Bats and hot chocolate at Pukemokemoke
Long-tailed bats, noisy moreporks and one or two glowworms were the stars at a special evening event at Pukemokemoke Reserve last Thursday.
Night Life at Pukemokemoke was one of a series of night walks held around the Waikato for Conservation Week.
Warwick Silvester, below, led several dozen visitors around the newly weeded and replanted areas alongside the Mangatea Stream, and after the sun went down bat detectors (devices which convert ultrasonic bat calls to frequencies that humans can hear) were distributed among the crowd. The first bat flew past at about 8.45pm.
By then the moreporks were in full song, and the moth people (Angela Simpson and Bryce McQuillan) had plenty of fluttering things coming into their lights.
Recent pest monitoring at Pukemokemoke has failed to detect any rats, stoats or possums, said Warwick, and the native wildlife certainly seems to be responding.
Leon Ly from Gordonton’s Bakehouse and Takeaways put on hot chocolate and cookies, which were gratefully received. A great night was had by all.
Angela and Bryce were at Pukemokemoke last July, and caught an impressive collection of night critters. Click here for that story. And finally, a bonus pic of weta –
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