Summer Visitors Encounter Nature

What a fantastic summer we’ve had with more than 500 people participating in our 2015 Summer Programme. Our volunteers ran 24 events during Jan, and managed to raise $4000. This money will help us continue to protect biodiversity on the Coromandel.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many locals and visitors while out running our Summer Programme activities during January. Thanks to everyone that has come along and supported us. It gives such a boost to our volunteers, to see the delight on people’s faces when they have an impacting encounter with nature.

At times conservation work can be arduous. And it is easy to become accustomed to the beauty of where we live and work, and the creatures we interact with. So seeing others make new discoveries about the natural world and hearing what they are observing in their backyards helps renew our enthusiasm for protecting biodiversity on the Coromandel. We hope we have inspired a few of you to get involved and help us protect what makes the Coromandel magical.

A boy holds a green gecko during a Meet a Gecko Summer Programme event

A boy holds a green gecko during a Meet a Gecko Summer Programme event

One of the highlights of this year’s Programme was listening to herpetologist Doug Ashby during the ‘Meet a Gecko’ activity at Driving Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. Doug is a brilliant speaker with an infectious enthusiasm for gecko but equally impressive were the reptilian-facts and thoughtful questions brought by children who attended. With everyone present getting to hold live gecko, the experience was memorable.

Our Summer programme has been running for over thirteen years and all funds raised go towards the protection of kiwi habitat in the Coromandel. Activities this year included guided walks, Starlight Cinema, Upclose Kiwi Encounters, nocturnal walks, a Family Fun Run at Little Bay and Coastal clean-up at Waitete Bay. Unfortunately, the much-anticipated Day-trips to Cuvier Island had to be postponed this year due to the swell making landing on the island unsafe.