| TRAP DATA | ||||
| MONTH | Rat | Possum | Weasel | Stoat |
| Jan | 139 | 113 | 8 | 3 |
| Feb | 147 | 71 | 5 | 1 |
| March | 146 | 88 | 1 | 1 |
| April | 232 | 150 | 6 | 1 |
| May | 238 | 216 | 4 | 0 |
| June | 149 | 152 | 1 | 0 |
| July | 193 | 119 | 0 | 4 |
| OTHER SPECIES | ||||
| MONTH | Cat | H. hog | Ferret | Other |
| Jan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Feb | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| March | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| April | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| June | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| July | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| YEARLY COMPARISON | ||||
| Rat | Possum | Weasel | Stoat | |
| 2024 | 644 | 19* | 19 | 14 |
| 2025 | 1286 | 1352 | 24 | 19 |
| 2026 so far | 1244 | 909 | 25 | 10 |
| *Not including AT220 kills | ||||
| Cat | H.hog | Ferret | Other | |
| 2024 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 14 |
| 2025 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 58 |
| 2026 so far | 1 | 5 | 0 | 63 |
Week One from Senior Ranger Andy:
It’s been a busy week with the volunteers this week. While out trapping around Whau Valley with Steve, and new volunteer Frojer I came across a lovely group of Orange Club fungus (likely Clavulinopsis laeticolor).
Photo credit: Andy Avery
Rayden, Stella and I met a lovely brown spiny stick insect, North of Barge Park which was only noticeable as it was on a patch of green moss.
Photo credit: Andy Avery
This tiny baby stick insect was apparently too adorable to ignore — Andy was quite taken with it. So much so that he forgot to include it in his original Ranger’s Report!
Fortunately, this little guy got a second chance to make the report. 😄
Photo credit: Andy Avery
Trustee Simon and I spent a lovely rainy day on the Bullseye Trapline this week and noticed some orchids in a damp gully most likely Acianthus sinclairii, commonly known as the pixie cap orchid. Apparently some orchids can smell like mushrooms to fool fungus gnats into pollinating them.
Photo credits: Andy Avery
From Ranger Rose:
Epic web architecture, a sprouting tairere, and a rounded earthstar fungus.
Photo credits: Rose Warner
Week Two from Senior Ranger Andy:
A solid week of trapping in the ngāhere. The trapping team have been out in the East of the Pukenui and between us have caught x31 rats x24 possums and a stoat since Monday.
While out with new volunteer Tom north of Barge Park on Thursday we spotted a rather large prickly stick insect (Acanthoxyla prasina). This endemic New Zealand creature ranges from 8 to 11 cm in length and exists in both green and brown color morphs. The species is entirely made up of females who have done away with sex and re produce by themselves. They reproduce entirely via parthenogenesis, males have never been found in the wild in Aotearoa.
Photo Credit: Andy Avery
We also caught a stoat in one of the doc200 boxes this week along with a rat. Zac and team have also been working hard behind the scenes to push our toxin permissions forward for our upcoming toxin pulse. This combined approach to mustalid control is critical with the upcoming kiwi chicks in the Pukenui.
Photo Credit: Andy Avery
Week Three from Senior Ranger Andy:
It’s good to have Craig back in the bush this week (Craig had come back from a well deserved break). We are ready to begin pre-feeding the blocks soon, which will help habituate the pest animals to the bait type and maximise the effectiveness of our planned August toxin pulse.
I went out with new volunteer Lauren on Tuesday to start trap training and noticed a Leaf-veined-slug and a pink waxgill.
Joe Cowan, Michael Kissick and Michael Goodwin helped us with our kiwi listening this year and also listened for some additional nights at multiple locations in a specific area. We all went out to those areas and put out trail cameras and an AR4 acoustic recorder. . We hope to gain a little more insight into the nocturnal world of the KIwi of Pukenui. We also saw some Verdigris waxgills growing out of a tree fern stump.
Week Four from Senior Ranger Andy:
While exploring a rocky river side channel in the Whau Valley area this week Candace and I discovered a male long-legged harvestman or Forsteropsalis pureora. I have seen a few of these wonderfully strange creatures over the years but this had by far the longest leg span!
I have been noticing plenty of harore or Austral Honey Mushrooms (Armillaria novae-zelandiae) while down in damp gullies over the last few weeks.
A huge shout out to our volunteers, working out in the slippery conditions this week; Steve Detlaff, Candace, Pete Dooley, Jaap, Michael Kissick, Peter Luke, Rowan, Benaiah, Nikora, Tom and some of the trampers from the Whangarei Trampers Club. A bit thanks to Heath who stuck with me on a rugged and long bush day trying to find a different way to exit Bait station block 20. We spotted a Ruru towards the end of the day. The ancestral spirit of a family group can take the form of a ruru in some Māori tradition. This spirit is known as Hine-ruru, the ‘owl woman’. It is believed that these owl spirits can act as kaitiaki or guardians and have the power to protect, warn and advise.
Photo Credit: Andy Avery
From Ranger Craig:
A good start to prefeed this week – 7 blocks completed so far. I had some great help out there from volunteers Nikora and Tom!
On block 22 I came across a patch of Dawsonia superba looking just like a miniature forest. This is the tallest freestanding moss species in the world and can apparently reach up to 60 cm tall! These examples were a measly 10-15 cm tall.
Photo Credit: Craig Young
Week Five from Senior Ranger Andy:
This week we’ve been out with the volunteers continuing our pre-feeding operation in preparation for the 1080 pulse next month. Tom, Nikora and Simon have started coming out consistently and have been a great help to the Rangers. We’ve also had help from Pete Dooley and Angus this week in the Blocks around the Karanui Estate.
This week I have seen a Cryptic Orbweaver (Cryptaranea atrihastula), along with Orange peel fungus (Aleuria aurantia) and several Verdigris Waxgills and black earth tongues (Glutinoglossum glutinosum).
