Wasp control and eradication of rodents

Tui Nature Reserve would like to thank Richard Toft (insect ecologist) for his advice regarding wasp control. The donated new bait stations from his company Entecol worked out really well and we are pleased to confirm a successful eradication of the wasps in the beech forest this season. The booming insect life is evidence of this. We are also keen to be involved in the process of developing new technologies regarding this huge problem for the NZ flora and fauna.

The eradication of rodents on Tui Nature Reserve is well on the way but sometimes we are entering unexpected problems, like a booming Weka population. Weka's are incredibly curious and investigate anything new in their territory. This includes the rat trap and monitoring tunnels. The interference from the Weka is effecting the data collected from the rat-grid and to avoid this new ideas are necessary.

We like to thank Bruce Thomas (Ka Mate traps) for his time and donated stations to improve our rat-grids by designing a new vertical set up. Still in an early stage but this new set-up looks very promising.

We keep you posted!!