On the 3rd of December 2016 the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were again baited with peanut butter. The weather was fine.

The tunnels were checked on the 4th of December 2016. Eight of the 10 tunnels on the peninsula tracking line had rat sign.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - no sign
2 - no sign
3 - mice
4 - no sign
5 - mice
6 - no sign
7 - hedgehog
8 - mice
9 - hedgehog and mice
10 - no sign

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - rat
2 - rat
3 - rat
4 - rat
5 - rat
6 - hedgehog
7 - rat
8 - rat
9 - rat
10 - hedgehog

On the 8th of October the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were again baited with peanut butter. The weather was fine.

The tunnels were checked on the 9th of October 2016. Hedgehog tracks were again present: 2 in transect 1 and 6 in transcet 2. All of the peninsula tunnels had sign.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - mice
2 - no sign
3 - hedgehog
4 - no sign
5 - no sign
6 - mice
7 - mice and hedgehog
8 - mice
9 - mice
10 - hedgehog

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - rat
2 - mice and hedgehog
3 - mice
4 - mice and hedgehog
5 - mice and rat
6 - hedgehog
7 - hedgehog
8 - rat
9 - hedgehog
10 - hedgehog

On the 7th of August the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were again baited with peanut butter. The weather is cool and overcast; there was a low of zero overnight.

The tunnels were checked on the 8th of August 2016 at 5:00 pm. Only 1 tunnel had hedgehogs tracks. The majority of prints were from mice.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - mice
2 - no sign
3 - no sign
4 - no sign
5 - mice
6 - mice
7 - mice
8 - no sign
9 - mice
10 - no sign

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - no sign
2 - no sign
3 - no sign
4 - mice
5 - rat
6 - mice and hedgehog
7 - no sign
8 - rat
9 - no sign
10 - not found

On the 6th of June the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were again baited with peanut butter. The weather is cool but sunny; there was a low of zero overnight.

The tunnels were checked on the 7th of June 2016 at 3:00 pm. Hedgehog numbers were down from the last monitoring; only one hedgehog was identified from the peninsula line and none from the bund line. Are they starting to hibernate. Greater number of rats and mice tracks were observed in both tunnel lines. Maybe this is because the hedgehogs have not got to the bait allowing the rodents to access it.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - no sign
2 - no sign
3 - no sign
4 - mice
5 - rat
6 - mice
7 - mice
8 - bait gone - not sure about prints
9 - mice
10 - invertebrate

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - rat
2 - no sign
3 - rat
4 - mice
5 - rat
6 - no sign
7 - rat
8 - no sign
9 - no sign
10 - hedgehog

On the 11th of April 2016 the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were again baited with peanut butter. It is a fine but the weather did change and it rained sometime in the night.

The tunnels were checked on the 12nd of April 2016 at 5:00 pm. Again hedgehogs were identified but this time there were more rats. Some prints came from large animals. There also seemed that invertebrates were eating the peanut butter.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - no sign
2 - hedgehog
3 - rat
4 - no sign
5 - rat
6 - rat/mice
7 - hedgehog
8 - insect
9 - insect
10 - rat/mice

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - no sign
2 - lizard
3 - insect?
4 - insect
5 - rat
6 - hedgehog
7 - no sign
8 - hedgehog
9 - insect
10 - hedgehog

On the 1st of February 2016 the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were again baited with peanut butter. It is a fine night with an overnight low 12 degrees celsius.

The tunnels were checked on the 2nd of February 2015 at 5:30 pm. Hedgehog prints were the main sign identified; 5 out of the 10 tunnels on the bund and 3 out of the ten tunnels along the peninsula had hedgehog tracks.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - no sign
2 - hedgehog
3 - hedgehog
4 - no sign
5 - rat prints ?
6 - no sign
7 - hedgehog
8 - hedgehog
9 - hedgehog
10 - rat prints ?

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - no sign
2 - no sign
3 - no sign
4 - hedgehog
5 - invertebrate
6 - hedgehog
7 - no sign
8 - no sign
9 - no sign
10 - hedgehog

On the 29th of November 2015 the two transects lines of tracking tunnels were baited with peanut butter. It is a fine night with some cloud and a strong north east wind. The low overnight will be 11 degrees Celsius no rain is forecasted. The fourth tracking tunnel on the bund transect was missing.

The tunnels were checked on the 30th of November 2015 at 5:30 pm. Hedgehog prints were the main sign identified; 4 out of the 10 tunnels on the peninsula had hedgehog tracks. Only other sign was rat prints in tunnel five on the bund.

Transect 1 - Bund
1 - hedgehog prints
2 - tunnel had been disturbed
3 - no sign
4 - missing
5 - rat prints
6 - no sign
7 - tunnel had been disturbed
8 - no sign
9 - no sign
10 - tunnel had been disturbed.

Transect 2 - Peninsula
1 - no sign
2 - hedgehog prints
3 - hedgehog prints
4 - no sign
5 - no sign
6 - no sign
7 - hedgehog prints
8 - no sign
9 - no sign
10 - hedgehog prints

Two lines of tracking tunnels have been placed out in Charlesworth Wetland Reserve. The tracking tunnels will be monitored every two months to give relative abundance of rodents at Charlesworth Wetland Reserve following the guidelines given in Gillies and Williams (2013). The tunnels will also give indications of the presence of skinks in the reserve.

Two transects each containing 10 tunnels 50 m apart have been set out in the Reserve. On a fine night each tunnel will have a inked tracking card baited with peanut butter placed in it. The next day the cards will be collected. As each card is collected the transect line and tunnel number will be written on the card. It will be noted if the tunnel has been disturbed e.g. possum disturbance. Any fresh scats in the tunnel will also be noted. A photo will be taken of the tracking card showing the markings/scats and will be put up on NatureWatch under this project. Various resources such as Ratz (1997) and Agnew (2009) will be used along with NatureWatch to identify the markings.

References:

Gillies, C.A.; Williams, D. 2013: DOC tracking tunnel guide v2.5.2: Using tracking tunnels to monitor rodents and mustelids. Department of Conservation, Science & Capability Group, Hamilton, New Zealand. www.doc.govt.nz
Ratz, H. 1997: Identification of footprints of some small mammals. Mammalia 61(3): 431–441.
Agnew, W. 2009: What made those tracks? A guide to assist in interpreting the tracks of small mammals, lizards and insects. Chappell Printing Ltd, Warkworth, New Zealand.