SOSSI and Tuesday volunteers have completed a major upgrade of the Sossi nursery, with financial support from Auckland Council and Pub Charity.
We have committed to producing around 10,000 plants every year for re-vegetation planting so there is lots of work to be done, and new volunteers would be most welcome to help.
A comprehensive digital encyclopedia of NZ birds is now available online. To quote Graeme Taylor, DOC Principal Science Advisor: This new website has an excellent function that can be used to identify birds where the people concerned know very little about birds in general. It uses a system of habitat groups or broad plumage patterns…
The destructive and aggressive red-vented bulbul has now been seen in several parts of Auckland, including our Whangaparaoa Peninsula. Evidently they like nice gardens and compost heaps, especially one with food scraps. If you see one please record the time and place, take a photo if you can and call Biosecurity on 0800 80 99…
This serious fungal disease is well established in Australia and affects plants of the myrtle family. Unfortunately this includes some common natives like rata, pohutukawa and manuka, and since the spores could be carried here by wind a biosecurity alert has been issued to watch out for it. It can also attack fruit like feijoas…
Another 20 robins have now arrived at Shakespear, this time from nearby Tiritiri Matangi. This brings the total to 40, which should be enough to establish a permanent population. Update Aug 2016: Here is a new iseevideo documentary about translocation. It is 15 minutes long and very informative. The earlier and shorter version is below.
There are some gregarious new residents at Shakespear Regional Park! While other birds have repopulated the area naturally since pests were removed, recent events saw the first release of native birds behind the predator-proof fence. In July 2015, after many months of behind-the scenes work, a group of bird translocation experts and experienced volunteers caught…
We now have North Island Robins at Shakespear Open Sanctuary. Many happy volunteers and Sossi members watched 20 robins released on Friday 8th April. This represented the end of the first stage of the translocation of North Island Robins to Shakespear Open Sanctuary. These robins were translocated from Mangatutu in the central North Island. This …
