So Solid Energy nearly got a face full of custard … fired at them by environmental protestors at their AGM.  Solid Energy has been literally trying to put the fires out over recent months on many fronts and this latest embattlement is symptomatic of an industry that hasn’t got a future.  Problems with their safety […]

Recently, I got the chance to head down to the Denniston plateau – a piece of land that is currently being eyed up by coal-miners – to marvel at the ‘Persian carpet of biodiversity’ that the famed photographer Rod Morris talks so fondly about. I’ve been a macro-photographer for four years now, and as you […]

Many people think of hedgehogs as the cute, harmless creatures they see in British children’s story books. But in New Zealand, they’re known pests that are lethal to native wildlife. Last night, on Campbell Live, we met the founders of Hedgehog Rescue New Zealand. They take in sick or injured hedgehogs and rehabilitate them before returning them to the wild. The […]

Euphoria often takes a while to sink in.  Shock.  Disbelief.  They’re the emotions that come first. And so with the Mokihinui.  A river I know intimately, having been tossed into it from a raft at the whim of a wave. On Tuesday, Meridian Energy announced its withdrawal from plans to dam the Mokihinui, the mighty […]

Spotlighting the lives of the ‘small and insignificant’ has been wildlife photographer & filmmaker Rod Morris’s raison d’etre for the past few years.  And with potential mining operations threatening some of our most significant landscapes, such as the Denniston plateau, he’s been busy shuffling through the under-growth bringing to life the theatre of these vibrant, […]

Blogger: Forest & Bird’s South Island Field Officer, Debs Martin My first visit to the Stockton and Denniston Plateaux was in January 2006 when I went with a crew of Forest & Birders to support the commencement of the 3 year long occupation of Happy Valley to stop a planned extension of Solid Energy’s opencast […]

Blogger: Serial Bird of the Year campaigner and ex-Wellington zoo staffer, Stephanie Gray —– Part I of a two-part blog about native species in New Zealand zoos —- The hugely publicised arrival of an Emperor penguin to the Kapiti coast coupled with the rare opportunity to see this Antarctic native explains the throngs of people […]

Blogger: Top of the South Conservation Advocate, Debs Martin “You’ve got it lucky”, a West Coaster said in reference to the weather forecast.  And indeed we had.  This river receives 6 metres of rainfall a year –half of this usually falls in the month of October.   Labour Weekend – and we were set for […]