News

Not For Profit Solutions runs seminars in Christchurch. These are free for NFP organisations, but others may be able to attend for koha. Lined up are the following ones:

Wednesday 14 August (morning): Introduction to Social Media for Community Organisations

Wednesday 14 August (afternoon): Increasing Engagement on your Organisation’s Page

Monday 2 September: Employment Law - a Complete Journey

For more information and to book, visit their website.

Castlecliff Coast Care planting in 2018Castlecliff Coast Care has many Community Planting Days during the winter. Here are the details of the next one:

Date: Sunday 25th August

Time: 10.30am to 12.30pm with lunch to follow

Meet at: Duncan Pavilion, Rangiora Street, Castlecliff, Whanganui

Additional information: We’ll be planting on the rear dunes. Dress for the weather and sturdy shoes are required. Bring gloves, a spade and newspaper too if you can.

Contact Graham 027 222 8378 for any queries

Castlecliff Coast Care in Whanganui got rung by a local video reporter and asked about the dunes. Luckily a visit was planned by Aranui School the next week, which resulted in this little piece of news and a lovely little video about the good work Graham and Lyn Pearson do with school groups and other volunteers. Here it is.

University of Auckland researchers are seeking participants for a survey in their science public communication study series. The survey, which is about communicating marine science, will take about 15 minutes and you may go into a draw to win a $100 gift voucher if you complete it. Organisation names are not asked for in the survey. They are simply interested to hear from a broad range of individuals from different sectors.

Click on this link to participate: Science communication Survey 2.

This survey’s end date has been extended to 15 September.

(The study is approved by The University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee. Ref no. 022256).

black circles = dunes with burrows, white circles = withoutOur 2016 scholarship recipient Johannes Fischer has published another paper in relation to his diving petrel research. This time he compared the occurrence of skinks in dunes with and without diving petrel burrows.

Two skinks were surveyed: the Stewart Island green skink (Oligosoma aff. chloronoton) and the southern grass skink (O. aff. polychroma). Both skinks are more common in the dunes with burrows. However the difference was more pronounced with the Stewart Island green skink. If one of them was present, the other one was less likely to be there too. The larger size of the Stewart Island green skink could explain the different results. It likely outcompetes the southern grass skink.

Read the full paper.