 Dear Trappers and Fantail Friends August is usually the best months for possums. It did not disappoint. While not as many as in past years it was nevertheless 21 possums compared to 31 last year. It was also 20 rats and one weasel. The rats were due maybe because we re-furbished all D traps along Piccadilly Line. There was a spite of catches after that. Now it has all gone quiet along that line. It seems to be very low in predators although one camera still picked up a possum. The hunt is on. By the way we also had 20 outings between Marcel, Jon&Sue, Paul&Jo and myself. Which is a fair good number. So thank you all very much. The title trapper of the month has to go to Marcel for his discovery of a weta. Yes he has seen a weta and taken a picture! This one is apparently of the genus Pleioplectron, a cave weta. There are ten species endemic to New Zealand and all but one live in the South Island and are fairly common. Not in the Rakaia Gorge I think because I have never noticed one and the Weta Condo down by the coalmine still has no resident weta in it. They live in darker places of the forest, in caves and under rotting vegetation. All are flightless with long antennae and legs and are nocturnal. (maybe that is why I have never seen one) Marcel must have disturbed this one in its sleep so it is a very lucking sighting. It is very exciting to know that there are wetas in the forest and that not all of them have been eaten by the possums and rats. I think we call it Pleioplectron Marcelinus! The other discovery made down in the bush was discovered on camera. I could hardly believe it, but you can judge for yourself.
 As you can see right by the fantail shop which incidentally has been doing a roaring trade and we sold a record number of tokens and souvenirs. Unfortunately, some people from overseas find it hard to pay online and I have now added a Wise account number to make it easier. A number of postcards have also been put into the mail box which always puts a smile on my dial. The oddest and remotest post box in New Zealand for sure! But it also impressed one of the walkers and he sent us this email: Just a quick email to say how impressed I was to see the amazing work that you guys are doing in the Rakaia Gorge, with both the trapping work, explanatory artwork, and of course the brilliant Fantail Shop! This was my first time ever walking in this area, and it was brilliant to see the level of trapping occurring hereand, more importantly, hearing the birdlife. It was a very different experience to the normally silent bush that unfortunately we have all become used to. And the idea behind the Fantail shop is amazing - its so nice to see that you have placed such a level of trust in people that they will take merchandise from the shelves and pay you later. Its reminiscent of a time when everyone trusted each other, and so I truly hope that most people who partake in this do indeed support your work. I have deposited the $15 for the lovely fly broach into your account, which in itself was a very cheap price to pay for something so anatomically correct - I could even see the halteres behind the main set of wings!! I was also happy to donate some more money to help you guys out on this brilliant initiative - it was a highlight of my weekend in the area. All the best for your future work. Is that not a nice email and such an incentive to continue the work. Not that I have any thoughts of stopping the project. It is always such a pleasure to walk in the forest, see the plant growth and hear the birds. Plenty of bellbirds, grey warblers, silvereyes and fantails and again, as I said before, quite a number of kereru.  Most of these birds feed now in the kowhai trees. The whole forest is yellow with the blooms many of which fall onto the path giving away the locations of the trees. It is such a distinctive and beautiful flower used as an emblem on New Zealand coins, stamps and banknotes and has even featured on Megan Markle’s wedding veil! So if you want to see a profusion of kowhai flowers you should go for a walk down in the Rakaia Gorge these next two weeks. They seem to flower over a long period of time. The first ones I usually see in early June, the 5th June this year, and they will continue to flower until the end of October providing nectar for almost half a year! For the Maori the first flowers were a sign of spring and that it was time to plant kumara. But obviously this would not work with our kowhai.  Maori also used the kowhai flowers to produce a yellow dye. The tree itself was a source for remedies of a lot of ailments having strong antiseptic properties. They made an infusion of tree bark and used it to treat skin diseases, cuts and bruises and even broken bones were bathed in ‘wai kowhai’. Two little stories will illuminate the lore and fascination with the kowhai: ‘A young Maori semi-god, a Tohunga, was sitting under a bare kowhai tree with a beautiful young maiden and he asked her to marry him. But she resisted saying that she would only marry a man who could perform a miracle. The Maori Tohunga summoned all his magical power projecting it onto the kowhai tree which burst out into a splendid spectacle of yellow flowers. He reached up, took some flowers and made them into a golden crown and put it on the head of the girl. Of course she said yes! There was a pub in Bluff and the owner made beer usually with cabbage tree roots. One day a group of sailors broke into his premises and helped themselves to the beer, smashed his shop to pieces and stole all the grog as well. When the ship returned the old man was all in for revenge and he added kowhai leaves and flowers to his normal brew and left it ready for the sailors. Naturally they came again and drank themselves silly. But they did not make it back to the ship being very sick and vomiting for twelve hours!1 A last paragraph about the Kaki or Black Stilt: ‘The kakī (black stilt) is one of the world’s rarest birds — and it’s uniquely ours. Once widespread across Aotearoa’s wetlands, rivers, and estuaries, this striking, jet-black wader has been pushed to the brink, now clinging to survival in just a few isolated braided riverbeds of the South Island. With fewer than 150 adults remaining in the wild, every single bird matters. Its story is one of beauty, resilience — and heartbreak. Despite decades of tireless work by conservationists through captive breeding and release programmes, the kakī continues to face a deadly and persistent threat: introduced predators. Stoats, feral cats, hedgehogs, and rats don’t just pose a nuisance — they decimate nests, devour eggs, and kill fledglings before they ever have a chance to fly. Even adult kakī aren’t safe. This iconic species, a taonga of Aotearoa, is battling extinction not because it failed to adapt — but because it’s up against enemies it never evolved to face. And without serious intervention, we risk losing it forever’.2 It is not only that every single kaki bird matters it is that all birds matter. So, thank you all for reading and trapping and caring. We are getting there and it has occurred to me that we might soon have to change from being trappers to being bird watchers! Twitchers! 1 The meaning of trees, Robert Vennell, 2019 2 Connovation, 08.2025
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