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Town Belt Kaitiaki
Town Belt Kaitiaki (TBK) is a student-led education programme for Dunedin schools and ECE centres.
TRAPPING SKILLS 101 TO BRING BACK THE BIRDS!![]()
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Some of our Student Leaders who were new to trapping got trained up last week to catch possums and rats - on NAWAC approved humane traps such as Victors and Flippin Timmys. We have a small trapline in their Role Model Site where students are learning the skills, and a longer trapline across Robin Hood where experienced students are trapping. ![]()
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For us, killing a creature is not done lightly. This is why humane trapping is very important, as well as having an elimination goal that we have with Predator Free Dunedin. The aim is to get to zero or at least very low numbers so no or fewer animals are caught in the longer run. ![]()
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By doing this we can help our bush and birds to flourish again! For 80 million years, New Zealand did not have any terrestrial mammals, apart from our bats. Our endemic flora and birds such as kaka, titipounamu/rifleman and south island robin / kakaruai have evolved without the impacts of mammals. By removing them where it's achievable we can help these native flora and fauna to recover and to flourish.
BY EVIE, YEAR 6, MEDIA AND EVENTS GROUP DEPUTY![]()
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Last month, TBK had our second monthly meeting. We all met up at the same role model site spot as last time and started to plan our day. We were split up into three groups. Weeding, track making/clearing and roping off the no mow zones. The weeding people were just weeding along the sides of the tracks, while the track makers were clearing the tracks and cleaning ponds. Meanwhile, the other group went up the hill to mark off the two no mow zones. We brought stakes and neon tape. We had already made “No Mow” signs and “Please Mow” signs to put up as well as the marking tape. We then walked down to Dunedin Community House and had the rest of our planning done there. Hopefully, we can have an interesting bug study on the invertebrates living in the different lengths of grass.![]()
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POSTSCRIPT: Data collection with the bugs in the grass has started!
BUGS IN THE GRASS STUDY![]()
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Wow! It never ceases to amaze me how many more flying insects there are buzzing around over grass that's been let to grow that little bit longer compared with short grass. ![]()
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Keen members of the Student Leadership Team of Town Belt Kaitiaki met up on Tuesday at their grass study site to plan and practice collecting bug data. Lots of fun - and learning had!![]()
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The weather is cooling and daylight hours are dropping rapidly so we're rushing to get some data collected. Fingers crossed for another sunny mild day next week.![]()
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Thanks to the Dunedin City Council for supporting our study!
BY EVIE WILKINS, TBK Student Leader, Media and Events Subgroup Deputy, Year 6.![]()
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Last month, Town Belt Kaitiaki had our first monthly meeting. We met at our role model site to do some planning.![]()
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The first thing we did was introduce ourselves like we always do. Soon after we explored the role model site to check the grass length. The longer the grass was the more insects/invertebrates were living there.![]()
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We had lunch and then about half of us did birdwatching. We saw Piwakawaka, Silver eye and Bellbirds. It was amazing to see how well NZ wildlife is thriving in our role model site.![]()
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Then we packed everything up and walked down to Otago Girls Highschool. We arrived and broke up into our two main groups. Media and Hands-on. We discussed and planned our stall at the Wild Dunedin festival. Trapping and planting were also concepts of our planning, but our main priority was the Wild Dunedin festival. We were writing down ideas and brainstorming about what stall we would do for the Wild Dunedin Festival.![]()
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Near the start of the year, TBK also had a Hui. This was for the new people to get to know each other and learn what TBK is all about. After the first TBK meeting of 2026, there was also a senior meeting.![]()
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We all can’t wait for the next monthly meeting.
TBK'S EXPERIENCED TRAPPERS' TRAP LINE!![]()
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The Student Leadership Team of TBK have a new trapline in Robin Hood Reserve. This seven station trapline is targeting possums and rats. Experienced students who have prior experience with trapping will create a roster to keep it checked every week / two weeks.![]()
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Students got trained on the trap line a week or so back and we did our first check yesterday! One catch - a possum - in the NAWAC approved Flippin Timmy trap. We are helping Predator Free Dunedin's very achievable mission to eliminate this species from the Town Belt (as well as keep the Otago Peninsula possum free!). No rats were caught which is very good news too. Ship rats are keen tree climbers and think nothing of predating birds on the nest. Soon we hope to start monitoring again, this is just as important as catching to make sure we are not missing any. ![]()
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Thanks to City Sanctuary for setting up the trap line for us and training our TBK Volunteers and students on it! We are incredibly grateful!![]()
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CAN YOU HELP? We need a few more TBK Volunteers for this role - if you have been trained with City Sanctuary and would like to help - please email Maureen at townbelt.edcoordinator@gmail.com.