May 2025 Newsletter
(Edition 103)
Upcoming Volunteer Trips
We are planning another Dreamweaver trip during June,
so if you are interested in your midweek group volunteering on the island,
please email Simon on volunteermotuihe@gmail.com
We have these volunteer trips coming up, all travelling by water taxi from Okahu Bay:
Saturday June 14th (endangered plants – full)
Sunday June 29th (general volunteer day)
Sunday July 13th (endangered plants)
Thursday July 17th (controlling invasive weeds, planting)
Individuals can book on any of these trips by registering here:
https://motuihetrust.my.site.com/volunteer/s/weekend-volunteer or email operations@motuihe.org.nz
As we have limited space on each trip, please only register when you are sure you are able to come along.
Volunteering Opportunities
The front bucket of our tractor is starting to rust through in places. If anyone is able to help by patch welding (either MIG or TIG), please get in touch. It would be even more helpful if you had access to a portable machine to bring along for a day.
Contact operations@motuihe.org.nz to find out more about any of these activities.
A big thanks to Paul, our DoC ranger, for clearing the tree so quickly, allowing visitors to enjoy this beautiful part of the island again.
We are trialling the new CAMS software to help control our invasive weeds on Motuihe.
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
You can register any sightings of large moth plant vines (in particular with pods) and
areas of woolly nightshade (tobacco weed) through iNaturalist.nz
- Download the iNaturalist app onto your phone and register (it’s free)
- You can then log any moth plant or woolly nightshade (it would be helpful if you include a photo that makes it easy to locate the rogue)
- The weed location and the data you record will be reported through our CAMS software
- Then we can send a weeding team to clear the offender(s)
Further details can be found on our website:
https://www.motuihe.org.nz/media/5452/photo-competition-2025-rev5.pdf
A monitoring programme is now being established to confirm that the population is becoming self-sustaining. On Saturday, our team set trakka tunnels and ink pads with a lure of Pics peanut butter. Our volunteers braved the rain on Sunday to collect these cards and analysed the results back in the comfort of the woolshed. While 4 of the cards contained Wētā prints, none of the footprints was large enough to be evidence of an adult wētāpunga. A separate lizard research team did spot a single adult male wētāpunga under one of the gecko refuges near Tieke track. This is definitely “wild” born because the last translocation to this area was in 2020, and the lifespan of wētāpunga is 3 years.
Wētāpunga footprints on Trakka cards (Julie Thomson)
The results of this survey will help the Zoo team and our Trustees decide the location(s) for our final top-up translocation of captive-bred wētāpunga to Motuihe later this year. Anyone who is interested in joining our wētāpunga survey team, please contact Julie at motu.julie@gmail.com for details of training and survey trips.
Female wētāpunga at 2020 release (Jackie Rutherford)
At times we found ourselves waist deep in destroyed moth plant vines, which was a great feeling! A productive day with many pods added to our rapidly filling pod pit.
Three new penguin homes were installed in a secluded bay at the southern end of the island. This is a perfect kororā habitat for some lucky birds, the nest boxes will allow them to come ashore and raise their chicks undisturbed by visitors to the island. You can learn more about the plight of kororā, and what the NZ Penguin Initiative are doing to help: https://www.nzpi.nz/. We are very grateful to the NZPI for the ongoing support they provide while we get our penguin monitoring programme up and running.
A grand effort from the 4 track clearers with 100m cleared – a tough but rewarding day at the outdoor office! Another 100m to go before the Snapper Bay to Billy Goat Coastal Track is completed.
Bird calls were heard from Billy Goat Point, as the fluttering shearwater team got their sound system working, the remotely accessible camera was also installed and activated. Initial signs are that our fluttering shearwaters have started to investigate nest boxes, getting ready for the upcoming breeding season.
It was wonderful to be putting kakabeak (Clianthus puniceus) into the ground after several months of dedicated work in the nursery – propagating, pricking out and potting on. It was also good to be able to plant them early in the season, giving the young plants plenty of time to settle into their homes before the next summer. The team planted kakabeak into 3 sites – on the cliff tops above the wharf road, on the southern side of Disaster Gully, and on the cliff edge west of the Woolshed.
Planting at Disaster Gully (Ajay Yadiki)
Planting at Wharf Bay (Ben Goodwin)
To top off a brilliant day, we are starting to see early flowering of our kakabeak plants in the nursery and at the South Beach site – hoping for a large number of seeds this year to boost our plantings next winter.
Flowering kakabeak at South Beach (John Laurence)
It was one of our classic combo days where everyone contributes, enjoys the sights and sounds of the island (it was even good enough for a number of Ocean Beach swimmers)
A total of 275 trees were planted between the top track and the Tieke Track.
The “fake” news was that the weed team bagged 2000 moth plant pods; the truth was 300-odd pods, which was still impressive.
And all returned home at the end of an amazing day, safe and sound. Timeless.
We continued to plant the same area as Simon’s trip from earlier in the week, and added another 100 plants to the ground to our growing tally for the winter. It was a very positive and uplifting experience for our visitors.
Meanwhile Colin, Simon and grandson Jaxon (super weeder in training) couldn’t help themselves collect mothplant pods from the same area, ensuring our new trees are free to grow and flourish in their new home.
The team also took the time to plant 94 trees, to leave a lasting reminder of their weekend on the island. A big thank you from Bioresearches to the Trust for letting us stay in the Woolshed – and a big thanks to Bella and the team for choosing Motuihe!
