Home - Thames Coast Kiwi Care

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 has become a reality as Te Mātā locals are regularly hearing kiwi calling and there has been an increase in sightings over the past few years.

We now have around 250 kiwi in our recovery area!

This is an incredible achievement by our community, with essentially ten times the 2006 kiwi population now present locally.

Our Effort

Kiwi resident

Hectares protected

Volunteer hours per year

Trapping is crucial for protecting and enhancing the local kiwi population.

TCKC operates a comprehensive grid of traps targeting stoats, weasels, ferrets & feral cats over thousands of hectares. A team of committed volunteer trappers clear, service, and re-bait the traps 16 times per year.

Operation Nest Egg chicks

Traps deployed

Volunteer trappers

Project Area Trapping Data

This map represents real-time trapping data from our project area, including the count of total predators removed. An outer hexagon represents trap density for the area, and the the inner hexagon represents catches. The more red the colour, the higher the density / catches.

Roll your mouse over the hexagons for precise numbers.

Thanks to Groundtruth and Trap.NZ for this amazing resource!

Kiwi are prolific breeders given the chance. If New Zealand had its predator problem under control, we’d be knee deep in kiwi!

LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS

Thames Coast Kiwi Care

18 hours ago

Remember the post from 10 days ago about Neil John lifting Kiwi Ngāwari's eggs? Well, this cute little bundle of fluffy feathers is the result from one of them! Our first Save the Kiwi NZ Operation Nest Egg chick of the season was safely hatched at the Auckland Zoo and will head over to Rotoroa Island NZ in a few weeks' time to live in predator-free bliss for a few years before heading back to Te Mata.An awesome team effort to Help Wild Kiwi Thrive 💚 ... See MoreSee Less

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Thames Coast Kiwi Care

1 week ago

👉We are very excited to launch our new website & logo! 👈www.thamescoastkiwicare.orgThe logo has been prepared for Thames Coast Kiwi Care by Rick Fisher of Ngāti Tamaterā. A big thanks to Rick & his partner Nikky; they have offered the following description of the logo:"This logo represents Thames Coast Kiwi Care and all it stands for.The Kiwi is the central focus of this mahi which is to protect and enhance kiwi populations on the Thames Coast.The breaks in colour and depiction of sky, land and water (moana and awa) represent the kaitiaki roleThames Coast Kiwi Care have in protecting these birds. It also represents the role that Tangata Whenua have in caring for their whenua and those that reside on it.The three lines intertwined shows how the sky, land and water are joined and need each other to survive "Also a huge thanks to Simon Lear who has donated many hours creating our new website, it looks fantastic! 👌www.thamescoastkiwicare.org ... See MoreSee Less

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Thames Coast Kiwi Care

2 weeks ago

Wow, no wonder Neil has such a happy grin, look at the healthy eggs he’s just collected in the first lift of our Operation Nest Egg season this week. You may remember an earlier post where he was scratched and scraped and looked like he’d done battle to find the burrow of the transmitter-fitted bird but this time it was a breeze, relatively speaking, and Neil was chuffed sire Ngāwari’s nest was only a few strides from an easy track. The eggs are now safely incubating at Auckland Zoo and will be raised in a predator-free creche until the chicks are sturdy enough to fend off predators. TCKC decided there are benefits to carrying with the ONE with the programme (helping rebuild the population here and elsewhere) as we still have 3 sires with transmitters. Wouldn’t it be great if they all followed Ngāwari’s lead and make the pickup easy for Nat & Neil!Thanks to our ONE partners Save the Kiwi NZ, Auckland Zoo Rotoroa Island NZ & Ngāwari's sponsor John McGill from PlaceMakers Kopu Tukua te kiwi kia tupu, tukua te kiwi kia ora ... See MoreSee Less

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Thames Coast Kiwi Care

2 weeks ago

We never get tired of kiwi footprint photos! Thanks, Cathy for taking this pic yesterday whilst out checking your traps. 🙌This resident kiwi is always leaving lovely signs of its presence on Cathy's trapline😍 ✅Helping Wild Kiwi Thrive ... See MoreSee Less

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Thames Coast Kiwi Care

4 weeks ago

Do you want to join our superstar team of volunteer trappers and help win the fight for our birds? 🦅Believe it or not this photo, taken at our recent trapper's workshop is only half of our trapping team! 😮 {photo credit; trapper & photographer Rachel Holmes 🙏}TCKC is a standout community group that has bought the kiwi population back from the brink of extinction to an estimated 250 birds in the Te Mata/Tapu area today.Many of our team have been with us since 2006 which is a testament to how rewarding being part of this project is.We are looking for more trappers to help out with our busy spring/summer programme checking 800+ traps over 5000 haGet outdoors, exercise, be cool, and make a difference! We have traplines of various time commitment & fitness levels Leave a comment if you are interested! 👈or email coordinator@thamescoastkiwicare.orgTrappers, feel free to leave a comment on why you help TCKC 🙌Tukua te kiwi kia tupu, tukua te kiwi kia ora 💚 ... See MoreSee Less

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