Blog

The Mahood Lowe reserve was opened in March 2019 after the Native Forest Restoration Trust managed to acquire a block of land adjacent to the Egmont National park boundary at the end of Alfred Rd and secure its protection.  I've been meaning to check out this reserve for a while and finally made it up there today.  The reserve is accessed via a gravel track off the end of Alfred Rd. It is a unique block of mixed podocarp wetland forest. It boarders an area of the national park whe …

Whenever I go to Wellington I always try and fit in a visit to Zealandia. Even without my interest in nature photography, I somply enjoy walking around the tracks in Zealandia and hearing the rich bird song and seeing the amazing abundance of native birds that are now thriving in this pest proof sanctuary.  Unfortunately on my last visit, the upper valley was closed due to work being undertaken on the power lines so I couldn't walk some of my favourite tracks so instead I did the valley vie …

I managed to fit in a quick trip to Zealandia on a recent weekend visit to Wellington. I didn't have much time but Zealandia never disappoints. Apart from getting some wonderful sitings of rare native birds (tieke, hihi and kaka) the birdsong alone makes any visit to Zealandia worthwhile for me. I was very lucky to see a pair of tieke (saddleback) feeding their almost fully grown young.Just as the tieke moved off this tui came and landed right beside me in the flax.Then I had an amazing mom …