Since I was in Wellington for a few days, I finally visited Te Papa's exhibition 'Te Taiao | Nature'. The expo features some of the conservation work I contributed to in Piha, among other success stories from around New Zealand.
I recently spotted some nest protective covers at Otamure Bay, in Northland, for nesting Northern New Zealand dotterel tūturiwhatu (Charadrius obscurus aquilonius).
This year's FOSS4G SoTM Oceania conference was a mix of online and physical events scattered all over the continent. In Auckland we were lucky enough to have our own hub which I had the opportunity to join - and I was lucky enough to give a short talk.
I was fortunate enough to spend the last weekend doing a wader identification course at the Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre. After having had to postpone it the last two seasons, I was really looking forward to it and boy, it didn't disappoint. What an epic weekend of birding.
After some delay due to COVID-19 and the NZ lock-downs, I am happy to report that my thesis on sediment dynamics in the Firth of Thames was finally published.
Right before the COVID-19 crisis hit New Zealand I did a bunch of work to help communicate the environmental work Pest Free Piha does in this tiny coastal village. Other than a simple website I also put together a little video showing the conservation work I have been involved with during my Piha years. The site and the video were supposed to be showcased in the WSL Piha Pro surfing event but unfortunately the whole thing was cancelled due to the current COVID-19 situation.