hurt.

Then there’s the way New Zealand past and present seems to have been captured in miniature in the songs. Released on the 125th anniversary of the eruption of Mt Tarawera, the record rings with echoes of the explosion that buried Te Wairoa and engulfed the Pink and White Terraces, the “Eighth Wonder of the World”.

The album was written and recorded at Lake Tarawera

Lake and mountain flirt shamelessly, the local telegraph master stays at his post to report the disaster as ash rains down and dead men turn up at their own funerals.

None of this would mean diddly if the songs hadn’t lodged themselves in my subconscious ever since a colleague played me the demos.

Apart from the title track, the songs I keep coming back to are a lament to the lost Pink and White Terraces called Beauty, My Dear, domestic-scene-with-disaster Out of the Frying Pan into Fire, and Telegrams and Ashes, which documents the eruption in staccato telegraphese.

The songs are mysterious and evocative, mythic and everyday, funny and sad, richly melodic and wrapped in beautiful harmonies. What Gillian Welch and David Rawlings do for Americana, RTT do for New Zealand’s songwriting traditions.

But don’t take my word for it.

Check out All Mountains are Men on Bandcamp.

Cover of Rosy Tin Teacaddy album All Mountains are Men

All Mountains are Men CD

In Bay of Plenty, Historic, Native animals , , , , , , ,
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All quiet on the stoat front

Tessa Rain —  01/07/2011

Mustelid detective hound, Crete, and handler Scott Theobold, will be back on Kapiti Island this week. For the next half a year they’ll be there regularly, for up to a week at a time, to scope the joint for any more signs of stoat action. 

Kapiti Island and the Marine Reserve, as seen from the lookout Paekakariki Hill.

I myself, being an urban DOC-ette, have only seen a stoat once – it ran across the road in front of the family car on a Fiordland camping holiday. But I didn’t like the look of its face and am thrilled that, so far, no more signs of his kin have been found on Kapiti.  Have any of you guys seen stoats in the wild before?  

As for the famous stoat caught on Kapiti last year: We’ve found some scat since his capture, but DNA analysis has shown up inconclusive – we don’t know if it’s from our original guy or a  different one. We’ll have to wait and see whether Scott and Crete track down anything more on their future visits. 

Hamish Farrell with the dead stoat he found on Kapiti Island

So, while  all  may seem quiet on the stoat front at present, bio-security work continues. Along with checking traps and tracking tunnels every fortnight, and sniffer dogs and handlers doing their thing, there’s also track maintenance happening all over the island.

North Island Kaka, Kapiti Island

So, thanks to all involved in the work on Kapiti Island. Providing a threat free sanctuary for our treasured wildlife is wonderful – but it isn’t easy.

In Animal pests, Wellington/Kapiti
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Marine debris threatens our wildlife

Department of Conservation —  28/06/2011

The perils of marine debris to our wildlife are fairly well known – be it the plastic filled stomach contents of an albatross, or a penguin nesting with a coke bottle, it’s always pretty gutting to witness.

Entangled fur seal rescued from fishing net

Last week we were lucky enough to make it in time to rescue a fur seal pup which had become entangled in a fishing net here in Wellington.  Quite how the incident occurred we don’t know, but the poor wee thing was pretty raw around the neck as a result of it.

Seal with net around neck

Fur seals can be quite aggressive and give a nasty bite, especially when distressed, so DOC staff were sure to take a cautious approach.

DOC staff, Hawea and Dave, capturing seal

Once released of its unwanted necklace, the feisty wee pup headed off into the Taputeranga Marine Reserve for a swim around and we’re hopeful it’ll make a full recovery.

Unfortunately, other fur seals around New Zealand haven’t been so lucky. This fella was found dead in a similar style of fishing net on Makara Beach – also in the Cook Strait region.

Dead seal entangled in net

You can help our marine wildlife

The good news is that we can all help to stop these things happening. You can:

  • make sure to dispose of you litter carefully;
  • pick up any fishing materials, or other marine debris, when you see it and dispose of it in a bin;
  • get involved with a local coastal care group;
  • take part in a beach clean event;
  • tell your friends and family to do the same.

Leave a comment

Have you ever seen marine debris threatening our wildlife? What did you do?

Learn more

Learn more about the New Zealand fur seal/kekeno on the DOC website.

In Marine, Wellington/Kapiti
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Raoul Island Diaries: Hammered by Cyclone Bune

DOC on Raoul Island —  27/06/2011

Raoul Island is one of the Kermadec Islands, about 1000km north-east of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean. DOC have a small team of staff and volunteers who live on the island in relative solitude. Their main focus is controlling weeds on the island, maintaining infrastructure such as buildings, roads and tracks, and carrying out work for Met Service and GNS.

Since the island is so remote, we get these diary entries from the team and post them up on their behalf. Today’s diary is by Raoul Island Ranger – Threats (Weeds) & Biodiversity, Toby Shanley.

The tail end of cyclone season

By late March life here on Raoul Island had settled into a familiar routine made up of weeding four days a week, maintaining tracks, roads, grounds and infrastructure one day a week and for the most part exploring our beautiful surroundings on the weekend.

Raoul Island hostel.

The Raoul Island hostel on a calm day!

The end of March is usually seen as the end of cyclone season and it appeared the island was going to survive the summer unscathed by any major weather systems. But this was all about to change! On 26 March we woke to tremendous surf pounding the north side of the island, and although the weather was calm and fine this was a sure sign that trouble was brewing to our north.

Cyclone Bune is on its way…

A quick check of the weather map confirmed our suspicions as we saw a large storm brewing just south of Fiji. A Google search informed us that we were looking at tropical cyclone Bune (pronounced mm-boo-nay), which had just been upgraded to a category three cyclone. We also received a sat phone call from Metservice ensuring that we were aware of the cyclones proximity and they informed us that it was forecast to pass very near us as it travelled south.

The cyclone travelled very slowly towards us for the next two days and the swell grew until the whole island seemed to rumble under the force of the pounding waves. Then on the afternoon of Monday  28 March the winds began to rapidly increase as the cyclone approached us.

Fishing rock being pounded by surf.

Fishing rock being pounded by surf whipped up by Cyclone Bune

By this time all the necessary precautions had been taken so that light objects would not blow away and the hostel was as secure as possible.

…and Bune arrives!

By early evening the wind was screaming through the trees that line the edge of the cliff out in front of the hostel and leaves and small branches were being tossed high into the air. The winds continued to increase until around 8pm when all of a sudden they dropped completely leaving a very eerie silence.

We all went out on to the lawn and marvelled at how still and quiet it was compared to the chaos of a few minutes prior. This was the eye of the cyclone and we were unsure how long the stillness would last. We all went to bed expecting that any second the wind would return as strong as ever.

The trailing edge of the eye finally passed us at around midnight and the wind returned with renewed ferocity. The wind was now coming from the south west as opposed to the afternoon when it had been blowing from the north east.

Our accommodation is well sheltered from the north east but not so much from the south west and so we all had a very sleepless night. The wind seemed to build up in the hills behind the hostel and then coming roaring and screaming down towards us in regular violent gusts. But by morning the worst of it was past us.

The damaged foxway shed.

The damaged foxway shed

Surveying the damage

The task for the following few days was obvious, to survey the damage and to prepare for the cleanup. The first two priorities were to check our water supply and the road to our landing point which is 3 km away from the hostel. On checking the buildings around base we discovered that two had suffered substantial damage with one missing half of its roof.

The news back about the water supply and road was not good either. It looked as if the spring that we take most of our water from had been submerged by a giant slip and the road to the landing was covered in huge fallen trees. It was obvious that the cleanup would need to be started as soon as possible.

To add to the urgency of it we were due for a visit from the Heritage Expeditions cruise ship the Spirit of Enderby within two weeks. Over those two weeks the team put in a huge effort to clear enough of the roads and tracks so that we could show the passengers on the expedition some of this beautiful island we call home.

Forest flattened by Cyclone Bune.

Forest flattened by Cyclone Bune

The cyclone put the weeding on hold but we should be back into it by mid May when a team of people come up with the Navy to help clear the rest of the roads and tracks. The Navy will also bring us food and supplies for the next six months and four new volunteers who will live and work with us until we leave the island in late October.

Farewells

To the vollies who are leaving us Nicki, Maree, Terry, and Nigel a huge thank you for devoting a part of your lives to help restore this amazing island.

In Auckland, Islands, Raoul Island, Volunteers, Weeds ,
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Communities unite to watch over emperor penguin

Matt Barnett —  23/06/2011

Emperor penguin Peka Peka Beach

It had been a quiet weekend for the DOC wildlife callouts in Wellington and then our distinguished visitor arrived on the Kapiti coast and things went a bit hectic, and a bit surreal.  Since the first sighting of the emperor penguin onPeka Peka Beach, the phone lines have been running hot for the Kapiti Wellington biodiversity team.

I put out the initial media release on Tuesday afternoon and within hours our biodiversity spokesperson was getting media requests from across NZ, as well as from Australia and London, and emails from France, US, Canada, the UK and more.  Such has been the interest that a cursory Google search for ‘Kapiti emperor penguin’ currently brings over 29,000 hits – if you look now there will probably be a few thousand more …

It’s not the first time that an unexpected animal for the Antarctic has graced our shores, but this emperor- and its remarkable journey- has certainly captured the hearts and minds of people all over the World.

 Lucky kiwis are flocking for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one of these magnificent birds and as testament to how much we care about nature, local communities have joined forces to keep watch. 

 DOC rangers are on alert 24/7, the Kapiti Council have a security guard stationed daily on the beach and local residents have organised shifts to keep a close eye on the penguin- many keeping vigil until midnight.    

Emperor with DOC ranger Clint Purches

 We hope that the emperor of Peka Peka- looking very healthy and showing no signs of stress- will take to the water soon, but in the meantime everyone’s enjoying this rare spectacle.

Emperor Penguin with Kapiti Island

In Marine, Wellington/Kapiti
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