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."
Ngahere Toa

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.
Bay Beach Clean

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!"
Possum Pie Party

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."
Russell Kiwi Boxes

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...."
Cat Colony

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...."
Paihia 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."
Community Trap Line

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."
Ngahere Toa

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.
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.
Ginger Binge

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!"
Ginger Binge

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.

© Bay Bush Action Trust - NZ Registered Charity
baybushaction@gmail.com
PO Box 533, Paihia 0247