Blogger: Forest & Bird’s Web Manager, Mandy Herrick We touched down on the moon in 1969. We travelled 11kms to the sea-floor in 1960. We peered into living cells and discovered DNA in 1951. Moon-travel, deep-sea exploration, cell-research, we’ve done it all, and yet, we still know very little about the unexplored communities that live […]

Guest blogger: Forest & Bird’s conservation advocate Quentin Duthie Forest & Bird is concerned about a proposed “Game Animal Council” that would take over management of four of the largest and most tasty pest animals in New Zealand – deer, pigs, thar and chamois.  We think it’s essential that management of these pest animals and […]

Blogger: Forest & Bird’s South Island Regional Officer, Debs Martin. Back in the mid 2000s, after hearing rumours of a possible hydro-scheme, I was assigned the (tough!) task of visiting the Mokihinui River.  A few months later, I was set adrift on a raft, and found myself thundering over and around gigantic boulders tossed into […]

Bloggers: Poet laureate (2003- 2005), fly-fisherman and mountaineer, Brian Turner, and Forest & Bird’s Conservation Advocate Nic Vallance.   On Sunday, concerned Cantabrians including some very passionate entertainers, artists, poets and speakers will be descending on Cathedral Square to add their voice to the growing discontent over the management and protection of Canterbury’s rivers. Many […]

Blogger: Web Manager for Forest & Bird, Mandy Herrick Our admiral butterflies have had a hard-time of late. In an ongoing operation to eliminate any plant that is prickly, or stingy we’ve pretty much obliterated their youngin’s only food source: nettles.  Slowly, over the years, our admiral’s nettle-filled grazing ground has been replaced with a vista of grass, […]

Blogger: Forest & Bird’s Web Manager, Mandy Herrick In the weekend, over 80 people braved the wild weather to welcome two endangered kokako into their new 2000 hectare home in the Waitakere ranges. Six kokako were released into the park late last year, so this release will help boost numbers to create a self-sustaining population. This release is part of a broader […]

Blogger: Forest & Bird conservation advocate Quentin Duthie There’s an old saying that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. It’s sort of true with mining in Schedule 4 lands too. To stretch the metaphor to the case of Schedule 4 mining, getting the ‘bird’ buried under the bush will mean […]

Blogger: Forest & Bird’s Marine Conservation Advocate, Kirstie Knowles. Our Ministry of Fisheries has just received possibly the largest wake-up call to fish more sustainably – care of the world’s largest shipping company – Maersk. The company announced yesterday* it is refusing to transport Orange roughy, Antarctic toothfish, or any of our shark species, because it believes […]

Blogger: North Island Conservation Manager, Mark Bellingham. Over the past 60 years, the barn owl (tyto alba) has been spotted on many occasions in New Zealand from Westland (1948) to Auckland (1985), but it’s never gained a good enough foothold to be classed as a native (i.e breeding) bird. And no wonder. Any dishevelled bird that arrives […]