Latest News

Date: 12th December 2024

Remembering Ben

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…

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Date: 12th December 2024

What are our birds up to?

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…

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Date: 3rd December 2024

Photo Competition Winners 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…

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Date: 3rd December 2024

Responsible Cat Ownership

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…

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Date: 3rd December 2024

Summer Trapping Tips

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…

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Date: 3rd September 2024

Photo Competition 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…

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Date: 5th August 2024

Welcome back to our braided river birds!

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…

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Date: 5th August 2024

Our Photography Competition is back for 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…

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Date: 5th August 2024

Winter 2024 Trapping Updates

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…

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Date: 5th August 2024

Winter 2024 Monitoring at Wye Creek and Bush Creek

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…

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Date: 5th August 2024

Brrr! Winter Trapping Tips

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…

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Date: 2nd August 2024

Predator Control in Aotearoa – Community Talk

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…

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Date: 2nd May 2024

Do you want to try running a “Possum Nightclub”?

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…

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Date: 2nd May 2024

Southern Crested Grebes and Predator Control at Lake Hayes

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…

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Date: 30th January 2024

What’s living in your backyard

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…

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Date: 30th January 2024

Bird of the Century – Puteketeke – Australasian Crested Grebe

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”…

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Date: 25th January 2024

Meet a Trapper – Graeme Morrison – Predator Free Arrowtown

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…

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Date: 24th January 2024

Those Pesky Stoats

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…

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Date: 14th November 2023

Photo Competition Winners 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…

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Date: 1st November 2023

Meet the Trappers – Sheila and Heidi – Alpine Bird Song

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….

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Date: 1st November 2023

Bird of the month – Kotare – Sacred Kingfisher

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….

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Date: 14th August 2023

Welcome back to the braided river birds.

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…

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Date: 14th August 2023

Meet a Trapper – Richard Shields

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…

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Date: 14th August 2023

Secretive Little Marsh Crakes

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…

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Date: 29th May 2023

Photo Competition 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…

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Date: 24th April 2023

Meet a Trapper – NZONE

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…

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Date: 6th December 2022

Meet a Trapping Group – Queenstown Climbing Club

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…

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Date: 30th November 2022

New Trapline at Bush creek, Arrowtown

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…

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Date: 7th November 2022

Photo Competition Winners 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…

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Date: 18th October 2022

Looking after the Little Guys

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…

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Date: 18th October 2022

In search of Boomers

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…

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Date: 1st September 2022

Photo Competition 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…

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Date: 4th August 2022

Meet a trapping Group – Kelvin Peninsula Pestbusters

Colin Kelly setting a trap at Kelvin Peninsula

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Date: 23rd December 2021

Queenstown Climbing Club Remarkables expansion

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…

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Date: 22nd December 2021

Crested Grebe Nests in Queenstown Bay

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…

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Date: 4th October 2021

Citizen Science Trapping Project

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…

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Date: 22nd September 2021

Tucker Beach Wildlife Reserve Project

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…

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Date: 7th May 2020

Wildlands Report and a Proposed Southern Lakes Sanctuary

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…

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Date: 7th May 2020

Paradise Protection Programme

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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