TMBC celebrates another milestone

"TMBC celebrates another milestone, this time with our new set of AT220 traps on the Waiotahi Track. We installed them just 7 months ago, and already we have knocked out 54 predators, as summarised in the table below:

The traps were funded by a WRC Small Scale Community Initiative Fund grant last year. We hope to apply for additional funding to boost the number of AT220 traps further along the track. While they are self resetting and baiting, they still require maintenance and checking to record catches. So far, the club trapping volunteers have put in 342 hours on the trapping programme since we started in February last year. Four of the five regular volunteers are community members who are not mountain bikers but enjoy the track and giving back to the bush we all love to recreate in. This small group have managed to average a weekly trap checking round, which is ideal because once a regular DOC200 trap goes off, it is useless until cleared and reset. 

A large male ship rat - one less on the Karaka Track.

We also do a 5 minute bird count at two stations on the loop and expect to see some changes over time. We have done 33 counts at Red Bluff and have since done 9 counts at Waiotahi, although it is a bit too early to show any trends yet.

Red Bluff - Not a bad place to stop and listen to birds for 5 minutes.

Are you keen to learn more about our trapping programme and get involved? Please email us, and we can chat. 

We are always looking for more volunteers to help.