Blogger: Forest & Bird’s North Island Conservation Manager, Mark Bellingham. As an island nation, we’re in a prime position to take advantage of one of the world’s fastest growing industries: aquaculture. Fish farming has been practised for eons: the Gunditjmara tribe in Australia practised eel husbandry back in 6000BC, the Chinese farmed carp in 2500BC […]
Blogger: North Island Conservation Advocate, Mark Bellingham Wanted: Hoon-free beach wanted for critically endangered bird (no = 36) to live in peace. Must be free of cats, dogs, 4WDs and hooligans. The longer you work in conservation, the more you realise the fickle nature of our moral judgements. One such species that has drawn the […]
Blogger: North Island Conservation Manager, Mark Bellingham The oft-quoted phrase of Captain Cook’s naturalist, that the sound of NZ ‘birdsong was deafening’ is one of those throwaway lines of a colourful diarist not a detail-orientated natural historian. Birders, like myself, would have given a royal sum for a little more information on the constitution of […]
Blogger: North Island Conservation Manager Mark Bellingham Pimping your pavement, guerrilla gardens, nature deficit disorder – everywhere you look there’s a new buzz word to describe city-goers desire to bring the wilds back into their cities. All cities evolve in different ways depending on aesthetic and economic imperatives but sadly across the board, wildlife has […]
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 […]
Blogger: Forest & Bird’s North Island Conservation Manager, Mark Bellingham Back in the day, I was what you’d call a rock man. I did my undergraduate degree in geology, and since then I have kept in contact with people in the industry. The industry is a tight-lipped one, but this Geological & Nuclear Science report […]
Blogger: North Island Conservation Manager Mark Bellingham Our much venerated 2,500 year old kauri tree – Tane Mahuta – and forest giants like him may recieve greater protection with plans afoot to make our 15th National Park in the heart of Waipoua Forest. Situated four hours from our largest city, a national park will place greater protection […]