Nelson Nature Fix
17 April 2020
Welcome to a special Covid-19 shutdown Nature Fix.
One of the positives to come out of the shutdown is the opportunity to connect with the nature around us as we get our daily exercise or spend time in the garden. If you can record any of your bird or animal sightings using the apps below you'll be helping us collect valuable data on our local biodiversity.
If you know anyone who you think might enjoy getting a regular nature fix, please pass this on and encourage them to sign up. You can read back issues here.
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Spot the birdie
Photo - Ian Richards
Whilst you are at home or out on a walk, keep an eye out for birds in your area and share your observations with the eBird NZ Bird Atlas – a national project to map the distribution of New Zealand birds.
By adding your backyard observations you’ll be helping grow our understanding of bird populations where people live. You can download the phone app which will use your location to give you a list of the birds you are most likely to encounter in your garden.
Also, the NZ Bird Atlas team are running live webinars that are well worth a listen.
If you need help identifying a bird, New Zealand Birds Online is the best place to start. This fantastic resource on New Zealand birds has detailed information on all 467 of New Zealand’s living, extinct, fossil, vagrant and introduced birds.
The database is searchable by name, conservation status, and geographical distribution. It even has a tool to help users identify birds based on where it was seen and what it looked like.
And if you want to know more about bird conservation in New Zealand, have a listen to one of our Nelson Nature Halo contractors Mike Bell talking about preserving native birds in The Chatham Islands on Radio New Zealand.
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Join the Nelson Nature big backyard bioblitz
If you want to stay connected to nature during the shutdown, have a go at the Nelson Nature Big Backyard Bioblitz on the web app iNaturalist.
We’ve set this project up to record what nature you can find in your backyard. A bioblitz is an exploration to find and record all the different types of living things in an area in a short period of time. It’s something people of all ages will enjoy and you can do it alone or with other members of your bubble in your garden.
You can read more about the bioblitz on Our.Nelson.
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What lies beneath
If your daily walk takes you along your local river or stream, check out what fish species you may have seen, or could see, on Council’s fish survey sightings map
If that inspires a love of all things fishy, you might be interested in the World Fish Migration Day webinar, to be held in NZ from 1-3 pm on 14 May. World Fish Migration Day has been postponed from 16 May 2020 to 24 October 2020, but the original date is being acknowledged with a 24-hour global webinar that will look at global swimways, fish species population status' and trends. Anyone anywhere who is, or wants to be, active and passionate about rivers, fish and nature is welcome to join in.
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An important message from our water quality monitoring team
Whilst this may be a great time to catch up on your interior decorating or DIY about the house, please don’t wash your brushes or pour any unused paint or other chemical substance down the stormwater drain. The drains discharge into our streams so any pollution can kill off wildlife and cause lasting damage.
Council is investigating recent pollution in Arapiki Stream
Find out how to safely clean brushes and painting equipment here
Feel free to pass this on to friends, neighbours, family or anyone you think might be pouring paint down the drain. If you notice any stream pollution call 0800 NOPOLLUTE or 0800 667 655 to let us know and we will investigate.
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