​​Long time no tweet! But things have been happening. The fantails are all over the place. so are the bellbirds, the grey warblers, the waxeyes, kereru and even a few tomtits are about. And there will shortly be many more once the breeding season starts in a few weeks. 

Yes, we have been eliminating predators in large numbers and the reason for this tweet is that we have reached a magic number of 1000 possums. Not sure why it is magic, but it sure has got to make a difference. No more nest raiding by possums, no more stealing the kowhai flowers and no more clearing the forest floor of seedlings. Poor possies. 

Then we have had loads of rats. In fact, almost 1500 rats have gone into our traps and have been eliminated for the benefit of the birds and for a whole lot of other creatures living down there in the forest. A better chance for the birds to survive, a better chance for the birds to breed and a better chance for the birds to tweet! Lucky birdies!

And then we have removed stoats, weasels and hedgehogs and others, all adding up to nearly 3000 predators gone. How ever anything survived in the bush is amazing. But everything is now slowly coming back. The next breeding season is our third giving hope to a real improvement in birdsong. The forest itself is recovering as well. New seedlings sprouting all over regenerating the plant life. 

It started all so slow with a few traps just to see what would happen and then more traps and more traps and now there are over 500 traps installed and ready to pounce. They need looking after, checking, re-setting, cleaning, re-luring. It is a big job and for that purpose, to make it easier, the traps are along traplines with names like Piccadilly, Waterloo or Circle Line. Do not ask me why I chose the London Tube to name these lines. Maybe it is because when I enter the forest it is a bit like going underground. If you like to see the whole network go to www.trap.nz and request to become a member or send me an email.

To make it even more interesting for the walkers we will soon have a visitors book down on the walkway near the coal mine and the fantail shop will soon open too. It is a self-service shop where painted stones will be sold, painted by the local school plus other kind of fantail memorabilia. All funds going to the trust. I let you know when it is all open. 

I have to thank you again for supporting the trust with donations. And especially I would like to mention a few volunteers who help with trapping: Marcel and Mel, Jon and Sue, Paul and Jo, sometimes Lindsay and Anthony too. So again a big thank you from us, Christine and Robbie of The Fantail Trust and from the fantails too. Below a picture from a recent trapping outing with some children on an environmental educational walk.

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​What a day! It was trapping with Jon and Sue, (Dr. Who and Sue) and their grandchildren. They wanted to come a week ago but Sue got sick and they could not come. They would have stayed the night and we would have had two days of trapping. So they came today before they go back to Ireland. The kids. They have been here two years ago and had great fun.
 
I had a big day planned for them. Deployment of seven new traps and then checking the new traps I already had out there. I did not go out to check them deliberately because then better chance to get something. Anyway, I had four traps in my pack and each kid had a trap as well. So off we go about 10.30. Just walk from here as it is not too far to get to Northern Line and the new Mornington Crescent.
 
The three traps of the kids were going to go into the trees just along the track running along the golf course but on the other side. They were all traps I recovered from down Waterloo Line. They had never done much so thought better put them somewhere else. The fist trap we just put on a tree not far from the third house down from us. I made the children write their name into the trap. A souvenir for me. Each time I open one I see their name on it. Then I said if they are at home and go into my website they can see how many possums they caught.
 
So, we go on and put the other two further down. You can see them on the map with their name: trap Ruadhri, trap Aoife, trap Meabh. All strange Irish names. But nice. We get to the first trap and nothing in it. Funny there is always possum poo around there and still I have caught no possum there. From there we make way along Northern Line and Ruadhri puts some lure onto all the traps which have nothing. He is very keen to help.
 
Then we get to Mornington Crescent, and I have great hopes for a possum. The first trap T17 has nothing. Again, there is possum poo around but no catch. Next trap is FT1 on a tree and it has nothing. Then it is T35. Nothing. The kids run along the fence to T50 nothing, but they missed a blue marker indicating trap AT2. I call them back and make Ruadhri go over fence to check. He goes down and calls back: possum! Great relieve for me and I ask him can you bring it up and then we throw it into the bush. After some reluctance he picks it up and we see that it is two possums. A baby as well. Bonus point. Then he swings it and it flies into the fence. He runs after it and picks it up again and then throws it over and into undergrowth. Good. So much fun.
 
We make our way around the corner to T71 and again nothing, then T31 nothing. Then we get to blue marker showing site of AT1 just over the fence and down the slope in the bush. Again, I tell Ruadhri to go down and his sister follows him as well. They disappear for a while and then shout out: three possums. I can hardly believe it and go down myself. And there indeed under the trap are three possums. So, sister takes one up and I take one up and Ruadhri takes one. And then one by one we swing them over the fence and into the bush. Poor things.
 
The children are getting excited now and we get to T99 which is empty, then to T100 again empty and T101 also empty. Ruadhri runs ahead to trap T102 and he calls out more possums! I get there and we shake possum out of trap and big disaster I thought because there was also a baby, but it was still alive! I thought I am going to traumatise these kids as they all come up to see. I say well nothing we can do but throw it over into the bush. It will die eventually. Not sure what they thought but we all did. I just said sorry to the possum, and they agreed.
 
Then we went further along fence and passed trap T103 which is empty, but the kids already seen trap T104 and they run really fast and again really excited call out: possum! Ruadhri goes over the fence, and we prise the possum from the trap and this one too had a baby but dead. So not so much a problem. Same procedure, Ruadhri takes possum and throws it into bush, and I say sorry.
 
That was the end of the line but from there we deployed four more traps along the fence and now trap T108 is the last one. From there slow walk back home and the children quite exhausted. Mind you so am I. It was more than three hours! But I still had to do the cooking for dinner. I promised them a chicken pie. They almost fell asleep on the table especially Meabh, the youngest one. Now they are gone and I write report. Have you counted. It is nine possies!