I’ve been slowly thinking through what I might enter for two of the bigger NZ based competitions coming up, the DPhoto Amateur Photographer of the Year and NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year. For the NZ Geographic competition I can take some encouragement from the Flickr group they promote. The editor and photo editor are […]
Tiritiri Matangi Island
I’ve been wanting to visit Tiritiri Matangi Island for a long time and our recent trip up to Auckland for the Elbow concert gave us a perfect opportunity. It’s possible to visit the island as part of a day trip but we decided to stay the night. There is a DOC managed bunk-house on the […]
A day off at Zealandia
Recently I visited Zealandia and explored a few areas I either don’t to much or hadn’t been to at all. The hour return walk up and down the Fuchsia Track was tiring but worth it for the views at the top. As always there was plenty of bird life for me to photograph, a few […]
Maungatautari
Recently we had the chance to visit the Maungatautari Ecological Island, a mountain in the Waikato that has 47km of fencing to keep predators out. Our visit was quite short but we saw enough to know we’ll be back. Much like Zealandia the predator eradication and fencing has allowed a sanctuary for native wildlife to […]
Visitors
Patty and Sam were in Wellington for a week or so for a Hay family celebration and spent some time with us. I took them to Zealandia and drove them all around as we visited people and places. We visited Sue at the Island Bay home of Compassion and had a walk around which included […]
Heading north for a holiday – Whangarei to Kerikeri and back
The rest of our Summer holiday was in the end largely defined by the weather. We had Christmas in Whangarei and spent the time with Keryn’s parents and family relaxing and enjoying good food and company. I’m still getting used to the view now the pine forest next door has been cut down (replanting has […]
The Tuatara nursery opening at Zealandia
Zealandia was unveiling some new Tuatara nurseries on the 6th November with the introduction of a number of juveniles that had been raised at Victoria University. I had been asked if I would take some photos of the release and was more than happy to oblige. Keryn and I were at the visitor centre for […]
Sirocco the Rockstar Kakapo
Recently Zealandia has had a special visitor. Sirocco is a Kakapo who has been on tour around New Zealand (Auckland a few years back, Dunedin before coming to Wellington) and as official Spokesbird for Conservation he spreads the conservation message (well, his staff do) while also giving the public the chance to get close to […]
The falcon fledges
Over the past few weeks the young falcon ball of fluff has become a falcon fledgling. Repeat visits have been rewarded with repeat viewings of the rapidly growing youngster as it got bolder, bigger and then started making short hops that eventually turned into flying. Photo by Brendon & Keryn Ineffective hiding. Photo by Brendon […]
Moving to the other side of the log
The Karearea pair at Zealandia hatched a chick on around the 28th August and last week some brave experts from Wingspan went in and managed to put an identification band onto one of the chicks legs (as documented here, and there are more photos here from Steve Atwood who was lucky enough to attend). Yesterday […]
Spring is in the air, just about
The snow has gone and the temperature is generally getting warmer (except for the last few days where we’ve had what is hopefully winters last hurrah). We’ve been out and about a few times and I’ve been getting out to Zealandia a lot to check up on the wildlife. The day after the last post […]
Some favourites
Updates here have slowed to a crawl, co-incidentally work has been a lot busier for me. I suspect there is a link there. The further travels of two Kiwis in Western Australia will be appearing here at some point, I’m just not sure exactly when. In the meantime here are some nice photos from the […]