Trapper Monthly, July 2025

​Dear Trappers and Fantail Friends
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Breaking News: At the Selwyn Awards Ceremony yesterday on the 2nd August the Fantail Trust became a finalist out of 14 nominations. It was a great honour to be up on stage and to receive the certificate on behalf of all of you. Thank you for your support. 

The Award!

​​July was a cracker of a month. We had a long spell of good weather and I could work on the newest trap line called Penny Lane. It is an off-shoot of Waterloo Line and if you look at the map there is about halfway down the walkway a kind of peninsula jutting out into the river. The name Penny Lane comes from the first three letters and the last two letters of peninsula!  All a bit of fun. You might think it is kind of Swiss fun. Never mind.

This peninsula is all overgrown with gorse. I think it was at one stage grassed over and used as a paddock by the farm just behind. Then it was let go and the gorse and broom took over. But now, to my big surprise, when I cut a path through this jungle there is vigorous growth of native bush and trees throughout the area. Cabbage trees, pittosporums, lancewoods and even kowhai. They are all pushing through the gorse canopy. In a few years it will all be native forest again! It is also full of native birds especially grey warblers. Quite exciting to see it all.

Now being a cracker of a month, we had 24 outings in July! That is a lot of checking traps and a lot of hours spent in the forest. The results were not so spectacular in one way but of course very spectacular in another! Less predators caught but more birds seen and heard. So, we had 20 possums, which is a bit more than average for July but far less from last year when we had 37 possums in July! Then we had 17 rats, a few more than last month but a lot less than the 49 we got in May. On top of it we had two stoats and one weasel. It brings the total of predator catches to well over 3500!

It is getting more common now that I come home with nothing caught at all. Which is of course what we want. The big highlight is that almost every day I see kereru, one, sometimes two or even more. A pair is hanging around the coalmine and the shop area. And the bellbirds are still feeding in the kowhai trees which are full of flowers and the fantails frolic about and the waxeyes are tweeting in the bushes and the grey warblers warble their lovely song throughout the forest.  
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As I outlined in last newsletter, we have three cameras operating in the forest to see what is happening and what might still need to be trapped. With footage and knowing what is around we can better target the predators. Like now I use sometimes dried rabbit meat and down by the coalmine we installed a ramp leading up the tree straight into an AT220 trap! See below. 

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Our installation near the coalmine. On the tree you see an AT220 with the ramp underneath. This is an automatic trap. What goes in falls out and the trap sets itself again.  In the middle is a DOC150 trap with an egg in it, plus peanut butter and in the lower right corner you see the camera recording all the action!

Talking about birds have a look at this one: It is a Pukunui!

It is the world’s rarest wading bird and only breeds down on Stewart Island. As of 2025 there are 105 birds left, up from 101 last year. At one stage they were even down to 62. Lots of traps and the efforts of may people helped to stabilise the population. DOC has a dedicated team of rangers looking after these birds.

The danger is ever present in the form of rats, stoats and sadly feral cats. The New Zealand Nature Fund has partnered with DOC and raised more than $400,000 for the campaign to safe this bird from extinction. A lot of money really, more than $4000.00 per bird!

It is great to know that a lot of people care about a little bird and are willing to contribute financially to the efforts of saving it from forever gone. I really believe that collectively we have a responsibility and a duty to prevent the disappearance of these birds.

On the other hand, I have seen in the news that Peter Jackson wants to bring the Moa back to life through genetic engineering. The proposal is to extract DNA from Moa bones containing well preserved DNA which can be extracted and manipulated and then grafted on to DNA of Emu to give birth to the Moa.

The company behind it, ‘Colossal Biosciences’ gives it a good chance of success and Peter Jackson has invested twenty three million dollars into the project. I have already contacted Peter and asked that the Fantail Trust will get the first two birds to be released in the Rakaia Gorge! By the time the birds are born the Rakaia Gorge will be predator free and the Moa will be safe! Really what a waste of money!
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Some other exciting news this week is that I have rediscovered deep in the bush a Horopito or peppertree. Maori used it to alleviate toothache and skin infections, and it is no wonder as the plant has strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The early settlers used it as a pain killer and a cure for stomach aches. Chefs use it nowadays to give dishes a distinctive New Zealand twist and flavour. There  are also many companies selling horopito sauces, oils and even teas.

But to top it all I have found another plant down on the new Penny Lane. When I was cutting my way through the bush I came across some golden jelly type thing on a tree branch. At first I thought it might be a worm or snail or something like that. It was very unusual and prompted me to take a picture and put it on iNaturalist. A great website for anything flora or fauna wise. Just put a picture of it onto iNaturalist and somebody will in a short while tell you what it is.
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So, it turns out that my yellow jelly thing is a fungus ‘Tremella mesenterica’! In common language it is called ‘Witches Butter’! It has its uses as it is not poisonous. The Chinese put it into soups such as an immunomodulating cooling soup with lotus seeds or lily bulbs as the rubbery and gelatinous consistency of the mushroom gives texture to these soups.[1]

But far more interesting than this culinary usage is the origin of the name ‘Witches’ Butter’. I was really intrigued and found out an unlikely story. It is in a book from 1814 titled and written by Mr. George Sinclair, the ‘Late Professor of Philosophy in the College of Glasgow’:

‘Satan’s Invisible World Discovered; or a choice collection of modern relations, proving evidently, against the atheist of this present age that there are devils, spirits, witches, and apparitions, from authentic Records, and Attestations of Witnesses of undoubted veracity’. This is what he wrote:
“They confessed also, that the devil gives them a beast, about the shape and bigness of a cat, which they call a carrier ; and he gives them a bird, too, as big as a raven, but white : And these creatures they can send any where and wherever they come, they take away all sorts of victuals they can get, as butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all sorts of seeds, whatever they can find, and carry it to the witches. What the bird brings, they may keep for themselves : but what the carrier brings, they must reserve for the devil, and that is brought to Blockula, where he gives them of it as much as he thinks fit. —They added, that the carriers filled themselves so full oftentimes, that they are forced to spew by the way, which spewing is found in several gardens, where colworts grow, and not far from the houses of the witches. It is of a yellow colour like gold, and is called the butter of the witches”. [1]
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The records and attestations he refers to come from a trial of witches of the 17th century in Sweden. Astonishing really that even in the 19th century this believe in witches was still alive and believed. Anyway, to satisfy your curiosity below is the picture I took of the Witches Butter.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremella_mesenterica

[1]  https://wellcomecollection.org

Witches Butter below:

Now on a lighter side this month also, on the 22nd July was the Day of the Ratcatcher. Not kidding. You must have heard of the story of the Pied Piper. It dates from the Middle Ages. The town of Hemelin in Germany had a problem with rats. The mayor put out a prize of 1000 guilders for anybody to claim, if they could get rid of the rats. That was in 1284.

The piper accepted and used his magical flute to lure all the rats into the nearby river where they all drowned. But the mayor reneged on his promise and now the piper played the pipe and lured all the children away from the town.  Be that as it may, but I wish I had a flute like that.  
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TrapNZ, the app where we record all our catches, asked for stories on catching rats from all organisations such as the Fantail Trust to celebrate the Day of the Ratcatcher and offered as a prize one of their hats with the TrapNZ logo on it. Naturally I entered a story and submitted all the names of our volunteers. My story came first and your names went into a draw and Jon Whitty won the prize! Congratulations Jon!  (TrapNZ did not renege on the promise) Below some pictures.
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Thank you all again for caring and helping to get those Moa back!
Robbie and Christine