Beneficial Monitoring Update for October

Regular monitoring of beneficial creatures throughout the Living Springs site lets us know how we are doing with our conservation efforts 

We are fortunate to work alongside Te Kākahu Kahukura (TKK), a voluntary, community-driven initiative that brings together private landowners, agencies, councils and organisations to restore native forests across the southern Port Hills. Their vision is to recloak the Port Hills in native forest, with a focus on podocarps and broadleaf species.   

Living Springs has been working with TKK for five years and has planted 2,840 trees as part of this initiative. To track their growth, we monitor one in every ten trees over three years. 

Over the last few months, we have measured and tagged one tenth of the 350 trees planted so far this year. This establishes a baseline. We will measure them again in a year’s time to see how much they have grown. 

Lizard monitoring at Living Springs 

We have started our lizard monitoring for the season, which continues throughout the summer months. Checks take place early in the morning when lizards are less active, making it easier to identify the different species. 

We use Artificial Cover Objects (ACOs), which provide lizards with shelter and a place to warm up. During monitoring, we carefully lift each cover and film what’s underneath. Lizards move very fast and by filming them, we can then slow down the footage to identify the lizard correctly. We record the number of lizards present and their species then replace the ACO. 

We have seven monitoring lines, each containing ten ACOs. This is a favourite activity for our team, as it is always rewarding to discover a McCann’s skink or a Waitaha gecko! 

Five-Minute Bird Counts (5MBC) 

Twice a year, in October and February, we carry out five-minute bird counts to monitor the birdlife across Living Springs. 

This October, our team of ten was joined by Louise Clook, one of our regular volunteers, for a beautiful morning of monitoring. We split into four teams and walked our designated lines, stopping at each monitoring site to count birds for five minutes. 

Afterwards, we came together to share our results. We recorded abundant bellbirds, along with grey warblers, silvereyes, tomtits, kingfishers, fantails, kererū, blackbirds, chaffinches and even a pheasant. 

This is one of our favourite monitoring activities because it gives us an excuse to stop, listen and appreciate the birdlife around us. It is a wonderful reminder of why we do this work. 

Our next bird count will take place in February 2027. If you would like to learn more about how the counts work or join us for the next session, get in touch at volunteer@livingsprings.co.nz.