Stoat traps in Fiordland

Wednesday 26th February

While we were exploring the "Spooky Trail" we discovered 3 stoat traps.



Ben said, " We found an egg in the stoat trap.  I used a torch for to see what was inside the trap.  We went and see'd another stoat trap and we found a rat, it was dead. We walked and walked till we found a stoat trap, we checked it and we looked and looked till  we found all of them - there were three."

Neve's Story
"We found 3 stoat traps in the Spooky Trail.  There were eggs in the stoat traps.  One had a rat in the stoat trap.  We used a torch to look in the stoat trap because we wanted to see the rat."

 Lexi's Story:
"We saw some eggs in a stoat trap. One trap had a rat.  We have traps because there are stoats and they eat the eggs of the fantail.  We used a torch because we can't see the egg in the stoat trap."









Zack's Story, " We found 3 stoat traps in the Spooky Forest.  There were eggs in them but one was a rat.  He was dead.  We don't want them here because we don't want them to eat eggs - bird's eggs.  Dad put stoat traps in the forest because to keep stoats away."


The children were very excited that we had found a rat as, along with stoats,  they know what a danger they are to our precious native birds.  They are very protective of our birds and understand that to keep our birds alive it is important that these predators need to be killed in traps.

Common skink/ mokomoko marea

As part of our involvement with Kids Restore the Kepler we have been studying meet the locals.  This week it was the common skink.  We have found out that skinks are reptiles and are cold blooded.  This means that they cannot move fast or digest food if they are cold.  The common skink needs to bask in the sun to warm itself up before it goes hunting for insects.

Skinks and geckos can drop their tails if attacked by a predator.  While the predator is distracted by the still-wriggling tail, the skink can escape.

Most of the world’s skinks lay eggs, but New Zealand skinks give birth to babies instead.   Baby common skinks are just 2.5 cm long from snout to tail tip.  Adult skinks can grow to 14 cm long.

Skinks need: stones to bask on, long grass to hide in and insects to eat.  Skinks also eat small berries and drink nectar from flowers. 

At Nature Discovery today Mrs Shaw said she would try and find a skink by the jumping rocks where we often find them, try and catch it and take it back to Kindergarten to show the rest of the children.

 We were very excited when Mrs Shaw turned over a rock and there was one, we had a container especially for it, and with the help of Moretta (Will's Mum) we caught it and put it in the container.  But not before it bit Moretta on her hand.

Will "When we caught it, it was scared.  It really wanted to go back under the rock.  It bit my Mum's hand.
Zack "I like it's colours.  It likes to eat spiders.  It like to live under rocks.  It's warm under the rocks."
Ruby "We found the skink at the jumping rocks. I liked looking at it, I like it's colours."
Bailey "We caught spiders and bugs for his food.  It likes spiders and plants. I like her colours"
Ben "It bited Will's Mum, we brang it to Kindergarten to show all the other kids.  He can move fast and hide".
Sasha "We found it at the jumping rocks.  It was hiding under the rocks.  I like its eyes"
Neve "It bit Moretta because she catched it.  I like its colours,. It eats spiders".
Lexi "It was at the jumping rocks.  Will's Mum caught it and it bit her.  It likes rocks because they get hot. The tails breaks if something tries to eat it."
Lily "We moved a rock and we saw a skink.  We got it and the skink bit her hand and then we took it to kindy.  Mrs shaw went round and round with the skink so everyone could see it.  I like the stripes on its back.  It is beautiful."
Libby "We find the skinks at the jumping rocks. They are hiding.  They like to eat plants and insects.  If a cat tries to eat it, its tail comes off and they grows another tail."
Iris "They are long and they have four legs. I like the stripes of them."
Jazz  "We find them at Nature Discovery.  Skinks have a head and four legs.  They eat worms.  I like the brown and black colours."
Hayden "They live under rocks.  Because they like to keep warm. I like his stripes".

Some of the children from Te anau Primary were up at the park too, and as Mrs Shaw knew they were learning about skinks too, so she took it to show them.  Later that afternoon the skink visited the school for everyone to see.
Mrs Shaw put him in the storeroom where it was cool and dark for the night.
The next day at Welcome Time we sat in a big circle and Mrs Shaw took him around for us all to see.  In the afternoon the teachers took him back to the jumping rocks-his home.  He will be happy.

After exploring bugs, climbing trees and playing in the mud the children wanted story.  The story of the day was the Three Little Pigs.  We decided to make the houses out of things we could find in the park.  Grass for the straw house, sticks for the stick house and mud for the brick house.  Little pine cones were used for the pigs and a big pine cone for the wolf and so the story began.  This story wasn't the traditional story as everyone added their own twist it was the best story I have heard.  Later back at the shed while sitting around the camp fire we talked about what was our favourite thing that happened today, for many it was making the houses and telling the story.  Story time is always magical.

Today was our first day back at Nature Discovery after the Christmas break and what a day it was.  We visited some of our favourite spots like shady hollow and the Gnuff house.  The first job we had to do was check the rain gauge and after all the rain we have had over the holidays Jake discovered it was quite fill.  At the Gnuff house there was a nice surprise waiting for us, Kirsty from Busy Bodies was there with her children and her two dogs.  We all had a great time catching up and practicing our balancing skills on the tree logs.  Next it was off to the lake to see if we could spot the baby ducklings we discovered last year.  Two female ducks came to say hello and a wee while later one baby duck came to join the party.  The children notice how much he had grown but there were lots of questions about where the other ones were, hopefully next time we go we might spot some more.

Cubby building at Lake Te Anau

 After Lake Te Anau being very high for a few weeks the level had dropped and left lots of driftwood lying on the beach, so instead of going up into the park straight away we spent some time at the lake making a cubby.                                                                                                                                        

James carrying a big load

Dylan's sister Olivia lending a hand

Wades Dad Richard a skull and crossbones flag to sail on top of our building

Here's Wade inside

Some of us had a paddle.

Bugs, ladders and stretchers

It was a day of bugs, ladders and stretchers at Nature Discovery.  Bailey brought a bug from home to release at the park, she thought it would be happier there and then we found an amazing green bug that had three little fingers on his antennae.  Using our insect book we tried to identify each bug but further research is required.

Tree climbing was on the agenda for the day and some children found it very easy to pull themselves up to the lower branches others had a wee bit of trouble.  How could we solve this problem without teachers lifting them into the tree?  After brainstorming the children came up with the idea to make a ladder.  But how?  Jenny has just been on holiday in the UK and came back with a wonderful stick book.  So we looked in there and sure enough it had pictures on how to make a ladder.  Working together a ladder was built and Bailey was the first to test it out.    

Jenny's wonderful book also showed us how to make a stretcher using two very big strong sticks and a coat.  We had to experiment with different sticks until we found ones that could do the job.  It was fun having turns carrying each other on the stretcher.  When we went back to the shed we used it to carry some of our stuff back.  There was a lot of laughter as children took turns carrying each other, Jake commented on how easy it was because four children helped pick it up, one on each corner.

It was another magical day.

baby bird

Monday 11th November

What bird could it be?

When we walked through "Pinecone World" the children wanted to see if the hedgehog was still there under the pine needles.  We carefully moved the pine needles with a small stick to search for it where we had buried it.  We couldn't find it until someone shouted, "I can see bones."
Looking closely at them and after some discussion, we decided that they must have been from the hedgehog.  We saw jaw bones with what looked like teeth sticking up from them.

Wade said, "The bones were just left, the rest of the hedgehog in the dirt.  The bones were from his mouth.  I see teeth."



When we were walking towards the climbing trees we discovered a baby bird laying on the path. It was dead and we decided that it must have fallen out of a tree because it was too little to fly.
                                                                                 

Lucas's Story:
 "We found a baby bird by the troll bridge.  It died cos it had fallen out from a nest. We dig a hole and bury it cos was feeling sick and died so that why we buried it cos we love it."








Wade's Story:
"We found a baby bird in the middle of the path.  It had fallen out of the nest.  It couldn't fly yet, the wings had some feathers.  I think it was a Thrush or a Starling.  We buried it on the edge of the path so no dogs will eat it. We put a stick standing up by the baby bird where we buried it."

Libby's Story:
"We found a baby bird up the path.  It was dead.  It falled off its nest. I couldn't fly cos its not ready. We buried it cos it was dead."


By burying the baby bird we were learning about empathy and respect towards animals, even in death. The baby bird was safe from anymore harm.