Sunday 9th August 2020

A Juvenile penguin has come home

​Hello friends and family
Once again, we started the week with pleasant weather – overcast but no wind and quite mild. The bees were out foraging, and the lawn keeps growing. On Tuesday we had a de-brief from the weekend conference and a big discussion about how we could best help the penguins going forward. Later we ended up picking up both of the penguins released last week and burnt off the old dead boxthorn so we can plant Kanuka in the spot now cleared.

Goodbye Boxthorn

​Wednesday was my Toptip day and it was quiet – no rushing required, and people were generally quite relaxed. In the afternoon I watered the trees. On Thursday we had a short road trip with Patrick to check on watercress and put fresh bait in all the traps. Elaine and I did the bloods of the 3 penguins in care. The 2 that we treated earlier are still clear of Malaria, but the new young female has tested positive – she will get a course of Malarone. 

Manuka blooming in the colony

​Hiltrun and Elke came up yesterday and cleared a large tree that was smothering all its neighbours. I cleared the access to 5 nests at the south end. We watched the penguins coming home and were very pleased to see two juveniles returning with the adults. This brings the total seen so far to 8!

Claiming a nest site

Have a great week!
Rosalie
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