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Hi folks,
1,549 pests taken out in just over 1 year!
A huge thank you to all our 110 trappers!
https://kppc.kiwi
Here's our stats:
- 174 properties being trapped - 110 active trappers
- 780 traps and bait stations
- 1,549 pests removed
- 744 rats - 652 mice - 82 possums - 27 stoats - 24 hedgehogs - 16 rabbits - 4 feral cats removed from the peninsula.
- View our catches per property/area here
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It's planting time - feed the birds
The Northland Regional Council put out this fantastic downloadable booklet on native trees and plants.
- What native trees are the best food for kereru / tui / silvereye
- Which trees possum most like to eat!
- Growth rates / final heights / what conditions each species prefers
The cheat sheet is:
Best food for kereru: taraire, karaka, nikau and puriri.
Best food for tui/silvereye: flax, kowhai, kahikatea, kohekohe, puriri, pohutukakwa and rewarewa
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Trapping begins in Akeake and Rangitane Reserves
Mike Knight from NRC recently delivered us 200 brand spanking rat traps in tunnels that has allowed us to start work in the reserves. Thanks Mike and NRC!
 Vicky and Will from Opito Bay are managing the 35 rat traps that went into Akeake Reserve. Checking them daily they've cleaned out 203 rats and mice in just two months! Great work you guys.
 Josh and Sandy are managing the 20 rat traps that have so far gone into Rangitane Reserve (30 more to be added shortly). 133 rats and mice taken out in just two months. Fantastic.
Like to look after a trap line?
Have we got a deal for you :)
Forget the gym, get some exercise and help the native birds thrive all in one go.
Please email us or phone 027 2431777
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Doves Bay Coordinator - Kay Calder
 Kay's face will be familiar to all the folk who live on Doves Bay Road.
A huge thank you Kay for door knocking and finding out who was already trapping and who would like to. 35 properties are now being trapped in Doves Bay Rd - fantastic job!
Check our trap location map here
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Rangitane Coordinators - Terry and Ali Goodall
 Terry and Ali have been doing the same work as Kay, but in Rangitane, finding out who is already trapping and who would like to. Fantastic job you guys, there's now 36 Rangitane properties on the network.
Check our trap location map here
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Kiwi listening underway...
 Four groups of folks are undertaking kiwi listening in our area this year. We are only part way through but some interesting numbers are coming out. This years listening periods are 2-20th June and 2-20th July. Four nights, two hours each night, starting half an hour after sunset.
Akeake Reserve (completed) - average 2.75 calls per hour
Doves Bay (2 nights completed) - average 12.25 calls per hour
Rangitane Reserve (2 nights completed) - average 16 calls per hour
Crowles Bay (2 nights completed) - average 6 calls per hour
DoC produce a comprehensive report on the Northland listening results each year - download last years here (.pdf 4.0mb)
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Seen an uncommon native bird? Report a sighting...
 We've added a section on the website that lets you report sightings of uncommon native birds. We then add the location to a google map displayed on the page.
In Opito, we've had a kaka hanging out on the neighbours deck and buzzing our place. One was also spotted by Terry and Ali, our Rangitane coordinators, while they were out walking in Akeake Reserve.
Report a sighting here
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Three kiwi killed by cars on our peninsula in 2018
 A third kiwi was reported killed to DoC on Rangitane Rd in June. (Rangitane locals report the actual toll is higher than this.)
Please let's all keep our speed down at night and watch out for the feathered guys with no road sense.
We know of six that were killed on our 9km stretch of road last year.
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- "There were about twice as many litter invertebrates (all kinds combined) in the block with no or few mice, including twice as many beetles, wētā and spiders, when counted and considered as separate individual groups.”
- “… there were also significantly fewer earthworms in the leaf litter and surface soil layers when mice were abundant. Mice are known from other studies to eat earthworms that feed on the surface of the soil at night, when mice are also active.”
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Don't be like Dean
 Dean was setting a possum trap and he didn't have his mind completely on the job. The trap went off and jammed his fingers. Dean was very lucky to only be loosing two fingernails and not have done more damage. Be careful with those traps out there folks!
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What flavour rat did you catch?
 When submitting your catch reports, it would be useful information to know what type of rat you have caught. We've posted an article on our blog to help with identification.
The cheat sheet is:
Ship Rat (climbers) - tail longer than head and body, ears fold over eyes.
Norway Rat (swimmers) - tail shorter than head and body, ears don't fold over eyes.
Read the full article here
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We're now on Crackbook!
We've started a Facebook page and we've only got 25 followers! (a vast improvement on the 18 when we sent the last newsletter out tho).
Please help us out, if you use Facebook, jump on and like our page. It'll help spread the word about the project and hopefully more folks will end up with traps in their backyards. That'll be good for the birds, bugs and plants - yay.
Just click on the trap below...
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Please keep the catch reports coming in...
It's important to be able to report on our progress to our funders, so please visit the site and hit the report a catch button to keep the system updating :)
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