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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Helping save kiwi, one world-class gin at a time!
🥇 Big cheers to our friends at Awildian Gin, whose Awildian Mānuka Gin just took out WORLD’S BEST Matured Gin at the World Drinks Awards in London! With its smoky Coromandel Mānuka wood and honey flavours, it’s no surprise this stunning drop wowed the judges.
This is their second world title – an incredible achievement!
But it’s not just their gin that’s world-class — their values are too.
Awildian has been supporting Thames Coast Kiwi Care for a few years now as part of their commitment to conservation through 1% for the Planet. That means 1% of their total revenue (yep, revenue – not just profit!) goes to environmental groups like ours.💚
We’re super grateful for their support.
Ngā mihi nui, Awildian – your success is well-deserved, and your generosity means the world to us.
#WorldsBestGin #AwildianGin #SupportLocal #KiwiCare #1PercentForThePlanet #CoromandelProud #ThamesCoastKiwiCare
A tip from the trapline!
TCKC volunteer trapper Shane and his son recently went to hear Sam The Trap Man speak and learned something new — rats are a key part of a stoats diet.
So next time they were out trapping for TCKC, they left a freshly caught rat as bait... and guess what? Next check, they’d caught a stoat — in a spot where they’d never trapped one before!
Stoats are tough to catch and a big problem for our native wildlife — so we’re stoked this trick worked!
Huge thanks to all our trappers out there doing the mahi — you’re making a real difference for our native species. 💚💚💚
www.thamescoastkiwicare.org
#VolunteerWeek2025
Photos from Coromind's post
Best Volunteer Week gift ever!
This week, after 20 years of dedicated trapping for TCKC, Bob Carr met not one—but two kiwi on his driveway in Te Mātā!
It’s a powerful reminder of what long-term, grassroots conservation can achieve. Massive shout out to Bob, and to all our incredible volunteers whose hard mahi is helping kiwi and other native taonga thrive again.
Ngā mihi nui – our volunteers rock!
www.thamescoastkiwicare.org
#thamescoastkiwicare #VolunteerWeek2025
We're all set for our fourth regionwide kiwi survey, which kicks off this Friday. Over the weekend volunteers will be stationed at sites across the Coromandel counting the number of kiwi calls they hear each night. This week our team are putting the final automated acoustic recorders in place. These bush microphones are placed in more remote sites that are difficult for human listeners to access.
Decades of sustained predator control on the Coromandel has led to kiwi expanding their range here. As young juvenile birds venture out to find new territory, they look for a safe place to settle and breed. This survey seeks to grow our understanding of where kiwi live on the Peninsula.
Can you hear kiwi in your neck of the woods? We'd love to know!
#kiwi #savethekiwi #predatorfreenz #coromandel #communityconservation #citizenscience
Central Waikato Predator Free Hub are hosting this online event tomorrow night.
Join us for an evening webinar from the comfort of your home and learn more about the Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus).
You'll learn about what makes this amazing bird so special, hear about monitoring, the Great Matuku Muster, and what to consider if you’re trapping in wetland habitats.
The Love Bittern Project is dedicated to community-led conservation of the Australasian Bittern and its wetland habitat.
Wendy works tirelessly helping communities to raise awareness, conduct research and implement conservation strategies to ensure the survival of this species.
Please register to receive the webinar link:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScfYozfFEPtEtR6_TcG23XyvnoRCJckSn9GFOqT9ODo__UKFw/viewform?usp=h...
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Bogan Bingo is BACK! 🎸💥
Get ready for a night of chaos, laughs, and full-throttle fun — all in support of protecting our local kiwi 💚
🗓 Saturday 2 August
📍 Thames Civic Centre
⏰ Doors open 6:30 PM | Bingo kicks off 7:15 PM
🎧 DJ Martin Marshall on the decks from 6:30 to get the party rolling
🎤 MC Greg Cato from Activate Events NZ
🎱 Bingo is $5 per play
🍷 Cash bar
🔥 Classic bingo with a cheeky bogan twist — packed with prizes, auctions, 🧀 supper, and 😂 heaps of laughs.
🚗💨 Leave the V8 at home, but rock up in your bogan best:
Think denim, leather, jandals, and that old AC/DC tee 🎸🧔👖
(Costumes optional, but prizes are up for grabs! 🏆)
🎟️ Tickets: $25 each, or just $20 per person for table bookings of 6 or 8.
👉 Go to our website to book, www.thamescoastkiwicare.org/tickets/
Tag your crew and get ready to yell “BINGO!” like a true legend
#BoganBingo #ThamesCoastKiwiCare
