2019 June Island Biology Field trip
2019 June 28 to July 5. Field trip for Island Biology with Victoria University Wellington. Sixteen students keen to learn about Lord Howe Island and all of the island biology processes. Walks to North Bay with the sausage bbq and the climb to the Goathouse the highlights for the week.
2019 June First helicopter bait drop in Rodent Eradication
2019 June 8 the first of the helicopter bait drops to distribute rodents baits across the cliffs and mountain areas of the island. The culmination of 15 years planning to restore the balance of nature on Lord Howe Island.
June 2019 Friends of Lord Howe Island ecotour
2019 June 8 to 15. Friends of Lord Howe Island weeding ecotour (number 88). 24 people along to continue war on weeds on the island, and also assist with Rodent Eradication Program. Weeding at Blinkie Beach, North Head and on leases.
2019 May Rodent Eradication commences
2019 May Ground baiting for the Rodent Eradication commences in the settlement areas. A ground crew of some 50 people to place bait in each one of 19,000 bait stations.
2019 April shearwater plastic research
2019 April 26 to May 10. The annual Flesh footed shearwater chick plastic monitoring program from. The fifteenth year of monitoring, showing plastic is still a problem for this species. Also started a student on a project looking at plastic chemical contaminants in soil, vegetation and invertebrates in the shearwater colonies. And a film crew […]
New LHI bird sighting – a pair of Shovellers
2019 September 12 Harvey Perkins from Canberra spotted a pair of Shovellers in the Lagoon – this is the first record for Lord Howe Island. [divider_padding]
Beetle Week at the LHI Museum
2019 August 10 to 17 Beetle Citizen Science week with Chris Reid from the Australian Museum. Day time and night time excursions around the island to survey different habitats for monitoring of the island’s 530 beetle species. All participants enjoyed the experience and Chris’s knowledge, and learning about beetles, their lifestyles and habitats.. [divider_padding]
2019 March Birdweek
Fifteen people from all over Australia visited to see and learn about the birds and other natural history on the island. The weather forecast was for thunderstorm most of the week, but it turned out not quite all bad, and we managed to get most of our walks and boat trips. We had some very […]
2019 joint JAMSTEC, Geoscience and NSW Geological survey project
In 2017 Sanny Saito from JAMSTEC visited the island to look for evidence of xenoliths – granite inclusions in basalt rock, This was a hunch that when the Lord Howe Island volcano formed 7 million years ago that the lave may have pushed through the newly discovered continental plate Zealandia. As part of this February […]
2019 February Mt Gower plant surveys
With researchers Andrew Denham and John Porter. We spent a few days on Mount Gower summit continuing surveys looking at the impact of rodents on the two mountain palm species. This is to complete surveys of population structure prior to rodent eradication, to compare with post rodent eradication surveys and document the changes. We also […]