Trapper Monthly, February 2026

February started a bit like January ended, lots of rain and bad weather. But it got better in the end. At least we had many more days out there trapping and looking after our trap lines. In fact, we had 21 days out there. And good results which ever way you look at it.

There were seven possums, 47 rats! one stoat, four weasels, eight hedgehogs and rather unusually two ferrets. It is pleasing to have a possum number below ten, and two of these possums were caught in my vegetable garden! The rat number is pleasing too for a different reason. We are making some progress in eliminating them as well. Or at least suppressing them a bit. The stoat was close to the golf course as also three of the weasels and one of the ferrets. The other ferret was down on Circle Line in D61.

I just wonder where the ferrets come from. Were they released by someone who has them as pets? Are there more around than I think? Previously we only had four ferrets and all of them in the bush. Theoretically we should not even get them as the DOC150 traps are not designed to catch ferrets and we hardly, if ever, put fresh meat into the traps. Nevertheless, it is good that we get them but how many more are out there?!

Also, we have never actively tried to catch the stoats and weasels. They are almost a by-catch. Do we just get the easy ones? Everybody says how hard they are to get. It is most likely the egg we have in the DOC traps rather than the peanut butter that lures them in! But I also noticed that the golf balls attract them. One stoat got caught in a DOC trap just with a golf ball inside!

Below is a graph showing the difference between a stoat and a weasel. They are quite different and the easiest give-away is the bushy tail of the stoat with a black tip. Weasels were introduced to control rabbits and in greater numbers than stoats because in England there are more weasels than stoats.
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Here that changed over time. Weasels naturally go for smaller prey such as mice, skinks, frogs and birds. But as these smaller prey declined the stoats were better placed to survive because they went for bigger prey and out-competed the weasels. Now we have more stoats than weasels! 

Weasels also breed super-fast. Almost impossible to eradicate as they produce offspring faster than we can catch them. Like a female weasel born in spring can already give birth in late summer! Another difficulty is that most weasels caught are males. They are just a bit less shy in entering a trap plus they also roam much further so the chances that they stumble upon a trap is much greater.

That is the frustrating thing that stoats, weasels and rats reproduce so fast that we can hardly keep up with eliminating them. They are always a step ahead of us or so it seems. My theory is that at least where we have traps, below a tree say, then that tree is kind of protected, or the birds in it are a bit safer. So, each trap creates a sort of safe haven of around a 25 metre radius. That is how far a rat might forage for food each night. Plus, here in the Rakaia Gorge we also have the problem of re-invasion. Especially the possums thrive on the surrounding farms.
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The good thing is that our efforts are paying off! There are more birds, there is more bird song and the sound of the kereru flying in and out of the bush can be heard on a daily basis. They are hard to spot sometimes and on occasion, when I am looking for them, they are perched right above my head. Just sitting there, without a sound, looking out over the gorge. Beautiful to see and to me the most obvious proof that the reduction in predators has worked as two or three years ago there were hardly any kereru around. 

Kereru

Isn’t it a magnificent bird! And right in our backyard in the Rakaia Gorge! The other day, when we installed a panel not far from the bridge, we looked up and saw four of them in the same tree! How wonderful! And most people I talk to on the walkway tell me they saw one or two of these birds.

While they are not threatened, they still need our support to thrive and survive. They are important birds for our forests as they are the only bird left now who is able to swallow large seeds of miro or karaka trees which they disperse over long distances. A very important function of forest renewal!

Kereru were traditionally hunted for meat and feathers, but that activity is now prohibited. But sad to say in Northland the kereru is threatened with local extinction due to predation, competition and would you believe  it, hunting!

The biggest threat for kereru is predation by rats, stoats, cats and possums. They all eat the eggs and attack the fledglings. Stoats will even go for adult kereru! The possums also compete with the birds by eating the preferred food of kereru, leaves, flowers and fruit especially of the kowhai.

As mentioned above we had 21 outings this month. It was mainly checking traps, it was also stocking the shop. For a while we ran out of stock! No more postcards, no more pottery trinkets, no more painted stones. I had to put an apology into the shop saying that we just have no more things to display! It is one of my great pleasures when down there and then I open the post box and find a handful of cards in there. Sent to all corners of the world! Then taking them home, putting our own stamp onto them and sending them off!

Then we get lovely messages in the visitors’ book. Pages are sometimes not big enough for all the comments. But this week I received a very special one from Melanie, who had sent four post cards to America. She wrote:

‘P.S. the fantail shop brought me such an immense amount of joy while on the hike - it is whimsical and sweet and thoughtful and an invitation to slow down in nature (all incredible things the world needs more of) so thank you!!’

How could I not be happy. And thank you Melanie for writing to us! The postcards are well on their way and will delight the recipients.

Other things we did was the removal of two wilding pine trees. They had annoyed me for a while growing bigger all the time. One was just down from the stile and the other near the coalmine. Jon and Sue helped with the removal of these trees. For safety reasons we also used a rope to get down to them and then carefully cut them with our little chainsaw and very sharp handsaw.

Here is a link to the felling:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2diuykou8swmqag1wks78/20260205_114313_1_1_1.mp4?rlkey=38l98e01kwzzqtdfvm3ehs2hx&dl=0

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Tree Felling

​Then at last we installed two panels on the walkway. One down close to the bridge and one at the stile and seat where we cross over from Terrace Downs onto the walkway. They are information panels on the work of the fantail trust, warning walkers that trapping is being undertaken all along the path. In a way they also alert to the trouble the forest is in and that something is being done about it. 
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Information Sign

In last ‘Trapper Monthly’ I boasted about ‘our’ Totara and about a very large lancewood. Now for this month it will be about a massive broadleaf I found some time ago. It is well hidden in the forest on the line called ‘Route 66’. That name comes about because the last trap I installed down there has the number A66!

Broadleaf, or Grisellina littoralis, Kapuka in Maori, is quite a hardy tree. It grows from the coast right up to maybe 1000 metres above sea level. It can tolerate sea breezes and strong winds and is therefore ideal for shelter. It can also be clipped into shape and will easily regrow. They are susceptible to possum predation and in my observations the seedlings often disappear from the forest floor where possums are present. So, when there are lots of seedlings coming up it means there are not that many possums about.

Anyway ‘my’ broadleaf has survived a lot of predation judging by its size. It did not grow straight like the totara. In that way it is a bit messy. No straight trunk, not useful for much at all. No ships’ masts or waka to be made of it. A bit useless really for human use. But the good thing is that branches go everywhere and when there are no possums around new shoots appear all over the old tree trunk. It must harbour a lot of life and provide shelter for birds and insects. Maori used it to treat infections of the skin. 
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I put a trap right underneath this broadleaf to protect its inhabitants from rats. It is an A24 trap. Fully automatic. A rat goes in, gets taken care of, falls out and another rat can go in. Very effective and it does not need clearing out. On this particular trap you see my mascot. He comes with me everywhere and is called ‘Swissie’. The colours might have faded a bit, but it was red and white. Like the Swiss flag. There you go. My big broadleaf. I challenge anybody to come up with a larger one! 

Broadleaf and Swissie

Ah, what is it all about? Mucking around in the forest day after day. Getting rats, and stoats and cats and possums. Who would have thought of it. Not something we do in the Swiss Alps, I can tell you. They would call me crazy! And maybe that’s what it is, a bit of madness. The song of John Lennon ‘Imagine’ comes to my mind. Imagine a New Zealand free of predators and full of native birds, and insects and lizards and creepy crawlies and forests all thriving and growing and all kind of a Gondwanaland.

Whoever came up with the idea of predator free 2050 New Zealand has had the idea of an almost impossible goal. Yet more and more people jump onto the bandwagon and a whole industry has developed leading towards this outcome. To me it is also an idea far more broad and wide, almost like my broadleaf, encompassing so much more, like caring for the environment, caring for this earth and caring for everything that lives and thrives on it. An idea of treading more gently, more considerate and more lovingly.
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Therefore, thank you all very much for your help, for your interest and no doubt for your care and love.
Robert and Christine