Last year was our inaugural Bogan Bingo fundraiser. A swell time was had by all and together, the community raised a non-trivial amount to support local kiwi and the precious habitat.
Let’s go again for 2025 and have a laugh to blow out the winter doldrums!
There will be prizes, auctions, a raffle, a bar, complimentary supper and a few surprises including a DJ set.
On the Thames Coast, around 20 years ago, vigilant locals knew that the local kiwi population was on the verge of collapse. Thames Coast Kiwi Care was formed in 2006 with the mission: “To protect and enhance kiwi populations on the Thames Coast”.
We wanted to ‘hear kiwi calling from backyards again’. This dream has become reality as Te Mātā and Tapu locals are reporting a significant increase in kiwi foot prints, calls and also sightings over the past few years.
We now have around 350 kiwi in our recovery area!
This is an incredible achievement by our community, with essentially ten times the 2006 kiwi population now present locally.
We’re thrilled to share a short trail camera compilation from the burrow of sires Taringamā and his family. It captures adorable moments from their lives but also worrying has some unwanted cameo appearances from you know who.
This hexmap represents real-time trapping data from our project area. The more red the colour, the higher the number of catches or density of traps.
You can mouse-over the hexagons for breakdowns on species catches. You can also use the top left red menu buttons to display subsets of data: by project, species or trap.
Massive thanks to the smart people at Groundtruth and Trap.NZ for this amazing resource!
Our scope has expanded from solely protecting kiwi to a “whole of habitat” approach. Our updated mission is:
To work with our community to restore the habitat so kiwi and other native species thrive.
Thanks to substantial funding provided by the Waikato Regional Council’s Natural Heritage Fund we have also been targeting rats and possums in the project area since 2023. These self-setting AT220 traps work continuously each night, extending the existing DOC200 trap lines that focus primarily on mustelid control and providing a buffer zone to public conservation land. Trap lines are checked and maintained each month by our Rat and Possum Project Leader, and also our dedicated team of volunteer trappers that undertake their fortnightly DOC200 checks.
The trap design and the servicing of the AT220 traps is leading to great successes. In early 2025 we have approximately 200 traps working and almost 4000 possums have been removed protecting our native flora and fauna. In the next year we plan to set another 90 self-setting traps
Running alongside the active pest trapping are bird surveys, to help gain an understanding of the existing biodiversity of NZ birds in our project area. We hope to collect data on how the control of rats and possums can help bring about an increase in both bird numbers and also the range of bird species recorded in the project area.
In early 2025 we installed three listening devices that all confirmed the presence of our precious pekapeka tou roa, native long tailed bats. They have the highest threat ranking of Nationally Critical and effective predator control is essential to their survival as well.
This is a new focus for us to raise awareness and add additional protection for New Zealand’s only native land mammal that is critically endangered.
Watch this space!
Want to know more about these fascinating creatures? Visit the great New Zealand Geographic for a brilliant article: ‘Bat Signals’ by Jonathan Carson. Photographed by Rob Suisted.
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Photos from Moehau Environment Group's post
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Photos from Predator Free Hauraki Coromandel Community Trust's post
Four kiwi are home! 💚💚💚💚
Last week, Save the Kiwi NZ undertook a kiwi muster on Rotoroa and Rangitoto Islands.
Over the weekend, four healthy kiwi — three females and one male — returned to the Thames Coast Kiwi Care project area in Te Mātā.
Two of these kiwi originated from Te Mātā, while the others came from our kiwi conservation neighbours — one from Kapowai (kapowaikiwigroup.co.nz) and one from Project Kiwi Trust on the Eastern Coromandel. It’s a wonderful example of how collective efforts across the peninsula are helping kiwi thrive.
The muster was cut short due to this week’s weather, but it will be rescheduled for 2026. We can’t wait!
We’re incredibly grateful to Save the Kiwi for their ongoing partnership and support, and to Rotoroa Island NZ, who have provided a predator-free environment for Operation Nest Egg kiwi to thrive. Receiving kiwi back into our project area is a huge milestone for us — it’s what all the predator control, monitoring, and community effort is ultimately about.
There are many people involved in an island muster! Thanks to Save the Kiwi NZ — including Paula Judd, the island team, boat skipper Aaron Power, kiwi handler Sara Smerdon, and all the volunteer kiwi couriers supported by Sheena Beaton, our Thames Coast Kiwi Care coordinator.
It was a pleasure to have Mita and Santana from Ngāti Tamaterā attend the release — a moving and beautiful moment to hear the song of tūī and pīwakawaka alongside karakia blessing the kiwi home.
It was wonderful to be able to invite guests to the releases, including Tapu Camp owner Anne Reid and her whānau, and some TCKC trappers. Thanks also to landowners John and Rosemary Roper for their continued support of TCKC and for access through their property.
A massive thanks to all TCKC trappers for upholding the relentless predator control that keeps kiwi safe, and to Rachel Holmes for taking beautiful photos.
Tukua te kiwi kia tupu, tukua te kiwi kia ora.
Now DOC are reviewing their Predator Free 2050 Strategy 2050 and would like feedback on what you think about the proposed goals, the target predator species for the next five years (2025-2030), and the support you need to keep up your conservation work.
Submissions close at 5pm 30 June 2025.
For more information, click the link below
www.doc.govt.nz/.../predator-free-2050-strategy.../
Your weekly fix of Hyundai Country Calendar is coming up! We're on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ at 7pm with our latest show about Sam The Trap Man and his team who are helping farmers control predators while also revitalising the native whio population inland from Gisborne. See you soon!
