Kereru © James Allan
30th December 2025
While our gorgeous native birds often steal the conservation spotlight, some of our region’s most incredible creatures go about their lives largely unnoticed. This year, we’re shining a light on the smallest and often overlooked inhabitants of the Whakatipu – and we need your help to protect them.
On the slopes of Te Taumata-o-Hakitekura / Ben Lomond, something special might still be living. Some of Aotearoa’s threatened moths – tiny, beautiful creatures that most people have never heard of – have been found here.
About 70% of New Zealand’s moth species are classified as ‘At Risk’ or ‘Threatened’ with extinction. Moths might seem small and unimportant, but they’re actually vital indicators of environmental health and important pollinators for our native plants.
Supported by a grant from WWF-New Zealand and The Tindall Foundation, The Te-taumata-o-Hakitekura – Ben Lomond Threatened Endemic Moths Project will establish long-term monitoring of native moth communities on Ben Lomond in Queenstown. Using non-lethal trapping and citizen science methodology, the project aims to detect surviving populations of 15 threatened and 3 data-deficient endemic moths.
We’ll be deploying non-lethal moth traps from October to April, photographing moths, then releasing them safely. If we can find rare species, we’ll try and work out what plants their caterpillars need so we can protect them. Local school students will join some surveys, and we’re recruiting community volunteers too. No experience needed – just a love of our littlest critters! This project is a joint initiative with WWT and Samuel Purdie from Southern Lakes Sanctuary.
This project combines scientific monitoring with community education through school partnerships, volunteer training workshops, and iNaturalist data sharing. This innovative approach will create the first coordinated community moth monitoring network in the Whakatipu region while building local conservation capacity and inspiring the next generation to protect these overlooked taonga species.
Our December monitoring efforts resulted in us identifying 35 different moth species from 169 individual moths, but we haven’t found Pyrausta comastis yet!
Alpine Treasure Owlet Moth, found at Ben Lomond December 2025. Photo by Samuel Purdie.
Did you know that Aotearoa New Zealand is as much a land of lizards as it is a land of birds? Otago is home to 31 lizard species – incredibly beautiful, long-lived creatures that give birth to live young. Being small and expertly camouflaged, they’re easily overlooked as they bask in the sun or hunt for insects.
Right here in the Whakatipu – possibly in your own backyard – live cryptic skink, McCann’s skink, grass skink and mountain beech geckos. Most of these species are classified as ‘At Risk – Declining’. They need our help.
Our trapping projects usually focus on rats, stoats and possums to protect our birds, but mice are an under-rated threat. Without mouse control, our local lizard populations could disappear.
We’ve launched the Whakatipu Lizard Project – a multi-year study testing whether intensive, small scale mouse suppression protects lizard populations. Working across sites including Jardine Park, Slopehill, and Whitechapel, we’ll use artificial cover objects (like little lizard hotels) and tracking tunnels to monitor both lizards and their predators during the mouse control operations. This project has been made possible thanks to the Hugo Charitable Trust NZ, Total Brand and private donors.
For this project we have partnered with local expert Samuel Purdie from Southern Lakes Sanctuary, who has the special permit required to handle native lizards. But there’s plenty of room for community volunteers! We need people to help with hands-off monitoring, checking tracking tunnels in January, photographing lizards in their artificial shelters from January to April, and helping with predator trapping from April onwards.
Cryptic skink. Photo by Samuel Purdie
“With all this trapping, are we seeing more birds?” It’s a question we get asked often. While we’re collectively removing over 13,000 predators annually and hearing wonderful anecdotal reports of increasing birdlife, we need systematic, scientific data to truly understand our impact.
Thanks to a grant from the ORC ECO Fund we have launched a new project: a Whakatipu-wide citizen science biodiversity monitoring programme. We are training volunteers to carry out monitoring activities – five-minute bird counts, tracking tunnels, wax tags and more. We’re even using advanced AR5 bioacoustic recorders – supported by Love Queenstown and Queenstown Rotary – that identify birds and bats by their calls.
Within our trapping groups, we’ve identified approx. ten sites across diverse habitats – from wetlands to beech forests to alpine scrubland. At each site, we are establishing monitoring stations and training local volunteers.
This is a long-term commitment. Year after year, we’ll build a detailed picture of how wildlife is responding in our trapping areas.
This isn’t just about collecting numbers. It’s about telling the story of our wildlife, tracking our progress, and giving people who might not be able to volunteer as a trapper a meaningful way to contribute. Some monitoring activities – like five-minute bird counts – could be perfect for less mobile residents.
Over time, we’ll be able to see trends, identify new concerns early, and celebrate our successes with real data. And when we go to funders or councils and say “this work matters,” we’ll have the evidence to back it up.
Bonnie installing at trail camera for predator monitoring.
Moths, lizards might not have the same appeal as our native birds, but they’re fundamental to healthy ecosystems. Moths pollinate plants and feed native birds and lizards. Lizards have important roles in seed dispersal and pollination of our native plants, and are part of the food web by feeding on insects and serving as food for birds. Plus they are all beautiful!
Systematic monitoring gives us the eyes to see whether our efforts are actually working or if we need to change our approach.
Every project needs volunteers and offers a chance to learn something new. Whether you’re interested in insects, lizards, or birds, whether you can commit to monthly or quarterly activities, there’s a place for you in this work.
For the Ben Lomond Moths Project: We need volunteers for moth surveys monthly throughout the summer. This involves deploying moth heath traps in the evening, and then photographing the moths the next morning up above Skyline. We will also be doing night surveys and would welcome volunteers to join us.
For the Lizard Project: We need volunteers! Help check tracking tunnels in January, check lizard shelters from January to April, and assist with predator trapping from April onwards. We’re recruiting volunteers for monitoring at Jardine Park, Slopehill, and Whitechapel. No experience needed – we’ll train you!
For Building Community Monitoring Capability: We are looking for volunteers to perform regular bird counts, help put out and bring in monitoring equipment. We are running regular monitoring workshops and hands-on field training in using tracking tunnels, wax-tags, trail cameras and bird counts. No experience necessary – if you’re interested in helping, we would love to hear from you!
Join us: Contact hello@whakatipuwildlifetrust.org.nz to find out more and get involved.
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