Trapper Monthly, November 2025

Maori Onion

Dear Trappers and Fantail Friends

Back in the saddle again after a long sojourn to Switzerland. No possums over there! And soon no possums in the Rakaia Gorge too! Again, a very low number was caught. Only four for the whole month of November! It is almost a miracle that in the last three months we only got 11 possums whereas in the years before it was always over 50 and one year even a 100! And just last August it was still 21.

The rats are a different story. They just keep coming and for November we had 20 of them plus there were two weasels and one hedgehog. They are few and far between as well. A good thing really. This was all done in nine outings. Only nine?! Well, coming back from Switzerland I did not feel all that good and had to stay indoors!

Basically, I did only Piccadilly Line a few times, once I did the Grand Tour, which is Northern Line, Circle Line and Piccadilly line in one day. Then I went down Waterloo Line and inspected Penny Lane, which had suffered quite a lot from that big storm back in October. Lots of trees came down and obstructed the track. Lucky, I had my little chainsaw with me and opened it all up again, but it is still not finished. The battery did not last that long.

But it is very pleasing to see so much regrowth of all sorts of plants among the broom and gorse. There are lots of broadleaves, cabbage trees, pittosporums and now and then a kowhai. The ferns are back too and one area is all covered in a large leaved ivy. Delightful to see but of course not a native. Unfortunately, there are also sycamore trees sprouting up. They really need to be controlled otherwise the whole area will just become a sycamore forest.

If you are going through there and see a sycamore seedling just pull it out. It is also pleasing to hear a lot of grey warblers in that part of the bush and usually fantails are around. I believe that fauna and flora are doing quite well in the gorge. More needs to be done and to keep it all going as re-invasion lurks just around the corner.  







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Chatham Island Robin

All is going well then on the trapping front. A few traps are missing or are damaged. We will replace them or repair them. There are also some new traps going in especially on Penny Lane which has no rat specific traps at all. I allocated about twelve to fifteen DOC150 traps all along the path, say every 40 m a trap.

Another pleasing thing is the Fantail Shop. It really has surpassed all my expectations and while I am sure sometimes things go missing, most of the time the items taken are paid online and often there is an extra donation included. The post box is also a great success like in November we had twelve letters or cards to send off into all directions of the world! It seems it is more popular with tourists than New Zealanders.

And then there is the visitor’s book. Amazing how many entries per day we get. Sometimes the page is not large enough! And the comments are delightful to read. It will be a big project to transcribe it all and maybe produce a statistic of how many visits and from where. Alas, I feel that the Fantail Shop one day will go viral and then we might think we should never have done it! Luckily the long way in is a bit of a deterrent. 

​The shop is now well-stocked with even some Christmas things. My sister back home made us some angels and Christmas cards of which already a few have sold. Then there are the lovely post cards Juliana Child makes. They are a best-seller and then we have the talismans, small tokens with a fantail imprint, made of clay by Christine, also selling like hot buns. Jewellery items are there and painted stones.

This month I also had an interview with the environmental reporter from The Press, the daily newspaper in Christchurch. It was all about the trapping but also he was very interested in the shop. You might see the article soon with a picture of the Fantail Shop! Let me know if you come across it.
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To broaden the interest and appeal of this newsletter, as you might have noticed, I try to include some information of a different kind and slightly different content but  naturally always about trapping and conservation. And today it is the remarkable story of the survival of the Black Robin on the Chatham Islands.

The Black Robin was on the brink of extinction back in the 1980’s when only five birds lived in a small area on Mangere Island. One of them was a female of breeding age and she was called Old Blue. The only hope of the species to survive.

The Department of Conservation under the leadership of Don Merton and his team devised a plan and a management strategy to save the birds. Their efforts and success are now part of the history of conservation and provide a model for other endangered species around the world.

The eggs of little Old Blue were fostered by Chatham Island tomtits which are related to the black robin. They raised the chicks to adulthood. A process over many years until the robins could sustain their own population. It needed tireless nest monitoring around the clock and banding to get the black robins back from extinction.












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Fuchsia Flower

A big problem was in-breeding as each of the surviving birds descended from Old Blue. The lack of genetic diversity leads to an increase in diseases and reduced fertility. To overcome this handicap the birds were moved between two groups living on two different islands, Rangatira Island and Mangere Island. Most birds live on Rangatira Island while the ones on Mangere Island are struggling. There is just not enough suitable habitat for them and while there are now over 450 birds alive, they might have reached a limit due to this lack of habitat.

The battle to save these birds is of course not over. They depend first and foremost on a  predator free environment, as an influx of rats or stoats could wipe them out in day or two. It is a powerful reminder of what trapping can do. Not just on the Chatham Islands but across New Zealand. It means that every trap line, every trap out there is important to keep our native bird populations alive and thriving.

Another project that caught my attention is what our friends are doing on Banks Peninsula, Jack and Charlotte. They have made their farm possum free. Thousands of the critters must have lived in the bush on their farm. Their efforts, together with the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust, has led to a recovery of native species not only of birds but also of plants such as tree fuchsia, which is a favourite for possums. 

















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​The fuchsia is also a favourite of native birds, like the nectar feeders bellbird and tui. While tui thrived on Banks Peninsula long ago, they disappeared in the 90’s completely. 70 tuis were re-introduced in 2009 and 2010 and are now thriving all over Akaroa and they are a frequent visitor on Jack’s and Charlotte’s backyard delighting them and all visitors with their magic song. What a bleeding heart story of conservation.

We have no tuis in the Rakaia Gorge. I have never seen one or heard one. But our neighbour says that she saw one in her garden. I am not sure whether there are some at Washpen Falls, but if so they might migrate to the Rakaia Gorge. There is a large colony in a little remnant of forest near Geraldine and tuis are known to fly long distances to find their favourite trees, the kowhais. Of which we have plenty. Maybe we could introduce some tuis?!

As Jack says we can do little bits, and we are doing little bits, and we get a benefit, everybody really gets a benefit, the flora and fauna get  a benefit. The planet earth gets a benefit and again as Jack says: ‘I’m quite positive amidst all the gloom in the world around us’.  So am I in the specific context of the Rakaia Gorge and of the wider one of the planet.

So, thank you yet again for your help and effort to make this positive change. Maybe all trappers are of a positive nature, surely of an optimistic disposition!

Have a fantailistic day! Thanks for reading. And lest we forget: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!