Where to start?!
New Zealand tours, twitching, Subantarctic Islands, Antarctica, Auckland to Yokohama and birding in Japan! Latest news … well most of...
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Matt
- Jul 13, 2022
- 5 min
Blackcaps and Redshanks
It’s been a couple of months since my last instalment and quite a bit has happened. In brief: SIRCET bird call counts I’ve been to the...
Matt
- Apr 6, 2022
- 7 min
Almost a desert island
A quarter of the year gone already and April has arrived. Time definitely goes faster the older you get. Back at the beginning of 2022...
Matt
- Jan 12, 2022
- 5 min
Keep calm and carry on birding
Perhaps this should read “get vaccinated, keep calm and carry on”. It’s been almost two years since the COVID-19 global pandemic changed...
Matt
- Oct 16, 2021
- 10 min
The winter webs
Since my last update I have fallen slightly out of love with my website. I still love the design and overall appearance but the image...
Matt
- May 8, 2021
- 11 min
Island hopping
Autumn has arrived to Stewart Island and with that comes colder nights and shorter days. A few days ago it also brought plane and ferry...
Matt
- Mar 3, 2021
- 11 min
Below the 47
It’s almost a year since New Zealand went into full lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic - how the world has changed. New Zealand has...
Matt
- Dec 7, 2020
- 7 min
Full Circle
Oh dear, what a long time since my latest news way back in April 2020. The world then was coming to grips with the enormity of COVID-19,...
Matt
- Apr 14, 2020
- 6 min
Birds, backs and bubbles
The March 2020 WPO was a small expedition vessel with 10 staff of which I would be one; 12 Russian crew and 44 passengers...
Matt
- Oct 26, 2019
- 3 min
Wilderness and Waders
I could see the obvious red, white and black face pattern of a Black-fronted Dotterel - the first one I have ever seen at Stewart Island ...
Matt
- Aug 12, 2019
- 4 min
The offseason
I had the pleasure of taking Clarke Gayford kiwi spotting with his film crew - he also happens to be New Zealand Prime Minister's partner...
Matt
- May 19, 2019
- 5 min
Winter reflections
They had seen my Anzac Day dawn service photo and were seeking permission to use the image to create a New Zealand postage stamp ...
Matt
- Jan 3, 2019
- 3 min
30 on the 1st
A "big day" 1st January 2019. The first bird was a singing Tui. I opened the curtains and the first bird I saw was a Kaka, then ...
Matt
- Dec 23, 2018
- 6 min
Birding night and day, land and sea
Unpredictable weather certainly played havoc with logistics of the tour; scorching hot sunny days, biblical rain and flooding and snow ...
Matt
- Oct 18, 2018
- 8 min
Southland 24-hour bird race record broken!
It was just after midnight. A car parked up in a Stewart Island street. Headlights flicked off and four shadowy figures emerged ...
Matt
- May 18, 2018
- 4 min
Hoiho, Hoiho, it's off to work we go ...
The Maori name "Hoiho" translates as "noise shouter" and it's not difficult to understand why! To minimise stress while handling them ...
Matt
- Jan 1, 2018
- 3 min
Ending the year with a mega!
Should we consider a mad twitch before our 9.30am flight the next morning? Of course we should!
Matt
- Nov 8, 2017
- 2 min
Shovelers and Bar-Wits!
I had the opportunity to get the twitching juices flowing, although the location was a bit of a surprise ...
Matt
- Oct 1, 2017
- 2 min
Spring into life
New birds to the garden list this year have been New Zealand Pipit and Eurasian Skylark...
Matt
- Jul 8, 2017
- 5 min
Life and death by the coast
In the past H.R.H. Prince Harry, John Key the then New Zealand Prime Minister, and Bill Oddie O.B.E. have joined us on Ulva Island ...
Matt
- Jan 1, 2017
- 5 min
Shaken but not deterred
A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the coastal town of Kaikoura on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island...
Matt
- Nov 8, 2016
- 2 min
The end of an era
For almost 30 years Phil has been taking people kiwi spotting - forging the way to see these wild birds without disturbing them ...
Matt
- Sep 26, 2016
- 5 min
A quick migration
All too soon I was saying goodbye to family and heading back at Heathrow to catch four planes home to New Zealand ...
Matt
- Aug 6, 2016
- 2 min
Ducking out...
I recently wrote an article called 'Stewart Island Waders' for UK charity Wader Quest which was published in their July e-newsletter...
Matt
- Jul 3, 2016
- 3 min
Work, but not as we know it
Bill Oddie visited Stewart Island recently and as Chairman of the Ulva Island Charitable Trust I had the privilege of accompanying him ...
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