While dotterel are known to breed at Shakespear, prior to this year none have managed to raise their chicks to fledglings. This year four pairs have had chicks, three of them surrounded by crowds of holiday-makers on Te Haruhi beach, with about two fledgings per pair. This is well ahead of the average of half a fledging per pair which is needed to sustain the population.
Another 20 Little Spotted Kiwi kiwi were translocated from Kapiti Island in March. Here is a short video about their release.
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 …
So far we’ve done well at keeping pest animals out of the sanctuary, but unfortunately the pest weeds are not so easily deterred. So this year we’re asking you to help manage the most invasive weeds along the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. With the assistance of Hibiscus Matters and Auckland Council Biosecurity we’ll be highlighting a different…
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…
There has been a significant incursion of Norway rats inside the Sanctuary in the last few months. Following the capture of an adult rat near the campground at the end of May, a series of juveniles was caught there and in the swampy gully nearby and toward Pink Beach. A standard pest incursion response was…
This month’s pest plant is Woolly Nightshade, also known as tobacco plant or flannel plant because its leaves have a velvety texture . It has dense clusters of purple flowers, green or yellow berries about 1cm in size and oval, grey-green leaves. It is a major problem because its seeds are spread by birds, it colonises readily and it…
