Calling sea-birds back to Shakespear

UPDATE August 2016: Thanks to a generous donation from One Spark One Wish, we now have the funding we need for this project.   SOSSI is currently seeking donations towards purchasing three call-playback systems as part of the seabird restoration project at Shakespear Open Sanctuary. The plan involves installing three speaker systems spread along the…

Forest Gecko discovered

A forest gecko was recently discovered in the Open Sanctuary.  Whilst this species is not uncommon throughout the north of the North Island, this is a first record of one at Shakespear so we now know that we have seven of the nine species of lizards known to live in the Auckland area.   This picture shows him on…

Phoenix palms

This month’s pest plant is the phoenix palm.  Now on the list of plants banned from sale or propagation, this is a very large palm with thick trunk and spiny leaves, creamy flowers and abundant date-like seeds. There are quite a few near the Sanctuary and birds like the fruit so we’re keen to stop…

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Get rid of ginger

While some types of ginger can look nice in your garden you’ll regret having any of the ‘wild’ gingers. Yellow ginger and kahili ginger were both introduced as garden plants but they quickly form dense and impenetrable mats of rhizomes which smother anything else. In the wild these can grow to a metre deep and…

Shakespear Bellbirds

By Michell Roper Massey University researchers (including Prof. Dianne Brunton and PhD student Michelle Roper) are monitoring the New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura) population at Shakespear Regional Park to look at their natural dispersal back into the park and as part of a wider study on song development and dialects.  Bellbirds occur on various islands…