Forest & Bird - Wellington Branch

An exciting upcoming show about the birds of Wellington

This is something a bit different. The show "David Klein presents: Birds" is coming up at the Fringe Festival. It's a love letter to Wellington and the feathered friends we share the city with – We think Wellington branch members will really enjoy it!

You might know David through his work with Predator Free Wellington

The show is on 6:30pm, Thursday 26 February – Sunday 1 March, upstairs at Bicycle Junction, 1 Marion St, Te Aro.

Tickets and more details via https://tickets.fringe.co.nz/event/446:8214/

Penguin Avoidance Training (PAT) for dogs
is happening in Wellington
The dates and locations for the training are:
Saturday 21st February and Sunday 29th March at Eastbourne
Sunday 22nd February and Saturday 28th March at Lyall Bay

If you have a dog that goes to the beach then this is a great opportunity to have them trained to respect penguins.

The training is excellent and very reasonably priced at $40.

For more details and to book contact [email protected]

This link gives a great overview of the training

New training programme helps protect world's smallest penguin A new training method has been developed to teach dogs how to avoid the nesting sites of kororā around Wellington's coastlines.

Happy New Bug Year
Vote for New Zealand Bug of the Year 2026!

Voting closes midnight, 16 Feb 2026

https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2026/

Wonderful opportunity 🌳

Calling all Wellingtonians! We need your help to secure one of the city’s last remaining tracts of old-growth native forest.

It’s in South Mākara and is an absolute gem. Botanists are drooling over it. Kiwi have moved in already. The 71 hectares will flourish as we put effective pest control and monitoring in place.

We’re very excited to be partnering with Ngahuru Charitable Trust to purchase the property. Together we can secure this extraordinary landscape for future generations, honouring both the natural heritage of Te Whanganui-a-Tara and the enduring connection of mana whenua to the land.

Wellington Botanical Society and several generous private donors have committed funding. We’re also incredibly grateful to our friends at The Capital Kiwi Project who’ve worked alongside us to get this far.

The vendor has accepted our offer, which is subject to finance. We have until 31 December to find pledges for the remaining $98,000.

Will you join us to safeguard this local treasure for generations to come? It’s a legacy investment in the ecological and cultural future of Wellington.

Together we can make it happen! Are you in?!

Donate now on our Givealittle page https://givealittle.co.nz/org/wellington-natural-heritage-trust #! or email us to register your pledge: [email protected]

See more on: www.wnht.org.nz

Thanks to the Kāpiti-Mana Branch for this reminder.

Herds of Special Interest - consultation closes Sunday 8 December

I know it is a really busy time of year, but even short (three sentences) submissions count, and I forgot to include the Herds of Special Interest information (consultations close on 8 December 2025 - i.e. Sunday). There are two documents (one on Wapiti, and one on Sika deer). The documents are in-depth and complex, but the submission documents have the ability to go in and comment near the title.
I'm going to say something like 'I do not support this management plan for the Herds of Special Interest. DOC parks and reserves were created to protect native biodiversity - our precious fauna and flora, and a plan to allow or to encourage non-native animals - such as Wapiti/Sika deer will undermine this objective and leave these areas in a worse state, as has already been well proven. I ask that this management plan for a herd of special interest be abolished. '
It would be wonderful if you could add your voice of protest too.

Here are the links:
Wapiti - https://www.consultations.doc.govt.nz/kpse/event/2295233C-AF57-4CD3-85CC-1CE490FA4FD9
Sika - https://www.consultations.doc.govt.nz/kpse/event/2FE6B1EA-E51F-4F6B-BA54-319329B90FCB

Ngā mihi,
Kāpiti-Mana Branch

Read our latest newsletter online. Something for everyone. And check out our upcoming speaker on the wonderful world of dragonflies and damselflies! https://mailchi.mp/forestandbird/forest-bird-wellington-nov-newsletter-18248477

Time to grab a camera and photograph our wonderful southern hemisphere biodiversity this weekend.

Join The Great Southern BioBlitz for 2025 which is on from October 24th-27th.

You have a further 14 days to upload and identify observations made during this period to the iNaturalist platform.

So get snapping this weekend

Details at

GSB 2025 | SouthernBioBlitz The Great Southern BioBlitz is an opportunity for all Southern Hemisphere countries to record organisms during Spring and showcase our beautiful biodiversity to the world. The event is run by a grassroots network of keen citizen scientists from across the globe.

Get out there and in your local elections. This weekend is a great time to read more about your local candidates. Predator Free Wellington surveyed candidates and so did we. Check this out below, and follow us here for more from us soon.

We all know it: Wellington's increasing biodiversity has become a non-negotiable part of our city's identity. That support is reflected in our survey of local election candidates: 98% saw biodiversity as essential.

Nearly 500 people have checked out the survey results! Learn more about what your candidates believe on our website – link in the comments 👇🏾

We asked questions about support for nature to candidates for regional council and Wellington city mayor and council and are posting them all here.

Here is another candidate Q&A. Check out our previous posts for more responses.

Sam O'Brien Motukairangi / Eastern General Ward

Waterways & harbour: What will you do to protect Wellington harbour, and how will you work with the regional council to reduce pollution in our waterways?

Labour will develop a 100-year vision of environmental restoration for te taiao in partnership with the community, including with iwi, hapū, and other Māori communities, including Whaitua action plans. We will also investigate a green jobs programme that includes support for water restoration work. We will uphold a true partnership with mana whenua in this work.

Urban development: How will you ensure room for nature (trees, birds, green space) is included in urban planning decisions?

Labour will lead climate and environmental action including: restoring nature; supporting predator free work; planting more trees in reserves to create habitat for native birds and planting more street trees.

Predator Free Wellington: What actions will you take to support Predator Free Wellington’s goal of eliminating predators, and to protect the gains from Zealandia’s success?

We will continue to fund Predator Free work and establish a 100-year vision for environmental restoration.

Kiwi protection: With over 200 kiwi now in Wellington’s western hills, what plans will you support to protect and grow their population?

We will continue to fund Predator Free work and establish a 100-year vision for environmental restoration.

Personal connection: Are you involved in any local community conservation groups? What has been your best experience volunteering?

I am not involved with any local community conservation groups but have been lucky to work in the environmental space for a number of years. In particular, I have worked on freshwater management in the region and in a short-term role providing public education on preventing the spread of freshwater pest species.

*PS in case you are wondering, Forest & Bird is a registered charity and is politically neutral. We are sharing all the responses that we can as fast we can. Check out earlier posts for the list of questions and more responses.

Are you registered to vote in local elections? Nature needs your voice. Check out our previous posts from mayoral and council candidates answering our questions about their views on nature - and at local elections this year.

Thanks to Joy Gribben for western Wellington, Labour's candidate for Wharangi/Onslow-Western Ward, for answering our questions!

"Thanks for the opportunity to focus on our environment in this campaign. Here are my answers to your questions.

Waterways & harbour: What will you do to protect Wellington harbour, and how will you work with the regional council to reduce pollution in our waterways?

Labour will develop a 100-year vision of environmental restoration for te taiao in partnership with the community, including with iwi, hapū, and other Māori communities, including Whaitua action plans. We will also investigate a green jobs programme that includes support water restoration work. We will uphold a true partnership with mana whenua in this work.

Urban development: How will you ensure room for nature (trees, birds, green space) is included in urban planning decisions?
Labour will lead climate and environmental action including: restoring nature; supporting predator free work; planting more trees in reserves to create habitat for native birds and planting more street trees.

Predator Free Wellington: What actions will you take to support Predator Free Wellington’s goal of eliminating predators, and to protect the gains from Zealandia’s success?
We will continue to fund Predator Free work and establish a 100-year vision for environmental restoration as mentioned above.

Kiwi protection: With over 200 kiwi now in Wellington’s western hills, what plans will you support to protect and grow their population?
We will continue to fund Predator Free work and establish a 100-year vision for environmental restoration as mentioned above.

Personal connection: Are you involved in any local community conservation groups? What has been your best experience volunteering? I'm focussing on homelessness for volunteer work at the moment, however, I used to work on Predator Free Karori, doing the newsletter and had a garage full of rat traps which we distributed to people in the area. I've done many planting days around Wellington too. While trapping rats is good, I think planting is the best - it's just so lovely to see all the new plants at the end of a day doing a working bee."

Joy Gribben - Candidate for Wellington City Council - NZ Local Elections 2025 - Policy.nz Don’t know who to vote for? Policy.nz is the complete guide to elections. Compare the candidates to see where you stand.

A great way to get into spring! Join the competition with Predator Free Wellington and be in to win.

🎉 COMPETITION TIME! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮? We'd love to see! Share a photo – maybe it’s more birds, you and friends out enjoying nature, having a good night’s sleep or your fruit trees uneaten by rats. Show us your .

Send us a photo from Wellington that shows what a rat free neighbourhood means. Our competition runs until 5pm, Sunday 21 September. ⭐️ Learn more and enter here 👉🏽 https://www.pfw.org.nz/our-project/news/snap-and-share-our-photography-competition

A huge thanks to our friends for generously supplying these amazing prizes:
🦜👀 double pass for a Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne Ecosanctuary by Night guided tour, and two individual general admission passes
🔨 a $100 voucher from Mitre 10 Crofton Downs Services
🥜 a four jar bundle of peanut butter from Fix and Fogg
💚 beautiful native bird posters from the Predator Free New Zealand Trust