Photo: Hedgehogs are found right across the motu. Photo credit: Simon Gooding. Our Pest Free Banks Peninsula programme is removing a number of pest species off Kaitōrete, including mustelids (weasels, stoats and ferrets), possums, feral cats and the hedgehog, all to help save and restore our precious ecosystems and taonga species. It’s a funny thing. Hedgehogs have had this incredibly effective cute-washing campaign for years. Think Beatrix Potter and other children’s story’s featuring garden animals. However beloved, we need to recognise that they have real impacts on New Zealand’s special c ..read more

Many New Zealanders are not aware that hedgehogs are significant predators in our natural landscapes. Credit: Claudia Buchner Part of the windswept Kaitōrete has been cleared of hedgehogs to protect vulnerable wildlife, in a proof of concept that’s thought to be a national first. Canterbury based Pest Free Banks Peninsula (PFBP) is one of the country’s larger community-led, agency and iwi supported projects aiming to rid pest species off the Peninsula. Together, they have managed to achieve something remarkable. PFBP have provided a proof of concept that hedgehogs can be removed from Kaitōret ..read more

A fun blog from Jess, one of our awesome PFBP rangers. Sometimes like a nature-driven soap opera, conservation work brings its own surprises and challenges. In the last few months, we have had a steady stream of bait station installations and servicing, and one day merges into another with little variation. Our first toxin section was relatively unchallenging terrain-wise which meant servicing the bait stations was a breeze, mostly… There was one day that stood out. It was a crisp, sunny, late spring day, generally pleasant working conditions. Ollie and I zipped around the stations in our LUV ..read more

Highly trained conservation dogs are a pest programme's best friend! They seek out their target like sense-guided missiles and indicate to their handler when they have found something of interest. For the dogs, this is all part of the game, and no one enjoys their work like a well-trained conservation dog. Out in the field, fresh air, out with their handler, finding scents and following them so they can get a reward (playtime with the handler). To these canines, nothing could be better! Handlers would argue that they have the best job in the world. Outside in the field, fresh air, out with the ..read more

Never a dull moment to be had on the Peninsula. Our team has begun our mammoth possum elimination programme, but let’s not forget we also need to keep the pedal to the metal over at Kaitōrete. So how is everything going? Extended Wildside The team is full noise into setting up and servicing the significant number of bait stations in and around the Ōnuku area. Prior to the toxin operation, the team had put out cameras to give us a baseline of the activity in the area, and this means that someone has some fun, inside, sifting through a large number of photos on those really inclement days! To be ..read more

Over the winter period the Pest Free Banks Peninsula team were out in the hills at Josef Langer reserve. Their task was to install over 60 bait stations filled with Pest Off! (brodifacoum), in a 75 x 75 m grid. The purpose of this operation was to knockdown the possum population in a significant biodiversity area. It also gave our team some vital bush-bashing and bait-laying experience in preparation for our main elimination operation. These bait stations are set up in a grid to ensure even coverage of the site and increase the chances of possums encountering them Once we started the op, we d ..read more