Added Eastern Rosella to my year list (and auckland list) yesterday plus spotted dove (year and NZ life list).

Off to Kaikoura again this weekend, so hopefully loads of seabird action to report on next week.

Had the dubious honour of adding peacock/ peafowl to my various lists this week after the regional recorder confirmed that the bird I saw recently was indeed considered to be wild!

Ha ha! I'm back!!

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last month or so but basically been on holiday. Firstly touring around the North Island and then a week in Australia.

So, the highlights of the North Island trip were watching Kingfisher from the hotel bar gardens in Whitiangia, which is on the Coromandel Peninsular, rifleman responding to pishing in the Tongariro National Park and going on a dolphin watching trip into the hauraki gulf (Auckland) and finding White Faced Storm Petrel (1st lifer of the year). We also saw laods of common dolphin as well as getting within 20 feet of 2 bryde's whales - absolutely fantastic.

The downsides were not being able to id cooks petrel, as extremely similar to pycrofts petrel, although the former is more numerous, and not being able to distinguish between flesh footed shearwater and black petrel due to sheer inexperience plus it didn't help that the boat trip was more interested in following dolphins and not sea birds!

I've also subsequently discovered that there was a shore plover and grey tailed tattler in napier, where we stopped for two nights, and there were loads of long tailed cuckoos in tongariro plus another birder, whilst at the national park, called in a morepork during the day through pishing!! Unbelievable.

Based in Auckland now, so hoping to get out on the NZ storm petrel pelagic soon, plus islands such as little barrier island and tiritiri matangi are only short boat rides away!! Both are great places for endemics.

I've sent Ian Mc a load of photos so hopefully these will appear soon, depending on his workload - Thanks Ian, much appreciated.

I'm currenty working with Iain on his own photo gallery on the website for his NZ images, it'll be a while to sort as things are a little busy for me at the moment but it will be well worth it

Happy new year to you too Iain. Thanks for sharing your travels in NZ with us all!
Henry.

Right, so that it for 2008. I managed to see 83 species plus heard another 4. Nor did I visit all the available habitats and key locations. So a dedicated trip would expect to see a few more and probably break the 100 mark.

So, we'll see what the New Year brings, especially as I'll be moving North to Auckland.

It will also be the first year that I don't see any birds in the UK!!

Anyway, happy new year to you all.

Moved to the Abel Tasman National Park, which is in the NW corner of the South Island. Highlights included

Gannet being pursued by two shearwaters/ diving petrels (I was kayaking at the time so difficult to tell!)
White Fronted tern
Spotted Shag
Pied Stilt
Bar Tailed Godwit (34 + including one banded bird) - also a xmas day treat as new bird for my NZ list!
SIPO + VOC
Plus the elusive morepork calling every night but alas still didn't see it!

Managed to see Royal Northern and either a Black Browed/ Campbells Island Albatross on the return ferry along with fairy prion and fluttering shearwater plus a couple of unidentified albatross, arctic skua, gannet and 2 possible king shags but couldn't get enough on them .

Also had a small pod of common dolphin racing towards the front of the ferry to bow ride!!!!


-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 03:09, 2008-12-28

Whilst we were in Kaikoura, went for a walk along the penisular where you can get good views of the NZ Fur Seal colony as well as any passing sea birds including albatrosses!

Highlights included Reef Heron and Grey (Pacific) Duck which incidentally was my 600 world species! So I've now seen approximately 6% of the worlds bird species!

Other birds included:
White Faced Heron
Banded Dotterel including at least 6 on the beach by the camp site we stayed at
Variable Oystercatcher (VOC)
South Island Pied Oystercatcher (SIPO)
Mute Swan (off school house road by an irish restaurant)
Mallard
Pukeko
Yellowhammer
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
House Sparrow
Blackbird
Song thrush
Australian Magpie (white and black backed forms)
Red Billed Gull
Black Backed Gull
Australian Harrier
Spur Winged Plover

Black Billed Gull also nest on the rier esturaries here but didn't see any and apparently, Little Owl can be found on School House and Postmans Roads (or maybe lanes) but didn't see any.

Saturday 20th - Wellington to Picton ferry

To get to the South Island, you either fly or take the ferry which docks at a place called Picton, which can be found at the bottom of the Queen Charlotte Sound in the Marlborough Sounds region. The ferry takes about 3 hours, and crosses the Cook Strait and therefore provide a short sea watching experience as the crossing of the strait only takes an hour and a half with the rest spent navigating the sound.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't great with limited visibility so only manage to see Fairy Prions, a few Fluttering Shearwaters and a Blue Penguin. Once in the sound, added White Fronted Terns, Fluttering Shearwaters, Gannet, 2 Acrtic Skua, Red billed and Black Backed Bulls and Pied Shags. King Shags can be found at the entrance to the sound but not on this occasion.

Then it was the short drive to Kaikoura!

Sunday 21st - Oceanwings Albatross Encounter

For the trip to run there must be a minimum of 3 people. I was booked on the 9am boat (didn't fancy the 6am) but due to only two people including myself booking for this departure, i had to move to another departure! So, I was all set for 6am after all

But I had to phone up at 5.30am to check whether the boat was sailing due to bad weather. I duly did this only to find out that the boat had been cancelled and we were all moved to the 9am departure, so back where I had started!

This boat did depart (it was the only boat to go out as the seas was too rough for the whale wtaching boats). Leaving the harbour was interesting as Kaikoura sits very close to the continental shelf hence why its a great place for whales and sea birds due to the nutrient rich waters. So as the seas hits the shallower shelf/ sea bed and reefs, some very large swells were created which our bath tub rode and crashed into like some giant roller coaster ride

Within minutes we were being followed by a Northern Giant Petrel, Salvins (Shy) Albatross and Cape Pigeons (Petrels). Gary, our skipper and ex fisherman/ expert pelagic birder, soon stopped the boat and before he had even put the ball of chum in the water, birds were just swooping in and landing right next to the boat. You could easily have grabed one for christmas dinner!! And we weren't even over the deep sea trench yet!!

When did move over the trench, the numbers increased still further and we also added another couple of species. The full list is as follows:

Wandering Albatross - Gibsons ssp
Salvins Albatross (ssp of Shy Albatross)
New Zealand White Capped Albatross (ssp of Shy Albatross) (Clements currently only recognises Shy Albatross)
Northern Royal Albatross
South Royal Albatross (Clements currently only recognises Royal Albatross and not each ssp)
Northern Giant Petrel
Cape Pigeon/ Petrel
Westland Black Petrel
White Chinned Petrel
Bullers Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Huttons Shearwaters (massive rafts of these sat on the water as they only breed in the mountains above Kaikoura)
Flesh Footed Shearwater
White Fronted tern
Black Backed Gull
Australian Gannet
Red Billed Gull

The previous day the trip had seen a grey backed storm petrel whilst the following day a grey faced petrel and wandering albatross of the antipodean ssp were seen. The trips normally record both gibsons and antipodean forms of wandering albatross on the trip.

The other notable birds missing were black browed albatross and fairy prion, both of which I have seen off Kaikoura previously from the whale watching trip in 2005.

The trip cost $80 (about £30) for three hours. Definitely do on the trip again, might not yield many more species but the photo opportunities are unbelievable. I'll be sending some through to Ian Mc in due course.





-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 03:01, 2008-12-28

Happy Christmas everyone!

Just back from a week long trip to the South Island, so here goes.....

Friday 19th December - Kapiti Island

Actually, these small island is located off the North Island, about an hour north of Wellington. You need a permit from the Department of Conservation to visit ($12) and then you need to arrange a boat to get across. There are daily sailings unless bad weather. You are supposed to phone at about 7am to check whether the boat is sailing or not but seeing as my train to Paraparaumu was at 6.55 I threw caution to the wind!

It was fine though altho I did forget my lunch

Kapiti is a world leading conservation project where all predators and farming animals have been removed and the land has been returned to native flora and fauna including the re-introduction of many of the bird species. There are two area where visitors are allowed, the North end which is less well developed but you can stay in a lodge overnight to go and look for Little Spotted Kiwi and Rangatira Point, which is in the middle of the island. I chose the latter as the vegetation is more well developed. However, you can can only visit the point for the day. There are two walking tracks to the summit and thats about it other than the flats around the landing area.

Everyone else who got off here was just going for the walk, so after the introductory talk by the guide/ warden where Kaka and Weka lurked looking for an easy lunch, we were left to own devices.

I let everyone else head off and start to walk the tracks whilst I started my hunt for Takahe, a large moorhen, in the flats area but to no avail altho I did find NZ (Richards) Pipit, Red Crowned Parakeet, Tui, Bellbird, White Faced Heron, Weka and Kaka.

I then ventured onto the tracks leading up to the summit where I was rewarded with fantastic views of Whitehead, North Island Saddleback and North Island New Zealand Robin.

From the tracks, it is possible to look down on the flats area, which I did repeatedly in the hope of spying a Takahe. On the way back down I spotted a large dark bird on one of the paths through the flats, raised my bins and there was a Takahe. I raced down the rest of the track to the area where I'd spied the Takahe and found two family groups feeding in the long grass adjacent to the paths (photos being sent to Ian Mc).

Also managed to add kingfisher, variable oystercatcher and Arctic Skua to the days list.

South Island report to follow.....................

-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 21:50, 2008-12-27

Took two friends and their two children, who are visting from Sweden, to Karori Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday. Had a really good day.

First up was a family of Brown Teal (new bird for me this one) plus a pair of Paradise Shelduck. Tui were extremely vocal and started to provide brief views although I was confident that we would get better views of these stunning birds.

Continuing up the main track, we stopped off to check out the various information boards about the gold mine, which you can go inside with a guide, the bird song gully where you can listen to recordings of some of the endemics found in the reserve, the tank with the rare Wellington Green Skink and finally the Tuatara enclosure. These are ancient reptiles closely related to dinosaurs and not lizards. Couldn't find one though!

Then the birds started to appear in greater number including loads of Tui feeding on the nectar, giving my friends amazing close and confiding views plus a single Kaka taking food from a feeding station.

Carrying on, we came across two families of California Quail sitting on the main track, with loads of chicks running around. We reached the main feeding station just as more food was being put out and almost immediately 5 Kaka came swooping down and allowed us to get unbelieveably close, wth 3 feet plus a single Bellbird showed well. A quick check of the top reservoir revealed a pair of NZ Scaup, then we returned. A probably Stitchbird flew past us on the track, unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to confirm its id!

Carrying on An Eastern Rosella flew across us, plus fantails, Grey Warbler and Silvereyes all put in very confiding appearences! Plus we managed to find a Tuatara.

Off to Kapiti Island tomorrow (Friday) which is an island sanctuary north of Wellington and then the South Island xmas trip starts on Saturday. I'll probably return to Karori the week after for a Kiwi Tour.

Went climbing yesterday so little in the way of bird highlights but still managed to see (several) spur winger plover, a single californian quial, a probable white faced heron, loads of harriers providing stunning views as they 6 ft flew over and around the car, fantail and tui. On the way back home, drove past a field near Tinui (where we had been climbing) which contained 8 Turkey!!

Looks like I'm moving to Auckland in the New Year, which will provide different birding. Will be close to where the NZ Petrel pelagic operates from which will be fantastic as previously I had to either fly or drive to Auckland and face the possibility of a wasted trip if the boat was cancelled due to bad weather.

Fairt Terns, of which there are about 30 to 40 left in the wild breed about an hour north of Auckland, so a good chance to see these birds also.

So trying to get all the wellington based activities ticked of which birding wise means a trip to Karori at night for Little Spotted Kiwi and a day trip to Kapiti Island, which I've booked for Friday, so will try to update then.

Cheers e

Day trip to Auckland yesterday for a job interview. Highlights were an eastern rosella and sacred kingfisher in the city centre parks!!

latest bird news from down under.

not dedicated much time to birding lately, but went rock climbing at the weekend at Whanganui Bay (pronouced Fan-ga-nui), which is on Lake Taupo in the central North Island.

We stayed in Tonganui which is a ghost time as everyting shuts by 9pm. The pub wasn't even open on saturday night! There are some thermal pools nearby (its on the edge of a volcano) and the backpackers has a very good indoor climbing wall.

Highlights included pheasant (new for my NZ list), california quail, whitehead, tui, heard shining cuckoo, australian harriers right over my head, loads of yellowhammers and spur winged plover. There was also a group of ducks which looked like Grey (Pacific) Duck but a little too far out to be 100% certain.

When we got back home, the morepork was calling, first time in ages, posibly over a month. Also added goldfinch to the garden list.

Off to Kaikoura in about ten days time for some sea watching plus we are taking the ferry over to the south island so seas watching potential there as well!

Christmas will be spent on a beach with a BBQ in the Abel Tasman National Park, which is in the top right hand corner of the South Island.

Cheers e

Hello, weekend update!

Went to Otari-Wiltons Bush Reserve, which is very close to the centre of Wellington. Loads of Tui and quite a few NZ Pigeon and Grey Warbler. Only one Fantail though. An Eastern Rosella was a new bird for my NZ list and heard two shining cuckoo's - a very elusive species!

Nice spot thought, loads of native bush.

Later in the day, i was sat in a cafe at the bottom of the North Island, when a small, dark heron species flew over but typically I didn't have my bins with me so couldn't clinch the id. It was probably a reef heron, which according the county recorder are common along the coast and even breed on a tiny island in one of the bays. So will have to wander back one day and have a better look.

Got a trip to Kaikoura planned at christmas with christmas day being spent in the Abel Tasman national park so must get a spotlight for morepork (an endemic owl species and not something for the BBQ!!).

In terms of books/ guides, there appear to be 2 location guides:

Birds of NZ - Locality Guide by Stuart Chambers; and
Where to watch birds in NZ by Kathy Ombler.

The chambers guide is both a locality guide and field guide in one, which is useful but its a bit big and heavy. Also there are no maps in the book and there are a lot of localities listed which can be frustrating if you jsut want to visit key habitats/ locations. A couple friends have used this as well but noted that there were some errors in the directions.

I've not got a copy of the Ombler guide so can't offer much of an opinion but it is a locality guide only. There are fewer localities listed than in Chambers, so appears to be more concise, compared with chambers, plus there are location maps which I think is always helpful, especially as the directions in chambers also seem vague.

In terms of field guides, other than chambers, there are at least two others:

Photographic guide to the Birds of NZ by Geoff Moon. A handy pocket guide, but doesn't cover all species (the rarer/ scarer species are missing) and is limited in terms of (plumage) descriptions, occasionally concentrating more on the birds origins and history and generally only gives one or two photos.

The guide recommended by the OSNZ is The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand by Barrie Heather and Hugh Robertson. This is definitely more detailed. The only thing that has disappointed me about this book so far is the front cover of the second edition, which is an illustration of Tui, whereas the first edition cover is an illustration of several NZ species, and for me at least, is far more appealing, plus the illustration is of a higher quality altho i think the same artist was used!
anyway, hope all this helps.

-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 04:03, 2008-11-14

In case anyone has been inspired to have a holiday in NZ, possibly through my updates, I thought it might be worthwhile providing some logistical info!

My girlfriend and I flew out at different times and took different routes. She went via Dubai with Emirates.

I flew via the US (Los Angeles) with Virgin Atlantic and then on to NZ with Air NZ. All flights will involve at least one change somewhere, which potentially gives you the option of a few days birding on the way out and way home depending on how much time you have available. If you choose to fly around the world, then you could have a couple of stops in different countries and see a few more species.

one big advantage of flying via the USA is that they allow you to take 2 bags of 23kgs each (i.e. 46 kgs in total), which is quite a lot of luggage. If you were to fly via Dubai or Singapore then you would be restricted to one bag of 20kgs, quite a difference really, but worth double checking when you book. But my girlfriend got caught out by this!!

There wasn't a lot of diference in price, think it just depends on the season and what offers are available.

Most people fly into Auckland and leave via Christchurch. These are the two major airports in NZ. This also means that there are a lot of hire cars sat in Christchurch, which you might be able to get a better deal on if you intend to drive all the way up north!!

It may also be easier to fly between some birding destinations due to the distances involved, e.g. Auckland to Wellington is a 10 hour drive, and the ferry between the two island is 3 1/2 hours, whereas flying from Auckland to Nelson (top of south Island is about 1.5 hours).

-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 04:05, 2008-11-14

two new additions to the garden list today:

Australian Magpie and Silvereye, a party of at least six feeding in the bushes. Stunning little bird!!

a late update from a trip to Napier last weekeend. Napier is on the east coast on north island and is one of the best wine producing regions in the world. we did a short bike ride around a few vineyards - very enjoyable!!

Anyway, highlights included black billed gull (relatively common here despite being globally endangered) 3 arctic skua (2 pale and 1 dark phase) chasing white fronted terns, caspian tern, white faced heron, common myna (very common) barbary dove, spur winged plover, australian harrier, gannet very close to the shore, pied stilt inc 3 on the beach!

also went to marineland where they have both blue and white flippered penguin. WF penguin is considered by some to be a race of blue penguin although others consider it to be a separate race. Anyway, gave me a chance to have a close up look at both races.

NZ pigeon was in the garden again this week as well!

Hi Dean,

Fluttering Shearwater is the southern hemisphere version of Manx Shearwater, with Huttons being similar to Balearis Shearwater. The fluttering are quite common in the harbour here, whilst Huttons are quite common off Kaikoura on South Island where they breed. Kaikoura is one of the best places in the world to see both sea birds and whales.

The UK introduced species over here include house sparrow, starling, blackbird, song thrush, greenfinch, goldfinch, redpoll, mallard, canada goose, dunnock, skylark, litte owl, chaffinch, yellowhammer, rook, mute swan, red legged and grey partridge although both are rare and grey may even be extinct over here now. Cirl bunting can be found on south island and are more numerous here than in the UK!

There are some similar species such as great crested and little grebe plus some other introduced species including chukor (europe), common myna (india), sulphur crested cockatoo, kookaburra common and eastern rosella (all australia).

The black shag is the essentially the same species as the cormorant found in the UK, whilst NZ pipit is considered a race of richards pipit plus NZ also gets cattle and little egrets.

theres probably a few that I've forgotten but as you can see there are a fair number of species over there that you coul expect to see somewhere else especially the UK!!

Hi Iain, really enjoying reading what you're up to on the other side of the planet

I see you've seen a few species that we would see in Britain, Yellowhammer, Redpoll etc.
How about a list of birds we would see in Britain that you have seen over there?

Love the idea of a "Fluttering Shearwater" what a great name for a bird.

Cheers Dean.

Added sonh thrush to the garden list over the weekend and then today, a New Zealand Pigeon flew into the garden and started feeding in one of the trees!

Fantastic.........

Bit of sea watching this lunchtime as there are strong southerlies at the moment.

1 wandering albatross plus one large unidentified albatross (too far out to id)
Possibly up to 4 Northern Giant Petrel
Fluttering Shearwaters, several quite close in but loads further out.
8 Australian Gannet

Only got my bins with me so anything further out is just a 'bird'!!

Drove round the Wellington coastal scenic route yesteday. 1 spotted shag, several little and black shags and 2 fluttering shearwaters were the highlights.

Also saw two shags flying high over the house on friday but wasn't sure which species unfortunately.

Went to Mount Ruapehu this weekend for some skiiing and boarding. Nothing significant, plenty of Tui in the village of Ohakune along with a few NZ Pigeon, 1 Grey Warbler, Yellowhammer and Redpoll (a new NZ bird for me!). Morepork calling throughout the night!!

Plenty of Paradise Shelduck, Spur WInged Plover and Australian Magpie on the way home amongst all the fields with about 3 harriers inc one which flew along side the car briefly giving fantastic views.

There was quite a contrast between the village of Ohakune which is largely agricultural and the top of the mountain as its located in the Tongariro National park. The majority of the park is still the original rainforest and as you gain height, starts to thin leading to a rocky terrain owing to the fact that Rupahue is an active volcano. Its also the location for Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings.

Tui in the trees opposite the flat today (new garden tick) but the morepork was frustrating elusive again despite 15 minutes of torch shining and calling back to it!

Went for a walk in Eastbourne on saturday, which is on the other side of Wellington harbour and very close to the entrance leading to the Cook Strait - the water between the two islands and the cause of the winds in wellington itself!

We actually walked from Eastbourne to Pencarrow lighthouse.

NZ falcon and Bellbird were the highlights along with at least 6 Fluttering shearwater (very calm conditions) inc 2 feeding very close inshore allowing fantastic views.

Other birds inc silvereye (loads of these), grey warbler, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, skylark, back backed gull, red billed gull, variable oystercatcher and 1 australian gannet. Though I saw a penguin on the way back (we took a boat across the harbour for $20 - very pleasant).

More Tui on Sunday flying over the field where I was playing lacrosse!

Both the Cuckoo species (shining and long tailed) have arrived back in New Zealand but haven't connected with either yet, hopefully a matter of time. Unfortunately neither have the characteristic 'cuckoo' call, so been gening up!!

I've also found the NZ equivalent of the manchester forums which makes interesting reading, especially when people find red necked stint and its not a mega

Morepork calling from outside the flat last night - didn't see it though, frustrating as its a lifer!! and more importantly a garden/ armchair tick

Hi Iain

If you go to the albatross colony near Dunedin, seek out Vic Mills who works as a part-time warden there. He's an ex-Manchester resident - I think he used to teach art to Adam Davison.

Steve

Hi Simon,

Definitely, yes! Only been here a couple of weeks so far but planning to head down to Kaikoura on the South Island, where there is an excellent whale watching trip from as the continental shelf comes within 1 mile or the shore line and hence attracts a lot of whales, but is also good for birds plus a seperate company run short pelagics (half day trips) and throw a load of chum which attracts a fair few species. The company is called oceanwings and they have a website with recent(ish) sightings.

Also got details of the pelagics for NZ Petrel, recently re-discovered in the far Noth of NZ. These are run by Pterodroma pelagics they also have a website.

Maybe these will tempt you over?

BTW I've seen 50 species in just over 2 1/2 weeks. Last time I was here I saw about 70 species. With a more concerted effort, a short holiday total. e.g. 3 weeks, could be around 100 plus species but would take a bit of planning.

-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 22:06, 2008-10-05

Interesting to hear what your seeing out there, Iain. Are you planning on doing any pelagics? I read recently that Snares Island has more nesting seabirds than the whole of the British Isles put together.

Weekend away at a secluded lodge on the Rangitikei River yielded NZ Falcon, NZ Pigeon, Silvereye, displaying Grey Warbler, Tomtit (North Island ssp), Fantail, Bellbird, Tui and Sacred Kingfisher taking worms from the pitch and putt golf course!! Also these were from the confines of the garden!! Morepork were calling at night but unfortunately I wasn't able to locate them.

Also found a wild turkey, purple swamphen, spur-winged plover and australian magpie. The latter two, along with Australian Harrier are bery common farmland birds an can easily be seen from the state highways.

Whilst white water rafting a Brown Teal flew upstream.

Stopped off at Foxton Beach on the way home where I found 3 Wrybills, South Island Pied Oystercatcher, Caspian Tern, spotted shag and Skylark.

The one thta got away was the kiwi, driving to the lodge on friday night when I noticed the back end of what looked like a kiwi disappearing into the bush

went to watch the rugby (union) last night at the westpac stadium. Not the kind of place you would expect to many birds, especially those of open country!!

Sat on the pitch pre-game and even during the game were 3 or 4 yellowhammers!!

Wellington won BTW but it was hardly a convincing performance.

Took a trip out to Matui Island today, which is in the middle of Wellington Harbour. Highlights include spotted shag (one of the few colonies in NZ) futtering shearwater, blue penguin (in the harbour on the way to the island, fantail, NZ Pigeon (possibly a 1st for the island!!), silvereye, little black shag and red crowned parakeet.

A quick walk around Oriental Bay on Tuesday (it was extremely windy). An australian Gannet, 100 plus Fluttering Shearwater, one variable oystercatcher and a dead blue penguin.

Had a walk around Oriental Bay in Wellington today. Very windy (Wellington is known as the windy city due to the wind getting funnelled down the Cook Strait) and overcast but dry. Lots of Red Billed and Black backed Gulls and even a seal in one of the marina's.

Had a sit down for a few minutes when a shearwater went flying past close to the shore, followed by two more a few minutes later which I was able to follow until they joined a 'flock' of about 30!!! These were Fluttering Shearwaters which are endemic to NZ. They have a closely related and very similar looking cousin called Hutton's Shearwater but I only discovered this when I got back to the flat!

A few variable oystercatcher on the shoreline and 2 or 3 white-fronted terns also flew past. Little shags were also present.

Went to Karori Wildlife Scantuary yesterday. Basically its a valley about 5 minutes drive from the centre of Wellington which houses two former reservoirs which fed Wellington. In 1991 they discovered that they lie on the live of a geological fault which could damage the dam and cause the water to escape flooding parts of Wellington. So they stopped using the reservoirs for the city's water.

A group of volunteers then started an ambitious project to restore the valley back to pre-settlement conditions by removing introduced plants and animals, e.g. stoats, rats and possums which have virtually destroyed the native bird populations. The process was complete when they installed a 9 km predator proof fence and started to introduce native species including Little Spotted Kiwi, Saddleback, Tui and Kaka (the parrot and not the Milan playmaker!).

There are alos tuatara (essentially an ancient lizard/ dinosaur) and weta (large grasshopper type insects).

So my girlfirend and I had a very pleasant walk around the tracks. Tui's are very common (so much so that you can see then in the suburbs) whilst Kaka flew overhead but we had amazing views at one of the many feeding stations. However, the first bird we saw inside the reserve was..........

A Chaffinch!!

We were also fortunate to see Stitchbird, Bellbird, fantail (can also be seen in suburban gardens), New Zealand Pigeon and NZ Scaup. Its a great reserve and one which I'll definately revisit. Its also a great place to spend a half day especially if you have only just rrived in NZ.

Hello everyone, I've recently swapped Manchester for Wellington, New Zealand (some are probably asking why already ) so this is hopefully the first in a series of bird reports. Not much to report right now other than Red Billed Gull, Black Blacked Gull and a probable Australian Great Crested Grebe in Wellington Harbour (didn't have my bins handy at the time). There is nature reserve in the centre of Wellington which I'm hoping to visit later today. A lot of the endemics including Little Kiwi can be found there so we'll see although I'll need to go on a guided night tour for the Kiwi. If any of you deicde to head out this way, let me know. I may even start the NZ mystery bird competition! Shame I don't get points for sightings!!!!!! Cheers e