Kereru © James Allan
Date: 5th May 2025
Read on for updates on catch rates and predator monitoring in the Whakatipu Basin. Catch Totals The graph above compares shows the catch totals for the first three…
Read MoreDate: 5th May 2025
We were pleased to roll out five new trapping projects this summer: AT220s in Arrowtown – Les Hutchins Conservation Fund grant A huge thank you to Leslie Hutchins…
Read MoreDate: 5th May 2025
Kākā spotted at Lake Hayes Estate! The bird was spotted by a member of the public in a walnut tree in their backyard, then reported to one of…
Read MoreDate: 5th May 2025
Now we are in autumn, its time to take a look at how we can adjust our trapping techniques to the season. We are currently in the tail…
Read MoreDate: 5th May 2025
Anna of WWT and some of our trustees had the privilege of attending the release of the first 18 Takahē into the Rees Valley, Glenorchy in February. Seeing these…
Read MoreDate: 12th December 2024
The Whakatipu Wildlife Trust family would like to commemorate the recent passing of our long time trustee Ben Perchik. Ben was a part of Whakatipu Wildlife Trust right…
Read MoreDate: 12th December 2024
The Crested Grebes | Pūteketeke are nesting! Three natural nests have been spotted at Lake Hayes, and the pair in Queenstown Bay are working on a nest on…
Read MoreDate: 3rd December 2024
We’d like to give a huge thank you to all of those who entered this year’s Wildlife Photography Competition! We had 45 stunning images entered – we are…
Read MoreDate: 3rd December 2024
Supporting Responsible Cat Ownership for a Better Future: At the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust, we believe in responsible cat ownership, ensuring that companion cats live safe, healthy lives with…
Read MoreDate: 3rd December 2024
As summer approaches, it’s the perfect time to ensure your traps are in top shape for effective pest control to protect our nesting and juvenile birds. Here are…
Read MoreDate: 3rd September 2024
(Competition now closed) Welcome to the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust’s annual photo competition, all about our local native wildlife. We want to see your very best shots of nature…
Read MoreDate: 5th August 2024
We may be thanking the snow gods and hitting the slopes, but our birds are starting to gear up for spring and need our protection! Our braided river…
Read MoreDate: 5th August 2024
The competition kicks off from the 1st of September 2024 and closes the 15th of October 2024. Judging will happen between 15th October to 31st October, with a…
Read MoreDate: 5th August 2024
From January 2024 to July 2024 our network of trapping groups caught a total of 8140 mustelids, hedgehogs, possums, feral cats, rats and mice. This time last year…
Read MoreDate: 5th August 2024
The Wye Creek trapping group, through the Queenstown Climbing Club, have received funding from the Tūpiki Trust. This funding will be used towards a possum and feral cat…
Read MoreDate: 5th August 2024
Winter is definitely here! Make sure that you are prepared for winter conditions when you are out trapping. Wear sturdy, grippy footwear and warm layers, including gloves! Take…
Read MoreDate: 2nd August 2024
The Whakatipu Wildlife Trust are excited to join Southern Lakes Sanctuary and Predator Free NZ for this awesome day of talks by some of the most highly regarded…
Read MoreDate: 2nd May 2024
We are very pleased to have received a grant from Topflite’s Soar Fund that enabled us to buy some Flipping Timmys that we can lend to our groups…
Read MoreDate: 2nd May 2024
Story by Dawn Palmer, Trustee We wanted to look at the trap catch information for Lake Hayes Predator Free and compare this to the increase in Southern Crested…
Read MoreDate: 30th January 2024
Photo of a McCann’s Skink in a backyard in Arthur’s Point Have you ever wondered what animals are living in your backyard? Well, this is your chance to…
Read MoreDate: 30th January 2024
A Grebe pair on Lake Hayes thanks to Marty Barwood By now, most of you will be aware that Forest and Bird ran a “bird of the century”…
Read MoreDate: 25th January 2024
I first got involved with Predator Free Arrowtown in 2018 when I helped Ben Teele install traps in Sawpit Gully and Brow Peak. Since then, the PFA network…
Read MoreDate: 24th January 2024
Stoats are the number-one killer of many of New Zealand’s endangered native species. Stoats live in any habitat where they can find prey. In New Zealand, they are…
Read MoreDate: 14th November 2023
We’d like to give a huge thank you to all of those who entered this year’s Wildlife Photography Competition! We had a total of 73 entries – well…
Read MoreDate: 1st November 2023
Sheila ChappellI have been a resident in the Whakatipu for 47 years and always being passionate to help protect our Endemic & Native species including Fauna and Flora….
Read MoreDate: 1st November 2023
Photo – Craig McKenzie (published by Forest and Bird) The kingfisher is a distinctive bird with a green-blue back, buff to yellow undersides and a large black bill….
Read MoreDate: 14th August 2023
Even as winter is not done with us yet, we’ve passed the shortest day and the first whiff of spring is not far away. Inland braided rivers of…
Read MoreDate: 14th August 2023
My trapping life started in 2018 helping Hans build the traps for Lake Hayes and was on the checking rotation for a year before helping Dawn get Tucker…
Read MoreDate: 14th August 2023
The marsh crake (Porzana pusilla affinis), or koitareke as it is known to Maori, is one of the most secretive New Zealand birds, largely because it inhabits dense…
Read MoreDate: 29th May 2023
Welcome to the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust’s annual photo competition, all about our local native wildlife. We want to see your very best shots of nature here in the…
Read MoreDate: 24th April 2023
My name is Sean Robertson I’m originally from the southwest of England, I have been in NZ for 13 years and just over 12 in Queenstown. For the last 12…
Read MoreDate: 6th December 2022
The Queenstown Climbing Club conservation squad had a busy November with two planting days at both QEII Remarkables Station and Queenstown Hill. Not exactly trapping but creating habitat and…
Read MoreDate: 30th November 2022
Written by Bonnie Wilkins – Whakatipu Hub Coordinator for SLS and WWT It has been a bad few months to be a possum in Bush Creek, Arrowtown! The…
Read MoreDate: 7th November 2022
We’d like to give a huge thank you to all of those who entered our first Wildlife Photography Competition! We had a lot of amazing entries – well…
Read MoreDate: 18th October 2022
Nerolie and Chris Cook have lived at Drift Bay for 22 years where, along with their neighbours, they have created a beautiful haven filled with native trees and…
Read MoreDate: 18th October 2022
NZ Birds – Otago, with sponsorship from ORC, and technical support of DOC and a University of Otago PhD candidate, have embarked on a regional survey and monitoring…
Read MoreDate: 1st September 2022
Welcome to the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust’s very first photo competition, all about our native wildlife. We want to see what get’s you excited about nature here in the…
Read MoreDate: 4th August 2022
Colin Kelly setting a trap at Kelvin Peninsula
Read MoreDate: 23rd December 2021
Queenstown Climbing Club initially worked with DOC in 2013 to put in a single line of 35 x DOC 200 traps in Wye Creek. Since then, the club…
Read MoreDate: 22nd December 2021
In September the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust installed 3 Nesting platforms in Queenstown Bay. Crested Grebe are a rather rare and unusual species of water bird that is barely…
Read MoreDate: 4th October 2021
Whakatipu Wildlife Trust was awarded a grant through the Curious Minds Initiative funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to undertake a Citizen Science Project…
Read MoreDate: 22nd September 2021
The Tucker Beach Wildlife Management Reserve covers 150 hectares of Department of Conservation land straddling a large bend in the Lower Shotover River. For many years the 60…
Read MoreDate: 7th May 2020
During the last year, the WWT has been involved in a project to look at the possibilities for what a landscape scale approach to predator suppression and eradication…
Read MoreDate: 7th May 2020
While many of our predator free programmes began with a desire to protect birds, Paradise began because of bats. Located at the Head of the Lake bordering Diamond…
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