Trapper Monthly, January 2026

​The Trapper Monthly has its first birthday! It seems much longer than twelve months but then the months and years just go by in a flash. A Fantail Flash! I would love to grow the audience or the readership somehow. So, if you have a friend or somebody interested in nature and maybe a slight inclination towards the gory business of trapping then please forward the letter and send me their email address!

The month of January has been a wet one to say the least. The constant rain thwarted many outings and delayed many projects some of which are now scheduled for February or even March. The good thing is that the birdies are now almost over their breeding season and the young ones leave their nests filling the forest with more bird song!

The whereabouts of some of the birds is sometimes hard to understand. Where are they all? I know they are there somewhere but on some days the forest is not as full of birds as I would expect and as I have seen it. Especially the fantails seem to disappear and some days I see none of them at all although they have come back again in these last few days of January.

The lack of trapping days shows in the catch rate. We had 10 outings and caught 11 possums, 14 rats, 2 stoats, 1 hedgehog and 1 weasel. The possum number is somewhat large considering the last few months. And most of them were caught on the lower part of the track towards the bridge on District Line. Along that line there is a huge re-invasion problem as behind it a gully leads up to almost Terrace Downs and there is no trapping undertaken. There are some strategically placed traps along that line, like T98, which form a kind of virtual fence, to prevent too much of re-invasion.

Due to the bad weather not much maintenance of traps has been done. I just managed to visit twenty of our AT220 traps which all needed the batteries re-charged and fresh lure bags. The batteries last about six months after which the trap just won’t work. The traps often also need cleaning as a dead rat might be stuck in there disabling the trap.

It is astonishing how well the shop has done in January despite the rain. People sometimes still walk the track in the wildest weather as I can see when they sign the visitor’s book and then buy a token from the shop. The mailbox too is used much more often than I anticipated. The post cards that Juliana produces are irresistible. She has also created a special edition stamp, an official New Zealand post stamp. A $2.90 stamp which covers postcards all over the world. 

Juliana's Fantail Stamp!

Adopt a Bird Artwork by Juliana

Furthermore, we have now also ‘Adopt a Bird’ certificates for people who donate $50.00 into the trust and specify that they want to ‘adopt’ a bird. It comes with limited edition art print which is a hand finished artwork by Juliana. She describes the process like this: 

A/P = Before ‘The Edition’ begins, the ‘Artists’ Proofs’ are made. It allows the artist to try different inks and papers and to hand finish and hand colour those prints, before an Edition begins. These artists’ proofs are few and far between, thus adding to their value.

11/200 = this number shows how many copies of this artwork are ever printed ( eg. 200 prints is the absolute limit) and where in ‘The Edition’ your artwork was printed (eg 11th). Records of this are kept. The embossed stamp proves this is an original print from that artist’s studio – not a copy.

So far, we had five adoptions! The prints which Juliana produces are really special, very beautiful and collectable and very suitable to be put into a frame. If you like to see more of Juliana’s work then go to Methven, where she sells it in the information centre shop.

Bird Adoption Certificate

The other amazing thing happening during January was the publication of an article on the shop and the Fantail Trust in The Press in Christchurch. I had a long phone call with Will Harvie, senior reporter to the Press and this is what he produced. Not sure what impact it might have on the number of people visiting the gorge and especially the shop.

The Press Article

And now there is the Totara tree. Previously I wrote about this totara tree I found in the depth of the Rakaia Gorge unknown to everybody. Even the Botanical Society in Christchurch was not aware of it. So naturally I am quite elated having found it. A magnificent tree it is too.

Two weeks ago, I passed it again and measured it! The circumference of the tree is 3.3 metres which gives a diameter of just over one metre. From here we can estimate a possible age of the tree, and it seems that most experts agree on around 500 years! Imagine 500 years ago a small sapling emerged in the forest and kept on growing until today! It is a marvel. No Europeans had ever been to these islands before and the Maori population would have been minimal. It just shows that nature does not need us. That it evolves, grows, mutates and just is on its own. I declare the Totara tree in the Rakaia Gorge a Taonga!

For Maori the totara is a chiefly tree. A chief of the forest! So much so that when a chief of a tribe died, a great chief, a venerated chief, then the saying was that a mighty totara had fallen! I am not sure how they reconciliated that sentiment with their cutting down totara for building canoes. For the wood of the totara is suitable above all other trees to construct canoes, to build houses, tools and weapons and for carving. 

My Totara Tree

A single tree for instance could be carved into a war canoe capable of carrying a hundred warriors. That is a big tree! But that is not all. Researchers have extracted from the core of the totara a compound they named Totarol, It is effective against many bacteria including Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

On the funny side, and bear with me, it is also said in Maori lore that the totara is a windy tree. There was once a contest between trees who met in a forest and argued as to which one was the tallest of them all. Totara tried first and he stretched and stretched towards heaven, straining and heaving, with all his strength, and then he popped. The other trees started laughing and for shame the totara disappeared into the thick of the forest. Maybe that is why ‘my’ totara is so well hidden in the gorge.

There are other massive trees in the gorge that probably nobody has seen before. There is a huge broadleaf hidden away and there are a few really large mature lancewoods around. I was in Akaroa this week where our friends Jack and Charlotte establish their own predator free reserves and when we did a walk around the farm Jack pointed out a huge very old looking lancewood and declared it to be the oldest of its kind in the world! No, no I said. There is a bigger one in my patch! It’s a good rivalry and one I lose on the account of Jack having more Tuis! We have no Tuis. But our neighbour, Cathie, has seen one in her garden quite recently. So maybe they are not far away and then Jack will have a problem!

Another investment in nature is being done by Landcorp. The people who import agricultural equipment, like harvesters, Claas machinery. They have supported for years now the initiative by Mike Fisk, a retired eye surgeon, of the ‘Valleys Project’. It covers an extensive area in remotest Fiordland, the Cozette, Iris, Irene and Pandora valleys with over a thousand traps.

The Valleys Project

These traps need servicing at least twice a year. And it is on one of these servicing trips that I had an accident severing my ligaments in my biceps and being rescued by helicopter. Never mind I survived but probably will not be going back to Fiordland.

It is initiatives like this one that gives hope than maybe one day the goal of predator free New Zealand 2050 will come true. The example of Claas company should be publicised much more to get other large corporations on board the predator free movement. It’s got to become fashionable! Because somehow the funds available by the government are not going to do it. The main thrust of the predator free 2050 movement, its finance, its research and implementation must come from private interests and philanthropic organizations.

For that to happen we need success stories. Stories that entice people to come on board and do their bit. Like the ISAAC Conservation and Wildlife Trust in Christchurch. They just managed to hatch 30 shore plovers who are now looking for safe wild place to live. Somebody needs to love them; somebody needs to care for them. Only around 250 of them survive! None on the mainland, only on predator free island and in captivity. 

Plover with Chick

What a world we live in! Full of wonders, full of beauty, full of life. Things we need to protect, to care for, to love. I am constantly amazed on my walks down the Rakaia Gorge of all the forms of life, of all the thriving mass of nature and its various manifestations.
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So, thank you all for caring and be part of the project of making the Rakaia Gorge a safe haven for native flora and fauna. It is a very special place. And a special thank you to Juliana Child, the artist.
Nga mihi.

Robbie and Christine