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Town Belt Kaitiaki
Town Belt Kaitiaki (TBK) is a student-led education programme for Dunedin schools and ECE centres.
TAKING ACTION TO BOOST OUR BIRDS![]()
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We had a lovely afternoon yesterday at Tolcarne in the Town Belt attending the City Sanctuary / John McGlashan / Town Belt Kaitiaki Trap Training. This is a Seniors Group of Year 12 students organised by their TBK Link Teacher Brendan Porter and trained up by City Sanctuary. The students will be looking after this part of the Town Belt, to remove possums and rats. Rats in particular predate on chicks in the nest, and this is very good habitat for birds such as piwakawaka, korimako and riroriro. In fact last year, we saw a titpounamu / rifleman in here (the only one recorded by eBird in the Town Belt in the last 10 years or so! Very exciting. ![]()
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TBK is very proud to be involved to help this happen and to help connect these keen students with our native bush. Thank you City Sanctuary for a fantastic training day!
REFLECTIONS ON THE YEAR AND LOOKING AHEAD![]()
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The end of the TBK year is drawing to a close. And what a roller coaster of a year it has been! From shutting down the programme at the beginning of the year to getting fully up and running again on secure footing - we're so grateful to our financial rescuers - the ORC and in particular the DCC. 🤗![]()
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What has also been fabulous is that all of our schools and ECEs stuck by us and that quite a few of our student leaders returned. We're very grateful to you all! It's also been marvellous to get to know our new Student Leaders and Link Teachers. And we've made some new friends too - like Balmacewen Lions!![]()
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Now after 6 months of busy times with students and schools, the students have achieved quite a few of our goals for the year. Such as ... drum roll! 🥁![]()
🤳Promoting the Town Belt with a stall, submissions and a podcast. ![]()
🌳Restoring our Town Belt to better health with planting trees, weeding, pest monitoring, picking up rubbish and monitoring birds. ![]()
🐝Connecting to nature and learning about it.![]()
Crucially none of our activities would have been possible without our Volunteers and supporting organisations.![]()
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2026 is looking like a busy and fun year already for our 12 participating schools and four early childhood centres (welcome again City Heights Montessori!). (Watch this space!)![]()
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Thanks to you all for supporting us! Here's some photos from the year to enjoy again.![]()
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WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL BREAK AND SUMMER CELEBRATIONS
TBK ACTIVITIES LAST WEEK![]()
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Last week while Seniors were busy sitting exams, the November meeting for the Student Leadership Team was led by the Juniors. ![]()
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The students made some exciting invertebrate discoveries at their Role Model Site in the Dunedin Town Belt. Our little part of the Town Belt was thrumming with a diversity of bugs, bees, flies and fleas. When you look up close, they are are all so beautiful, intricate and interesting. ![]()
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Everyone, even those of us who say we don't like critters, loved it! The hunt for something new is pretty addictive. ![]()
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There's also been a terrific amount of damage in the forest since the big storm. We were careful where we went to avoid hung up branches and unstable trees. Tree death is part of nature, the trees will decompose slowly providing homes and food for our invertebrates and fungi.![]()
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Many thanks to our invertebrate experts Connal, Luna and Tabitha and to our TBK Volunteer Ella for making this a lovely afternoon.![]()
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TRINITY COLLEGE - BUG, BIRD and PLANT DAY![]()
Last week we also had a marvellous day assisting Year 7 Students to ID and monitor invertebrates, birds and vegetation. It's one of my favourite TBK days of the year to help so many young people connect to birds and learn a bit more about them. The only drag was the intermittent noisy presence of the council lawmower that wasn't too conducive to listening to bird song! We will check the council's mowing timetable next year.
EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED![]()
Our TBK Link Teacher for St Joseph's Cathedral School has been leading his Year 3 students to take action to care for the harbour this Term. ![]()
The waterway connections between what we put down stormwater drains and what ends up in the Dunedin Harbour are much more direct than what many people realise. Pollutants from cars, paint, herbicides and outdoor cleaners are washed into drains and entr into the harbour. Likewise microplastics, tossed packaging and cigarette butts take the same journey.![]()
Last week the children painted blue fish beside the drains in their school as a reminder to people that what goes down the drain ends up in our waterways and harbour to harm aquatic life there, including fish.![]()
ThankŌtākou EnviroschoolsOtago for the loan of their cool fish stencil kit!
Episode 7 on EVERYTHING BUGS, INSECTS AND CREEPY CRAWLIES.![]()
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Hurray! The Town Belt Kaitiaki student leadership team are back with their Town Belt Kaitiaki Podcast.![]()
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Anya, Ridima and Saanvika lead a super fun and very informative episode about all sorts of invertebrates in the Town Belt and beyond! Listen in! ![]()
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This episode is 100% student led and created! Well done guys! And thanks to OAR FM for your support.![]()
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7 - Everything bugs, insects and creepy crawlies
accessmedia.nz
A student-led podcast from the students of Town Belt Kaitiaki, covering the unique biodiversity of Dunedin's Town Belt, how we can protect it, and offer insight into Town Belt Kaitiaki's activities.