Predator Free Peninsula continues to make good progress towards eradicating possums from the Otago Peninsula. 20,756 possums have now been removed from the Otago Peninsula since 2008.

Next year, we expect to prove the absence of possums on the outer peninsula (Sectors 1, 2 and 3) which covers more than 6,000 hectares from Taiaroa Head to Cape Saunders. A knock-down operation was completed last year, and a lean network of self-resetting traps is now in place to take out the last remaining possums. This is complemented by a network of camera traps, which provide long term monitoring to prove that possums have been eradicated and stop future incursions.

Bait stations are now active in rural areas of the southern peninsula (Sector 4), with the remaining stations to be baited once lambing and calving has finished for the season. Four blocks at Sandymount and Sandfly Bay have been treated. There has been good bait uptake and we anticipate reduced possum numbers in the area.

We are also preparing to roll out our lean trap network in residential areas of Sector 4 to clean up any remaining possums. This will be largely community focused, and the success of this network will be determined by the support of the community. We know residents and communities across the peninsula are supportive as 639 possums have been caught in the community this year.

Possums aren’t the only focus for Predator Free Peninsula. The community is also rallying to target other predators such as rats and mustelids. This year, residents have caught a total of 415 mustelids, rats, hedgehogs and other pests. We have also led a mustelid trap project in

which 40 DOC 200 traps have been deployed in the Sandfly Bay area.

These traps will protect our vulnerable native species, especially seabirds such as tītī and tarāpuka/red-billed gulls.

As part of the Predator Free New Zealand Trust’s Apprentice Programme, staff attended the Predator Free NZ workshop in Wellington earlier this year. Along with staff from City Sanctuary and the Halo Project, we learned about new methods and technology in trapping that will assist us with our future plans. Phil Bell from Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) shared an update on the new tools and technology that will make achieving our Predator Free goals that little bit easier!

This year, we welcomed two new team members — Jenilee Hill as our Predator Free Apprentice and Paula Cross as our new Community Coordinator. Jenilee will help with trapping, monitoring and communications among many other things to help us achieve our Predator Free Peninsula goals! Paula will help to grow and manage our wonderful group of volunteers.

Residents from across the peninsula are noticing the benefits of reduced predator numbers. Tūī and kererū populations appear to be thriving, with increasing numbers of sightings reported from across the peninsula. Sightings of pīpipi/brown creeper and ruru/morepork have also been reported, as well as kākā being heard and seen flying overhead in Portobello. These sightings show that our efforts in predator control are making the peninsula a more suitable habitat for our vulnerable species!

These results show that our predator control work is proving to be successful. All of our achievements would not have been possible without our community and volunteer support. We would like to make a special thank you to our amazing group of more than 100 volunteers – we are so grateful for your dedication and hard work! A milestone reached by our volunteers this year is the completion of track cutting at Sandymount to make access to bait stations easier for contractors. What started off as rough, overgrown bush is now a network of cleanly cut tracks! Volunteers also participated in a possum dough bake-off contest run by Marcia, and learned how to use a new app to sort through trail camera footage – thanks to Micaela from the operations team for all of your work with this!