Discussions on importing hedgehogs, a nocturnal mammal, into New Zealand took place as early as 1868. The first recorded European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus occidentalis) were imported by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society in 1870. Apparently, this was to remind settlers of their homeland. Later, greater numbers were brought into New Zealand to control garden pests such […]

Every day we have been enjoying seeing and hearing tūī on our property and around us for over a month now. While they have visited the area before, it was more of a fleeting in the past. This is the longest they have been around home at any one time. Tūī are boisterous and very […]

Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited on a trip to the West Coast. On arriving at a small settlement we noticed a couple of keas, one on the chimney of a nearby house and its mate in a nearby beech tree. The two of them, both juvenile birds, one to two years old, […]

Over the past six weeks I have spent many evenings outside keeping an eye out for pekapeka, the long-tailed bats flitting like giant butterflies past the house and over the pond. After many evenings of observing bats close by, I mentioned it to Jono Moore, the conservation ecologist who does bat population monitoring for the […]

Writing about the impact of cats on wildlife in urban areas may not attract many friends. However we take it for granted to be able to hear the dawn chorus in urban environments, and if we want to enjoy bird song in future we need to seriously address the decline of birds in rural and […]