April and May trap clearing events

The April event was on Easter Saturday with lots of people at the lake expressing their support for the trapping programme. We had a great crew of young and not so young helpers at Hans Bay including at the young end of the spectrum Albie Moore (chief photo journalist), Xanthe Moore (digital technology operator) and their friends Flyn (power tool operator) and Emily (team supervisor). At the older end of the spectrum we had David Richards, Trevor Cassie, Liz Holland and me. Over at Sunny Bight we had the regular crew of Liz Sawkins, Paul Dunn and Emma Harding. I'd been concerned that our new contingent of young helpers might get dissappointed and bored if most of our traps were empty. I needn't have worried because we discovered a very large, dead, stoat in the first trap we opened in front of the Hurley's place. Additionally, the young ones were right into it and were a pleasure to work alongside from start to finish over about two hours.

The May event was on a cold and wet day. Special thanks to those who ventured out including Alan Hurley, Sandy and Malcolm Robbins, Steve Blackwood, Colin Boneface, Liz Sawkins, and Paul Dunn. Thanks to Emma for warming us up afterwoards with some home baking and tea and coffee.

Here are some general observations about our trapping effectiveness in these colder months:

• We're catching more and more rats each month (15 last month)

• We're catching 1 - 2 stoats consistently each month (they kill about 100 birds each a year, and live for 3 - 4 years)

• Some traps have caught nothing since first installed and we'll move them soon to hopefully better locations

• The bait goes mouldy quickly in the wet (we're exploring other longer lasting options; including participating in a trial with the University of Canterbury department of science)

• There are rats on the Hans Bay islands (we've caught three so far)

• Mice are eating our baits and not getting caught in the traps (we're now trialling a plastic 'Luregard' to protect the bait from the mice - see the photo below)

We're looking forward to seeing more of you at our future monthly trap checking events. See the Trap Clearing Schedule.

Young and not so young clearing the traps at Easter

This stoat was in the first trap checked. That's 100 birds saved per year for three - four years.

The Luregard protects the bait from being eaten by mice.

The catch numbers increase monthly