Tamahere is home to New Zealand's endangered long-tailed bats (pekapeka tou roa), which play a crucial role in controlling insects and pollinating plants. These bats face threats from habitat loss, predation, and urbanisation, so protecting old trees, controlling pests, and maintaining dark, green corridors is essential for their survival.

Native bird activity in Hamilton’s gullies looks to be on the rise, with increased sightings of bellbirds and kereru in areas with strong conservation efforts. This highlights the need for us to continue and potentially ramp up our pest control and native planting in Tamahere to support these birds here as well

Our latest community event highlighted new NZ AutoTraps technology, including the advanced AT520-AI. We also celebrated our 6,000 pest milestone with another creative cake from Robyn Richardson.

We've discovered that to effectively control rats, traps alone aren't enough—adding toxin bait with a pulsing approach, used strategically throughout the year, should significantly boost our results and minimise waste.

For hard-to-reach areas like gullies and steep river banks, Philproof Bait Stations are an ideal choice due to their durability, weather resistance, and secure anchoring. Their tamper-proof design ensures bait stays protected, even in New Zealand’s toughest environments.

Did you know the PhilProof bait station is a local innovation by Phil Thomson? It represents many years of his dedication to conservation and has become a vital tool in pest management efforts

Our June 2024 monitoring revealed mixed results: while some areas show progress with lower rodent numbers, others, particularly public reserves, highlight the need for intensified pest control.

We’re excited to celebrate Predator Free Tamahere’s milestone of removing 5000 pests, with special thanks to Minh for his impressive contributions and Robyn for the delicious muffins—let’s keep up the great work and aim for 6000!

We’re ramping up our monitoring to fine-tune pest control and support native wildlife, so keep those trap reports coming—every detail helps us get smarter and more effective!

As planting season kicks off, let’s tackle invasive pampas grass, which unlike native toetoe, spreads quickly, shelters pests, and poses a fire risk—check Waikato Regional Council’s resources for tips on managing it!

Even with global stars like John Oliver and Leonardo DiCaprio shining a light on our native wildlife, we still face significant biodiversity challenges in NZ—every small action, from making our gardens bird-friendly to controlling pests, helps ensure our taonga species thrive for future generations.

Predator Free Tamahere is celebrating our second anniversary with the removal of 4500 pests, thanks to the dedication of our volunteers, supporters, and sponsors—here's to more years of working together for a thriving, predator-free Tamahere!

Dr. McGaughran’s inspiring talk on eDNA at our meeting showed how this cutting-edge technology can offer deeper insights into ecosystem health and guide our ongoing efforts to restore and protect local habitats.

Enjoying Sharon's delicious peach jam is a sweet reminder that our efforts to protect local wildlife and care for our gardens are truly making a difference.

We’re thrilled to launch our local Trap Library in Tamahere, offering residents the chance to test out various traps like NZautotrap AT220s and DOC200s before buying, helping everyone enhance their pest control efforts and protect our native wildlife!

Great news: we’ve received Flipping Timmy and BT200 traps thanks to generous anonymous donors and Give A Trap—these will be a huge boost to our Tamahere pest control efforts, and we’re thrilled with the support!

Exciting news: Predator Free Tamahere has received support from Radio New Zealand's "Critter of the Week" fundraiser, thanks to Amanda Banks’ pitch!

As 2023 wraps up, we celebrated hitting our goal of trapping 3000 pests with a party and cake, honoured our standout volunteers, and are excited to continue our mission to make Tamahere predator-free in the new year!

Recent kākā sightings in Tamahere might indicate young birds exploring before nesting next summer—please report any sightings to the Waikato kākā project or contact us to share the details!

Great news! Our monitoring cards from Tamahere Eventide’s Mangaone gully show zero rat prints, highlighting the success of our pest control efforts in this area—thanks to Jeff and the neighbours for making a difference!