A brilliant flash of green, and a rapid, high-pitched chattering amongst the trees. These are the characteristics of the New Zealand parakeet, or kākāriki in te reo Māori, that once flourished throughout the forests of New Zealand.

The stoat eradication team were excited to hit the 90 stoat milestone!

Years of dedicated community pest control has led to the exciting opportunity to test eradicating rats on Waiheke Island. More than a thousand people on Waiheke are currently involved in community rat control groups, which is a big reason why Waiheke was chosen to conduct a rat eradication pilot.

Stoats have been caught all over the island, with the majority caught near the coast or a waterway. In this stoat catch heat map, the lighter coloured areas show that the highest density of stoats have been caught at the Rangihoua and Awaawaroa wetlands.

Did you know that recent genetic analysis shows that stoats on Waiheke are inbred?

Great news! The eradication team is excited to have taken 80 stoats out of the Waiheke environment as we head into winter.

The eradication team is excited to have passed the milestone of catching 70 stoats!

Te Korowai o Waiheke have reached another milestone! As of this week, the eradication team are thrilled to have caught 61 stoats.

We all love backyard birding and admiring our precious wildlife, but how about taking some photos too?

Only two weeks after our third stoat milestone of 40 stoats, we have reached our fourth stoat milestone! The eradication team are thrilled to have hit 50 stoats this week.

They are just as destructive as each other, but what is the difference between a ship rat and a Norway rat?

Trappers are now checking the stoat traps every seven days — that’s a lot of walking checking 1580 traps across the island!