Could not be more delighted to see, what I keep calling "actual work going on, on the actual ground" which delivers on the introduced mammal strategy that we co-developed with the Catlins mana whenua and community. www.facebook.com/100064257292...

I had a conversation last week about wētā pollinating flowers on Campbell Island, with pollen baskets stuffed full of pollen. Wētā! With full pollen baskets!

Very worth reading: e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...

Belle is just checking that you have done fun and restful things this weekend.

Can anyone point me to a tried and tested pear and ginger cake recipe?

In 2020, spiders as a group, received $ 9,306 funding from DOC. That same year, 493 species of spider were found to be "data deficient" meaning that we don't know enough about them to give them an accurate conservation status. Protecting their ecosystems will help spiders but also...

And sometimes, when I’m a bit sad and it’s Friday and the year is looking daunting, I channel my Mum and buy plants. This was a 50th birthday present from my brilliant Dad, from Ribbonwood Nurseries.

Much of my Dad’s family is meeting next week to say goodbye to my Uncle who died last month. I chose to live here, in my mother’s country, but sometimes there are big and heartbreaking consequences to that choice.

One of the most beautiful houses just round the corner from Dad's: www.instagram.com/reel/DU8i9p9...

Once again, my work bestie and I are a terrifying team when you piss us off. Also we have been pissed off for about 6 months now.

I can tell which part of the pre-dawn garden my small black dog has been snuffling in not by sight but by smelling the herb smell on her head when she comes back in for snuggles.

i just put chili rather than cinnamon on my breakfast!

Black pepper tempeh with broccoli and rice. Have to warm up a grim old evening.

My manager "They're a big stakholder so of course they're intrested" Me "They could be doing this work already without my" redacted but tiny, non-regulatory project. We can already do more than the regulations. We can take climate change, pollution and biosecurity seriously without laws to make us!

This morning in (heart)breaking news: New Zealand: Multiple states of emergency, right now Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: State of Origin footy match, 2027 🎉 NZ: Wellington cut off, digging out from huge storm PM: Yeah gidday from Auckland, it’s raining here too ☂️ NZ: Help? Luxon: Catch! 🏈

Tha absolute state of it!

Popped into the village cafe for a cinnamon scroll and it is packed as in a queue almost out the door. This is especially cheering as it closed down for a few weeks last month due to , well I guess it was all the things.

My brilliant colleagues are planning to do this and dtermine how Sophie-suitable the connection is aka could my chronically ill body cope with the trip. Actually my GIS-analyst is considering a "Sophie-suitable" map layer. Bless him! Your daily reminder that chronically ill folks go outside too.

I just picked the first pear from my new front fence fruit trees!

Join us to hear Mayor Sophie Barker talk about books which have influenced her life and vision for our city. Thanks to our Friends of the Library for organising this event. Thursday 5 March, 5.30pm – 6.30pm, 4th Floor, Dunedin City Library

Madprops NZ folks - how much do you adore the fireplace in this house? Me, I love it so much. www.trademe.co.nz/a/property/r...

I did an online training course today with a bunch of folks based in Aussie and they are all sweltering and I’m in my jumper and thick socks

@kats-garden.nz How is your pup this morning?

Via my work bestie and yes, this is actually us:

Homemade sourdough, one slice with smokey hummus, one with sheep's cheese. Fresh berries and yoghurt. Elderflower cordial (also home made), and a pot of tea with lemon .

I’ve taken an extra day off and so far have thrown a ball round the garden for the dog, have bread rising ready to go into the oven and am reading in the sun on the deck sofa. I have lunch scheduled with a beloved friend later.

Yes, the street was packed, but I felt no more squashed that I used to when the market was in thieves alley. Here there are benches, which were being well used, and green spaces for extra spaciousness. And, I hope that the stallholders and shops had a bumper day.

I now realise that I have always mixed up Howard's Way and Howard's end.

Ōtepoti - don’t forget, free buses to and from George street markets today (Saturday). Go enjoy the vibe.

Also the village was packed this morning too with the Masters half marathon and the waka ama . We, the village, are not particularly well set up for big events (need more bike parking and options other than cars to get here) but I hope the cafe and dairy are getting a boost.

Brilliant to see town absolutely packed for the George Street market! I hope that it’s massively successful

Yup - what Hannah says.

I'm finding Mansfield Park so much slower than Sense and Sensibility and I'm not loving it quite as much. Austen aficionados, I'm here for your MP opinions and thoughts..

Such a rich text! www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

I went to a uni ecology field camp last night to talk about our work. so lovely to be there and see old colleagues but the relief that I was not in charge of the logistics, the food or the student’s learning was surprising massive.

@apocalypseelf.bsky.social Happy Birthday P!

New rocky fishway opens at Kāpiti Coast stream www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

Tomorrow i'm off to chat to ecology students at a field camp about co-developing environmental plans. Such a good way to start a week.

A small girl is learning to ride her bike without stabilizers on the school tennis court, cheered on by Mum and a baby sibling in a pram.

It’s the first deck-sofa time we have had in weeks and the flowers are out so please forgive me yet another small one picture

All the clashing colours. And a tiny and shiny small one.

The absolute joy of watching @alisonwriting.bsky.social turn into a nature nerd is very real!

This, from the High Commissioner (who happens to be a childhood friend, cos the world is small) explains some of the UK passport faff. www.instagram.com/rnznewzealan...

Not sure what happened at the start of that sentence. theconversation.com/do-trees-pre... www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609... Key point from Dr Andrew Stolte: “Removing trees could contribute, but can I point my finger and say this caused it? No... It’s a lot of factors adding up.”

What seems don't quite articulate is tree roots maintain slope stability for many years post felling. When I was doing reveg work in pine cutover we work on a 5-7 year time frame for maximum slope instability as roots rot out and create gaps for water ingress. Macrocarpa would last much longer.

Every single booth and assistant at the local post office is helping folks with accents like mine send incredibly precious documents to the UK for new passports. There must have been 6 of us in the 45 minutes it took me to get it organised

I’ve a colleague who is banding bats this week, and they caught 82 bats last night!! Getting the morning bat-gossip from the field is Such A Joy.

Saw: An old colleague who was going to have tea with one of my neighbours - a joy The scruffy baby matuku moana/white faced heron up in a tree. Still scruffy, still cross. The man with the out of control dogs who, last time, told me to "get fucked, bitch" when his dogs harassed the small one.

Who's your girl, folks? I'm on team Margaret-Maree, cos I slept next to her nest one night, many years ago.

One of my best friend's sisters moved from Lagos to Saskatoon a few years ago. They are thriving but there's a few weeks in winter when it's -32 centigrade and we get pictures of her Lagos-raised-kids heading to school and uni wearing basically all the clothes, and we all laugh a lot.