On the Thames Coast, around 20 years ago, vigilant locals knew that the local kiwi population was on the verge of collapse. Thames Coast Kiwi Care was formed in 2006 with the mission: “To protect and enhance kiwi populations on the Thames Coast”.
We wanted to ‘hear kiwi calling from backyards again’. This dream has become reality as Te Mātā and Tapu locals are reporting a significant increase in kiwi foot prints, calls and also sightings over the past few years.
We now have around 350 kiwi in our recovery area!
This is an incredible achievement by our community, with essentially ten times the 2006 kiwi population now present locally.
We’re thrilled to share a short trail camera compilation from the burrow of sires Taringamā and his family. It captures adorable moments from their lives but also worrying has some unwanted cameo appearances from you know who.
This hexmap represents real-time trapping data from our project area. The more red the colour, the higher the number of catches or density of traps.
You can mouse-over the hexagons for breakdowns on species catches. You can also use the top left red menu buttons to display subsets of data: by project, species or trap.
Massive thanks to the smart people at Groundtruth and Trap.NZ for this amazing resource!
Our scope has expanded from solely protecting kiwi to a “whole of habitat” approach. Our updated mission is:
To work with our community to restore the habitat so kiwi and other native species thrive.
Thanks to substantial funding provided by the Waikato Regional Council’s Natural Heritage Fund we have also been targeting rats and possums in the project area since 2023. These self-setting AT220 traps work continuously each night, extending the existing DOC200 trap lines that focus primarily on mustelid control and providing a buffer zone to public conservation land. Trap lines are checked and maintained each month by our Rat and Possum Project Leader, and also our dedicated team of volunteer trappers that undertake their fortnightly DOC200 checks.
The trap design and the servicing of the AT220 traps is leading to great successes. In early 2025 we have approximately 200 traps working and almost 4000 possums have been removed protecting our native flora and fauna. In the next year we plan to set another 90 self-setting traps
Running alongside the active pest trapping are bird surveys, to help gain an understanding of the existing biodiversity of NZ birds in our project area. We hope to collect data on how the control of rats and possums can help bring about an increase in both bird numbers and also the range of bird species recorded in the project area.
In early 2025 we installed three listening devices that all confirmed the presence of our precious pekapeka tou roa, native long tailed bats. They have the highest threat ranking of Nationally Critical and effective predator control is essential to their survival as well.
This is a new focus for us to raise awareness and add additional protection for New Zealand’s only native land mammal that is critically endangered.
Watch this space!
Want to know more about these fascinating creatures? Visit the great New Zealand Geographic for a brilliant article: ‘Bat Signals’ by Jonathan Carson. Photographed by Rob Suisted.
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🌿 Final Week of our Fundraising Raffle – $5 for Kiwi! 🌿
We’re in the final push for our $5 for Kiwi campaign – and we need your help!
Your donation supports our mission:
✨ Working with our community to restore the habitat so kiwi and other native species thrive. ✨
Each $5 donation gets you in the draw to WIN awesome prizes:
🥾 90-minute tour for two at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari
☕ Coffee bundle from Pinnacle Coffee
📚 Book bundle from NZ author Andrew Crowe
💛 Donate today: thamescoastkiwicare.org/donate
💌 Tag a friend who loves kiwi or wildlife – every tag helps spread the word!
Kia ora koutou,
Sheena here, I've been the coordinator for TCKC for the past 7.5 years - Tuesday was my last day on the job 🥹 It's time for new adventures for me.
Firstly, I'm really happy to introduce Pippa Jackson as TCKC's new Predator Control coordinator who will be working alongside Tes Rae who works on admin & community outreach. Together, I'm sure they'll be a powerhouse for TCKC.
It was so fun to take Moira our Chair, Sally our Secretary & Tes, for a spin in our LUV to have lunch at the Te Mātā hut before I left, and a bonus to find some kiwi prints in the mud along the way.
My final day in the bush with Pippa was really productive and solidified how much I am going to miss that beautiful forest!
Murphey's Law on my LAST day we'd finally set up a water blaster (generously donated by Fin & Carol) to wash down the LUV! 🥴
Today I received a gift and lovely card from Cheyenne Walmsley, the awesome Community Ranger for Department of Conservation - Hauraki-Coromandel
And a very sweet song from my friend Lenore at trap.nz 😍 Thanks for all your support & help over the years!
As well as a fabulous send off at the Tapu pub & gorgeous gift basket from TCKC.
It's been so fantastic working with other passionate conservationists around Hauraki Coromandel, there is some incredible mahi going on - get amongst it!
I had best intentions to create a moving montage video of all my wonderful moments over the years, but alas, they will just have to stay in my heart. With the exception of an old video from when we were doing Operation Nest Egg where I had the incredible experience of a kiwi chick hatching before my eyes. 🤯
Every kiwi I met moved me to tears and I never took for granted what a privilege it was to get so close to our national icon and such a culturally significant bird.
For the final time I want to give the biggest shout out to all TCKC trappers, volunteers & committee. It has been an honour to work with you all, keep doing what you do best....
Helping Wild Kiwi Thrive!
Tukua te kiwi kia tupu, tukua te kiwi kia ora 💚
Arohanui
Sheena x
PS. It would be so awesome as a parting gesture to ask that if you haven't donated just 5 bucks to our online fundraising campaign where you can win a really awesome prizes, please do so! I'd be so stoked if that generated some $$ to buy some more traps that I'd love to see go into the Tapu Valley where more protection is needed for kiwi that are on the move down the coast! See the pinned post at the top of our page. Thanks so much 🙏
It's stoat breeding season.
Understand why it's such a relentless slog in this informative post from our neighbour Sara at Mahikarau Forest Estate. 👌🏼
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
🌳Te Wiki O Te Taiao Conservation Week 🌳
This weekend TCKC volunteer trappers will cart these 850+ eggs & other enticing lures over 5000ha to bait our traps thanks to the generosity of Kaimai Eggs 👍🏽
20 years of consistent mustelid trapping has changed the landscape into a breeding ground for kiwi with 350+ in our project area.🙌🏼
And now with support from Waikato Regional Council we are focussing on rat & possum control too. 👌🏼
A big thanks to all our amazing trappers & volunteers..Local Legends! 💚
Tukua te kiwi kia tupu, Tukua te kiwi kia ora
Helping Wild Kiwi Thrive
Photos from Birds New Zealand's post
Photos from Auckland Zoo's post
FATHER'S DAY special gift surprise? How about the chance to win an @nzautotraps self-resetting multi species trap?? We've been having great success with our possum trapping using these traps. Purchase four or more raffle tickets by messaging us and I'll send an email on father's day to let your Dad know he's in for several chances to win a great prize 😁...and you'll help our conservation work too!
If you win, you will have to be able to collect it from Coromandel town. Prize will be drawn on Sept 14th at our next winter lecture at the Pepper Tree restaurant.
Good luck 😀
