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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.

Wonderful Kiwi Footage!

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.

Our Effort
350
Kiwi resident (approx)
5000
Hectares protected
5325
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.

1000
Traps deployed
60
Volunteer trappers
Project Area Trapping Data

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!

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

Rat and Possum Expansion Project

We are in the second year of this project, made possible by the funding provided by the Waikato Regional Council’s Natural Heritage Fund. The project has been designed around targeting rats and possums in the project area, to support existing DOC200 trap lines that focus primarily around mustelid control, whilst providing a buffer to Public Conservation Land. In the past 18 months, we have installed around 150 AT220 self-setting rat and possum traps along both existing, and newly created trap lines in the TCKC project area spanning over 20km. Trap lines are checked and maintained on a monthly basis by both our Rat and Possum Project Leader, and also our dedicated team of volunteer trappers that undertake their fortnightly DOC200 checks.

The care and effort that goes into maintaining and servicing the AT220 traps is leading to great successes. As of April 2024, the Expansion Project has recorded that 1605 rats and 1575 possums have been removed. That is almost 3200 pests removed that will ultimately aid in protecting our native flora to the benefit of native bird species.

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. Ultimately we hope to collect data on how the control of rats and possums can help bring about an increase in both bird numbers but also the range of bird species recorded in the project area.

Our next step is the further installation of an additional 50 AT220 traps, with their positioning within the TCKC project still in the planning stage.

AT220 NZ AutoTraps
AT220 photo courtesy NZ AutoTraps

LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS

🎉This year is TCKC's 20th year of protecting kiwi!🎉Over that time our incredible team of volunteer trappers, some of who have been checking traplines for the entire 20 years, 🤯 have removed 29,000 predators from our 5000ha project area!Last year alone, we trapped over 7,500 critters to protect kiwi & their forest habitat. Our volunteer trappers, committee & community outreach gave an incredible 4,684 hours to the project in 2024 - which equates to over 12 hours PER DAY!If you would like to support this forever project, a small regular donation is gold to us! Or, of course, we appreciate one-off gifts of any amount. www.thamescoastkiwicare.org/donate-cc/Please get in touch if you'd like to get involved.Community working together to Help Wild Kiwi Thrive 💚 ... See MoreSee Less
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Hooray! 🥳 We can now resume the mussel buoy scheme where TCKC receives $$ for salvaged buoys thanks to another generous Te Mātā local offering to store them as a pick-up point. We are very grateful that people can now drop clean buoys (scrape the mussels off & dispose of the ropes) at 888 Thames Coast Road, directly opposite the driftwood photo frame. The property owner didn't want to be photographed but if you're lucky you'll get to say gidday, he is a lovely man! Before they moved away, the Kuypers just a few doors down, used to store the buoys for TCKC and over a few years we made a whopping 10K from the scheme that went towards protecting local Kiwi. So if you spot a buoy on the Coast and have the means to grab it and drop it off in Te Mātā we will be very grateful to receive the $15 per buoy.Community working together to Help Wild Kiwi Thrive 💚 ... See MoreSee Less
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🦇Today we put out some Pekapeka tou-roa / long-tailed bat monitors to see if we have some in our project area.🦇Previous bat monitoring found bats in Tapu & Waikawau so we hope they're still around. The acoustic recorders will stay out for a couple of weeks and then we'll move them to monitor other areasYou can learn more about these "nationally critical' classed cuties here: www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/bats-pekapeka/ ... See MoreSee Less
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👉🏽FREE KIWI AVOIDANCE TRAINING FOR LOCAL DOGS👈🏽 🐕Anniversary Weekend - Saturday 25th January 🐕Tapu/Te Mātā dogs only please 🐕Remember dogs need refresher training! 🐕Training only takes 10-15 minutes per dog 🐕Please help us protect kiwi by getting your dog trained👉🏽Email: avertmydog@projectkiwi.org.nz ... See MoreSee Less
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❗️❗️Last chance to book FREE Kiwi Aversion Training this weekend ❗️❗️A reminder for Tapu / Te Mātā dog owners to please book your dog/s in for first-time or refresher training. Training only takes around 10-15 minutes per dog and combined with keeping dogs in sight and under control at all times, could save a kiwi from serious injury or death. Helping Wild Kiwi Thrive✅👉🏽FREE KIWI AVOIDANCE TRAINING FOR LOCAL DOGS👈🏽 🐕Anniversary Weekend - Saturday 25th January 🐕Tapu/Te Mātā dogs only please 🐕Remember dogs need refresher training! 🐕Training only takes 10-15 minutes per dog 🐕Please help us protect kiwi by getting your dog trained👉🏽Email: avertmydog@projectkiwi.org.nz ... See MoreSee Less
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Our neighbours at Mahakirau Forest Sanctuary go the extra mile to dissect the stomach contents of the predators they trap.Their findings show the importance of predator control...and highlights just how many killing machines are out there. ... See MoreSee Less
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Photo wall
Beautiful juvenile kiwi
TCKC Coordinator Sheena Beaton demonstrates predator traps
Scanning for kiwi transponders
Kiwi chick Ngawari Tiwhiri
Sheena Beaton and Neil John, Ollie the kiwi's release 2021
Early trap line deployment, 2006.
Eggs mustered as part of Operation Nest Egg
Trailcam photo of wild kiwi, Te Mata.
Bob Carr and Robert Mannes, trapline working bee
Coordinator Sheena Beaton in kiwi costume
TCKC Fundraiser 2017
Kiwi chick weighed, Operation Nest Egg, 2020.
WIld kiwi print in the mud
Coordinator Sheena Beaton gives a presentation to local community
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