Kamo Intermediate School Room 13 have some great questions for the eradication team.

More brilliant letters to come…

Stephen Horn – Project Manager updates us on the completion of the baiting for the eradication of mice from Antipodes Islands

12 July 2016

5:21 pm

All done!!! We have just arrived back down the hill. Hard to believe – has been a busy campaign but all the bait now out on the hill. We have done everything we can and now have to wait and see if we are successful with the monitoring in a couple of years time. Proud of the team- they have all worked hard and done a great job on the island as have our support team back at DOC in NZ, particularly the Murihiku team. Thanks to the MDM partners and supporters. Thanks to you all. Can’t say enough about the flying of the pilots Tony and Darron – lucky to have them here. The wind today was perfect- nice and calm for all the deflector work around the coast. The low cloud was toying with us for most of the morning. However, it started to clear and we got underway – we worked in amongst the cloud coming and going all morning. It finally cleared for the rest of the day….once we finished, but hey all is well that ends well. 

Click here to read the NZ Government media release.

The Antipodes team will now focus on species monitoring and packing down the infrastructure, ready for their departure back to the mainland later this month.

Westcoast

 

Baiting. Photo by S.Horn

 

Helicopter working

 

Darron McCully. Photo by F.Cox

Southcoast

 

Ann DeSchutter – GIS expert

Mark

Stephen Horn updates us on the budding hairdresser and general problem solver – Mark Le Lievre

Just before we left I put out the call to see if anyone had hair cutting skills or tools they could bring down so we could ensure a suitable standard of dress and etiquette was maintained. Bait loader Mark Le Lievre responded with gusto and has brought with him a comprehensive grooming kit including clippers, an array of clipper combs, scissors, miniature trimmers, combs, his hair-dressing apron, a cleanup brush and a customer gown. There is no hair dye but he can offer three shades of highlighter dazzle. So far his prodigious soliciting for customers has come to no avail but I am sure his time will come. Much of his downtime is spent charging, sharpening and oiling the haircutting tools to protect against corrosion in this marine environment.

Mark having a bad hair day!

His style specialties are apparently the moulet, steps (think MC Hammer – 1990s), the flattop and the traditional comb-over. Additionally moustache grooming is a niche, with particular reverence reserved for the handlebar style. In recent times he has taken to his own facial hair to promote his skills – the only one on the island at present but perhaps the first of many.

Builder John Henderson was lined up for a beard trim on the day prior to returning to mainland NZ but in the rush of the day he ran out of time. He was pretty distraught. Maybe next time…

Base camp Antipodes Island.

Update from Stephen Horn – Project Manager

9/7/2016

We had a break in the weather yesterday afternoon after a small front clipped us in the morning, bringing a brief squall of snow. 

The weather then cleared so we baited in blue skies between 1230 and 1630 yesterday, getting 78% of the ‘across island’ bait lines 2nd application completed.

No operations today due to gusty wind but good conditions forecast for the next few days for us to continue the 2nd and final bait application.  All going well.

Cheers Stephen.

Stephen Horn – Project Manager, explains the purpose of monitoring the outer islands

It has been the goal from early in the planning to establish whether mice were present on all of the islands in the Antipodes Group to finalise our treatment area for baiting. This knowledge is important so we maximise the area where non-target species are not exposed to bait as an additional insurance.

In the Antipodes Group there are five offshore islands and one islet.

We are confident that no mice are present on Bollons and Archway.

Leeward Island and Orde Lees Islet were baited as part of the first application because of their close proximity to Antipodes Island. It was not known if mice were present on the Windward Islands but there is a small chance they could have been transported there by sealers.

The original idea was to setup mouse monitoring gear during the planned Navy trip in March but due to that voyage being cancelled this was not carried out. We haven’t had an opportunity to get to these islands prior to application 1 because the good weather has been prioritised for offloading the ship and baiting so we delayed baiting these two sites. Finally we got a chance on the second to last day of application 1. Once all the coastal baiting was done, one helicopter was freed up and Mark and Fin set off to install the devices.

We have just completed our second check of the monitoring gear and after six nights they have been clear, which is great news. We aim to check them one more time in a few days and if still clear the Windward Islands will be left out of our treatment.

It was great to be seeing snipe regularly on these small islands. Snipe are present on Antipodes but it is uncommon to see them.

The cook – Pete Kirkman complete with flour on nose

Stephen Horn – Project Manager, discusses the island diet

The food stores for the project were provided by a wholesale supplier who did a good job inspecting and packing our food to biosecurity standard. When we arrived on the island, team cook Peter Kirkman was reorganising the supplies when he discovered the 35 packs of chorizo sausage (dried spicy sausage) that he ordered inside one of our 200 litre screw-lid food storage drums. He began counting out the 35 packs of sausages (two chirozo sausages per pack) to access what was below…34, 35, 36, …. but it kept going.

Jason and Jose from Island Conservation with Chorizo

One more…

Any recipes for chorizo gratefully received.

The first bait drop on Antipodes Island to eradicate mice is now complete!

Antipodes = finishing the 1st application. Photo by K.Springer

Update from Stephen Horn Project Manager

29/6/2016

We finished the baiting this morning at about 1030 just before the cloud rolled back in!

Day 12 since we started baiting. Team pretty happy. Finally a little bit of wind helped clear the fog. Great to be completed application 1. Good feeling after the wait.

Happy with the coverage and where we are placed. Team looking forward to a couple of days where they can relax.

We are aiming for our mid-winters celebration on Sunday!

Mist hanging around the islands cliffs. Photo by K.Springer

Low mist for the last 4 days stalls the completion of the first bait drop on Antipodes Island.

Update from Stephen Horn Project Manager

 27/6/2016

On the 24th the mist did lift for a short time. Helicopters were loaded but mist rolled in again and operations halted.

We spent most of yesterday at the load-site after it looked like it was going to clear around 0830  but it breathed back in again and  stayed too foggy all day with very brief intervals where it looked like it might change in our favour but unfortunately no.

Similar situation today is forecast. Winds rising a bit for Tuesday so would expect it to clear then if no activity tomorrow. The wait goes on…

Cheers Stephen

First bait drop runs. Photo by K.Springer

Update from  Stephen Horn  – Project Manager

23/6/2016

We are holed up at the moment with clag down as low as the top of the slip, completely engulfing the loadsite and beyond.

The moon was big on the horizon when we arrived at the load site. We have been waiting since 0630 and in that time Ann has caught up on Belgium beating Sweden in the European Championship and some of the others have been busy practicing their 500 skills as we wait for the skies to clear but the fog seems to be getting lower. 

The wind is calm and would be perfect if the pilots could see where they were going.  

Low cloud stops work. Photo by S. Horn

Putting blades on helicopter early morning. Photo by S.Horn

Loadsite. Photo by K.Springer

Loadsite. Photo by S.Horn

Loading. Photo by S.Horn

Cliff baiting. Photo by K.Springer

Cheers

Stephen