South Head Community Hui

The Love Bittern Project travels into every region of New Zealand empowering people to raise awareness for Bittern, help protect Bittern and to restore their wetland homes.

Check out our Spring 2025 road trip here!

17 August 2025

It was a slow trip out to South Head today...

I kept on getting distracted by Habitat for Hūrepo! 

The South Head Community turn out for the ABs (Australasian Bittern) was great considering those other ABs were playing!

The community there needed to fine tune their knowledge around Bittern so they could more confidently and accurately record male bittern booming in the Muster.

Thanks to the first fifteen who turned up for Bittern, we reckon you're our winning team! 

If you'd like to join the ABs 1st 15 in South Head get in contact with Boyd Steel boyd.pestfree@gmail.com

Mahurangi East Matuku Hui

The Love Bittern Project travels into every region of New Zealand empowering people to raise awareness for Bittern, help protect Bittern and to restore their wetland homes.

Check out our Spring 2025 road trip here!

16 August 2025

We are spending the next week on the Love Bittern Road  Trip 2025 in the Auckland Region. The spring weather is so variable I am often ' boxed in' by rain and resort to meals in my wee van!

Today we had 12 keen Musterer's from the small but mighty Mahurangi East join us to increase their knowledge about Bittern, learn how to record male bittern booming and be app ready for The Great Matuku-hūrepo Muster' 2025.

We reviewed the listening stations to make sure they were listening where there was the potential for breeding habitat - where there were vast areas of reeds and rushes over permanent water- got everyone signed in to the app and walked through the recording forms.

The team see the value in having time efficient recording methods - and didn't want to take shortcuts that left another team member with all the paperwork to do afterwards.

Good on ya Mahurangi East for helping make Bittern count!

If this team can do it you can too!

Northland Regional Matuku-hūrepo Hui.

The Love Bittern Project travels into every region of New Zealand empowering people to raise awareness for Bittern, help protect Bittern and to restore their wetland homes.

Check out our Spring 2025 road trip here!

12 August 2025

The Love Bittern Project has been recognised for "Environmental Leadership' by Northland Regional Council. There is strong support from organisations and agencies in Northland for Matuku-hūrepo, resulting in a cross agency/organisation Matuku-hūrepo Strategy group being formed to address the critical gaps in Taitokerau .

On 12th August we had the Northland | Te tai tokerau annual meeting to help keep agencies and organisations with an interest in Northlands Matuku Mahi informed.

We heard from DOC science advisors Harry and Emma on work being carried out at a research level, from DOC District Offices on conservation management on PCL, as well as updates from Northland Regional Council, Kiwi Coast, Fish and Game, QEII, Mountains to Sea, NZFRT/ KMR representatives.

Update: since then we have had two facilitated strategy meetings to set our regional vision and goals and how we all play our part in achieving them... ultimately we are working out how we all work together as a region to increase the population of Matuku-hūrepo in Taitokerau!