Tuesday 26th June to Monday 2nd July – A week of birds and trees

Tuesday 26^th June

After the late finish to our long weekend away I just had time to sort out some washing and get to the SPCA for my afternoon shift. Only working four hours a week it is difficult to make much progress or learn many new skills, but today I took my first welfare call having been shown how to log it and send it out to the relevant Inspectors.  I hope I can remember how to do it again in a week’s time.

Wednesday 27^th June – Hunua ranges

Back to Piggotts camp ground as our base and the mammoth task of collecting all of the old bait from all of the tracks.  There is a very friendly Tom Tit that always visits us. He is also very vain, using the wing mirrors on people’s cars to check himself out! But, he is very pretty.

Our friendly Piggotts Tom-tit

Friday 29^th June – Bird Rescue.

I still enjoy my weekly trip here. There are bound to be interesting birds to look after and I keep being greeted by the local kingfishers before I even get through the door.

Saturday 30^th June – Tree planting at Clevedon Scenic reserve

Fresh plants next to the stream in the reserve

I had been sent numerous emails about planting sessions where locals are encouraged to go along and assist the Council and wardens at reserves, but I keep being deterred by the distance the reserves are away and by bad weather. But today’s session was not only a lot closer than usual, it was also an afternoon session as apposed to an early morning start. That, and the great weather forecast for today, sealed the deal for me!

I even made the day's Facebook update having been snapped asking for planting advice!

Initially, only about eight of us turned up for the official start time of 1pm and we were given a quick demonstration of planting practise before we were left to get cracking. However, in no time at all, people of all ages were streaming in to join us and within 45 minutes we had run out of shrubs to plant. Apparently, we had planted 700 plants in this time!  Easy… and there was a barbecue put on for us volunteers as extra bribery.

I didn’t feel that I’d had as much of a workout as I’d hoped for the day AND I had told Simon that I’d be out until about 4pm, to allow him some quality time with his beloved PlayStation, so I didn’t want to ruin that by heading back early. Instead, I opted to do the Clevedon loop walk, which turned out to be almost as strenuous as my venture up Mount William a couple of weeks ago. But at least I managed to stay on my feet this time. I could see for miles in every direction from the view point at the summit:  

That's mist over the Coromandel Ranges in the dstance...

A mighty Kauri tree.. and below, Tui song

The woodland was stunning (above), with some mighty examples of native Kauri trees (right) and plenty of bird song for me to listen to. 

They have clearly been investing a lot of money here on improving the tracks and boardwalks to make exploring the area easier for visitors (left).

We headed to the Kellas’s for the evening to keep Huihana company whilst Steve went out possum-hunting with some friends. We played darts late into the night when the hunters returned.

Monday 2^nd July – Bird Rescue

A quick turnaround back to bird rescue after only a couple of days. A couple of interesting patients at the moment – this pair of Plover chicks (right). As well as the regulars who live here, like Zambesi the Rainbow Lorikeet who is always entertaining at break time.