Heavens Above!

The NZ Herald this morning in their article recording the severe storm during the early hours of this morning that the 'Heavens opened' with heavy rain across the Auckland region. 

There was little warning of this ahead of this morning's downpour recorded by the Met Office as shown below with over 50mm of rain over just a few hours.

Sadly, these heavy downpours of rain not only cause flooding to people's homes and livelihoods but cause huge amounts of sediment to flow from inadequately protected development sites across the city into our streams, estuaries and ultimately into the Hauraki Gulf.  

Oceania Seabird Conference

 A full-on week enjoying the Oceania Seabird Conference at Auckland University which was hosted by SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme). 

The vision of SPREP - 'A resilient Pacific Environment sustaining our livelihoods and natural heritage in harmony with our cultures'.

Three days of excellent lectures from researchers active throughout the Pacific region working on the collection of data and protection of some very challenging Island environments crucial to seabird ecology.

It was excellent to meetup with New Zealand friends and engage with many Pacific Island visitors too.

 Due to the extreme weather front arriving today the field trips including a pelagic from Tutukaka marina and visits to Tawharanui sanctuary and Motuora Island had to be cancelled.

Dotterel Forum 2025

 Today was the 10th Auckland Dotterel Forum and this year it was held at a new venue the Mangere Mountain Education Centre hosted by Auckland Council. Each year the Forum gathers together a group of people (Dotterel Minders) who are dedicated to the care and protection of the Northern New Zealand Dotterel species.

Landcare researcher shows cat aversion research to protect nesting sites

Great talks today from a variety of contributors. It's always interesting to hear success stories but we are also reminded of the ongoing lack of action on the damage and disturbance from cats, dogs and development to the breeding success of this species...