Ohu Te Māhi, Our Work
We've been involved with dozens of local projects and causes to help our native wildlife thrive. Here
are some of our efforts.
Ngahere Toa
"Every week they learn one new native tree and one new native bird and all about them."
Bay Bush Warriors (Ngahere Toa) is a group of eight kids that help save the forest by setting traps in the bush every Monday after school.
Together, with BBA, they do lots of team building and fun stuff, like kayaking, swimming, beach cleans, horse riding, shooting targets, cooking on campfires and much more.
Every week they learn one new native tree and one new native bird and all about them.
Bay Beach Clean
On the second Sunday of each month local beaches get the once over.
We have two teams, one that starts at Waitangi and the other at Te Haumi and meet afterwards in the middle at Lets for
coffee.
Join us by visiting
Bay Beach Clean for times and to register.
Possum Pie Party
"...over 100 possum meat pies!"
Bay Busy Action threw a "Possum Pie Party" to celebrate the hard work of our volunteers and people who
are part of the community trap line.
A special thankyou to Raewyn, Molly and Stella for helping out with the making of over 100 possum meat pies!
Dean Baigent Mercer presented lots of interesting information about Opua Forest during the evening.
The Russell Kiwi Box
"....they are much more dog proof than natural sites."
The Northland Region Corrections Facility is making up forty Russell Kiwi Boxes with 45 sheets of J-Ply Plywood donated to us
by New Zealand Wood Products along with help from a kind donation by
Manuka Health
Dogs are the biggest threat to kiwi and can kill an entire population of kiwi in no time. Kiwiboxes
help protect them.
Paihia Cat Colony
"Between 9 to 16 cats were being fed in the reserve...."
With the support of the Department of Conservation, Forest and Bird, Northland Regional Council
and locals, Bay Bush Action worked hard to get a wild cat colony cleaned up in a Paihia town Williams reserve.
After years of arm wrestling with the Paihia Cat Protection group, protests against us on TV, National
newspaper stories, Facebook pages, leaflet drops in towns, the Far North District Council finally trapped
the cats and the SPCA found fully contained loving homes for them. What we had asked for all along.
Motu Maire, Motu Arahi
"So far we have trapped well over 100 rats and 1 huge possum off these islands...."
Each year we tape off the endangered dotterel nest sites on the little islands out from Paihia town, Motu Maire
and Motu Arahi. This stops people from walking on their nests and breaking the eggs. Their eggs are very hard
to see in the sand.
Waitangi is one of the largest Northland flocking sights for dotterels, with around 50 birds flying in from
between January and April.
Community Trap Line
"Residents of these areas can get traps from Bay Bush Action for free."
In 2014 we developed the Community Trap Line to compliment our trapping programme in Opua Forest. Many of the
homes in the Haruru, Waitangi, Paihia and Opua area back on to the forest. Residents of these areas can get
traps from Bay Bush Action for free. All we ask in return is that you log your catch on our website, or txt the
results through to us.
It has taken off and the competition between communities is fierce. The Waitangi Community is winning with the
most trap uptake but Opua is now well ahead with the number of pests trapped.
Window Decals
"The stickers...stand out to
birds by reflecting UV light."
With money donated by trustees, specially designed stickers, highly visible to birds were given away to
Waitangi, Paihia and Opua residents in an effort to prevent native birds striking glass doors and windows.
About 70 wood pigeons are taken into the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Center
each year after hitting windows.The decals giveaway, the three hundred cat bell collars given away
last year along with pest control, all go hand in hand with protecting our amazing native wildlife.
Penguin Boxes
Paihia and Opua schools along with the Waitangi Cubs helped paint a whole heap of little blue penguin boxes.
Since the sixties the little blue penguin population has declined by 60%. The main problems have been
introduced predators, dogs, cats and set nets.
A DOC design for a penguin box was used to make 30 penguin boxes which were painted by local kids.
Ginger Binge
Getting rid of this terrible weed is a priority.
There had been a patch of wild ginger at the start of the Oromahoe walking track
for quite a while.
When left to grow wild ginger can get out of control quickly.
It needs to be removed roots and all so we decided to have a working bee to try and
get rid of it.
Cat Collar Give-away
"Saved by the bell!"
After a kind donation from the Trustees we had 300 cat bell collars to give away!
Peter de Graf put several articles in the local papers and we were able to send out the collars
in no time...
If domestic cats wore bell collars in urban areas the numbers of native birds caught and killed could
be reduced by as much as half, a University of Otago study shows.
However, all the feedback we received from cat owners was that cats still caught birds, the ringing bell became
annoying to some people, and we now advocate for cats to be fully contained.