Trapping, Planting, Track Maintenance and Bird Call Counting with the Bream Head Conservation Trust

Bream Head Conservation Trust has several group voluntary opportunities that include the more physical work of a volunteer trapper to more relaxing work in our native plant nursery.

Activities include:

• Busby trappers - a group that meets on the second Sunday of the month for about two to three hours to rebait and check the trap lines in the Smugglers/Busby head section of the reserve. The terrain here is slightly less steep and the tracks are shorter than the Te Whara/Matariki (Mt Lion) sections of the reserve. (requires a medium level of physical work)

• Te Whara Forest Recovery Team - this group meets on the third Sunday (usually) of the month and tackles weed infestations on the Bream Head/Tw Whara side of the reserve along toward Matariki (Mt. Lion). We tend to work on the boundary areas where the terrain is more manageable but also where the weeds first infiltrate from the private lands surrounding the North side of the reserve. (requires a low to medium level of physical work)

• Native Plant Nursery - We have an area on the boundary where we are setting up our own little nursery. (requires a low level of physical work)

• 5 minute bird call counts - Every quarter we have teams of two or three who visit stations located throughout the reserve to count all calls and sighting of birds in the area. This data is entered on E bird and tracked by our bird call monitoring leader. We also have full survey's once every two years to monitor the success of our North Island Robins (Toutouwai) and Whiteheads (popokatea) that were translocated into the reserve in 2016 and 2017.

• Kiwi call counting - every May June, we participate in the annual kiwi call counts - There are six listening stations on the reserve and we listen for 4 nights for a two hour time block during the two week listening period.

• Track Maintenance - BHCT looks after most areas of the reserve including the main Peach Cove track and hut. We also need volunteers who are interested in helping maintain some of our trap lines. The trap lines on the Bream Head area of the reserve are long and some are quite steep which makes it difficult for the volunteers who service those lines to also attend to remarking and any clearing that is required. (requires a medium to high level of work)

Requirements

A reasonable level of fitness is usually required.

Find out more

The first step is to express your interest by filling out the enquiry form. We will then put you in touch directly with the organisation for more information and how to proceed.