Protect The Bluff - Backyard Trapping Program

14/09/2026

I am going through our data base of trappers at the moment and putting a letter into every address that has a trap box registered to it. This is just to touch base as a lot can happen in 6 years. It is to make sure people still want to be part of the project and to provide contact details and information regarding the project. I am slowly working my way through Bluff.

10/09/2026

The results are in and the most visiting bird to our gardens is still the silvereye/waxeye/tauhou. Tauhou means stranger or new arrival in Maori as it was first recorded about 1832 and was not introduced by settlers and it was thought that they blew over in a storm from Australia. This classes them as a native. Since they arrived in New Zealand about the same time as introduced pests they have adapted much better than our other native birds. Bluff bucks the nationwide trend with the tauhou been our most frequent visitor, elsewhere in NZ it is the sparrow who is the most frequent visitor.

Other interesting birds recorded this time were magpies, myna and rosella but this was from the tally sheets of 25 7-8 year olds at Bluff School. Good on them and apparently they had a enjoyable time identifying and recording their bird sightings.

09/09/2026

HELP US PROTECT FOUR YEARS OF CONSERVATION GAINS

Bluff Hill Motupōhue Environment Trust is facing a serious funding shortfall.

Over the past four years, our team and volunteers have worked relentlessly to suppress rats, possums, mustelids and feral cats across Motupōhue, Ōmāui and the wider Bluff environment. That work is making a difference—but predator control cannot simply be paused.

If trapping and monitoring fall away, predators recover. The conservation gains our community has worked so hard to achieve can quickly begin to unravel.

We need to raise $50,000 to keep essential operations going until committed project funding becomes available. This will help us maintain our trap networks, respond to equipment failures, analyse results and continue protecting the places and native wildlife that make Bluff so special.

This is not funding for a new ambition. It is funding to protect what has already been achieved.

Every contribution will help:

• $25 helps keep traps operating in the field
• $100 contributes to servicing and maintaining a trapline
• $500 supports sustained predator control in a priority area
• Larger donations can make a substantial difference to our ability to continue

Please donate here: Kiwibank | Bluff Hill Motupohue Environment Trust | 38-9008-0319201-06 | Reference - Protect | Code - Donation

(BHMET is an IRD Donee organisation so donations qualify for a NZ donation tax credit. Please email [email protected] to request a donation receipt)

If you cannot donate, please share this post. Reaching the right person, business or organisation could be just as valuable.

We have come too far to allow these gains to slip away.

11/08/2026

We have done it team, I have just recorded the 1000th rat. I am so excited to have reached this milestone and it is all thanks to the amazing group of trappers. Here is what 1000 rats look like hanging around the Stirling Point sign post, this is what the backyard trapping team have taken out of Bluff gardens.
I was taking my wheelie bin out this morning and the bird noise was amazing and I thought to myself, the team have contributed to that dawn chorus and I did a skip.

02/08/2026

Another anniversary has rolled around and I would like to thank everyone who has jumped on board and is part of our team of backyard trappers. It has been six years since we launched the backyard trapping project and we now have 434 traps protecting Bluff and the surrounding area. We have caught 979 rats and looking forward to the 1000th rat milestone. Here is a photo of Nicola giving Booboo one of the first traps 6 years ago and I must say Nicola and Booboo have not aged at all. Well done Bluff.

29/07/2026

Hello again and it is that time of year when you find that spot in your garden grab a hot drink or maybe cold and count the birds. It is the Protect the Bluff annual garden bird count. If you have 30 minutes to spare and would like to help us monitor the types of birds that visit our gardens, please pop into the Service Centre and pick up your tally sheet. It is going to run from the 7th of August to 20th August.

28/07/2026

How are you all out there in trapping land, we are getting steady catches at the moment and for the month of July we have 18 rats so far. Please when you catch let me know so I can add it to our data base. We are sitting on 971 rats since we started almost 6 years ago. Shut your eyes and imagine 971 rats, stuff of nightmares, these 971 rats have been taken out of your gardens and houses. Well done my trappers. I have posted a photo of the 100th rat caught in 2021. I am looking forward to posting a photo of the 1000th rat. So my team, keep up the good work.

19/07/2026

I had a lot of chatter on my last post about the huge rat pictured. Below is a picture of the comparison between the Norway/ water rat and the ship/roof rat. We mainly catch the ship/roof rat as they are the ones that tend to hang around whares. The main thing I use is the ears, if the ears cover the eyes it is a ship/roof rat. I have seen a Norway/water rat caught in one of our traps and as soon as I pulled it out, I noticed the wide shoulders and of course the small ears. So that is it for my rat education today, I bet you will sleep better for knowing the difference.

06/07/2026

Hi my trappers out there in Bluffy land. It is a cold day today and the rats will be feeling the cold as well and checking out warm places around your whare, so this is another reminder to keep those traps set.

We have a hot spot in Tone/ Parrett Street at the moment. One trapper has caught 4 rats in 3 days. Any trappers in these streets, take a walk and set those traps.

Just looking through my old photos and came across this picture and thought it was worth reposting. This is a Norway or water rat, how do I know, its ears are small and do not cover its eyes. Look at the size of this bad boy. These rats are commonly found around water, but we have caught these rats in our traps every now and then by a drain or water source.

29/04/2026

Further to my post yesterday, there has been more activity in Lagan Street, site of yesterday's post. Two houses up from yesterday's house, the meanest tom cat in town, but who is a big softie at heart, brought a huge live rat into the house and left the lady home owner to chase. catch and throw it outside. Next morning another rat was left dead beside the bed. To my trappers in Lagan Street, especially the hill side, please bait your traps, the rats are on the move.

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