Latest Updates
One bird in the hand
...is another bird with a band! Stephen Davies, experienced and knowledgeable bird bander, decided Matuku Link would be a good place to band birds for several reasons: it is a easy to access which makes it less time consuming setting up and taking down the mist nets,...
Super Successful Kayak Day!
Another sold out VIP Kayak Day! A huge success, with more than 80 people enjoying the wetland from a different perspective, having access through private properties otherwise not accessible. Some saw matuku (bittern) which was definitely a highlight, others saw...
Sunday Working Bees
We're back to "normal" - and are happy to invite everyone back to our Matuku Link Working Bees. For H&S reasons, if you haven't been before, please REGISTER here. no need to bring your own gloves and spades, but if you do: everything needs to be squeaky clean...
Sound counts
It's not about the number of pests you remove from the environment, it is how well the native flora and fauna is recovering. And that can be quite hard to monitor! Apart from anecdotal reports from locals that they see more birds (which is great!) or have seen a...
Ongoing predator control
The "protection" part of our three pronged strategy - protection, restoration and education - is our ongoing pest control regime run by volunteers. It consists of traps (checked fortnightly) and bait stations (on a 100 m x 50 meter grid) with PestOff (rat and possum...
Postponement of Open Day
Unfortunately we've decided to postpone our World Wetland Open Day until we can celebrate it with the whole community... let's hope that day will come soon! We'll keep you posted, subscribe to our newsletter if you'd like to hear the latest.
OK for GK?
At 32mm the little galaxiid is just beyond the whitebait stage. Its presence though, 600m up from the Waitakere River past the multiple cascades and waterfalls of a rock bottomed, forest-shaded stream at Matuku Link, shows the determination and climbing ability of...
World Wetland Open Day
Postponed! Due to the RED setting we unfortunately had to make the hard call to postpone this event to a later date - when we hope to be able to invite everyone! Usually visits to Matuku Link are by appointment only, for working bees, events or education. But now our...
Welcome Hohepa
We're super stoked to have Hohepa join our team as lead educator to teach our tamariki in our first ever official Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) programme. I'll let him introduce himself: "Kia Ora koutou katoa, ko Hohepa Waenga toku ingoa, nō Te Tairāwhiti...
Working Bees are Back!
Welcome back! Were very happy we can invite you to Matuku Link again!!! To keep everyone safe, we will ask to see your vaccine passport next time you come though. If you haven't been before, please REGISTER here. Rest is same as pre-lockdown: no need to bring your own...
Art for Christmas
A wonderful wetland present Of course we said “yes” when local artist Celia Steenhuisen approached us with the offer to create unique artworks for us based on photographs by supporter Imogen Warren and our very own volunteer Stefan Marks – and we are over the moon...
Goodbye Geoff
10 years after Geoff Davidson and John Staniland surveyed the property at 111 Bethells Road to see if it could be suitable for purchase, the Matuku Reserve Trust Board bought it to become Matuku Link. Fast forward another five years and Geoff Davidson is standing down...
First plague, then flood
Some of you might remember our Open Day on 4th of February 2018 for World Wetland Day. We had a good time, but not many visitors, even though the weather was okay. Until we packed up at 3pm and it started to hose down... as it had been doing for all of the day closer...
Monthly Bees
Every Third Sunday of the month we have our group working bee - if we're not in lockdown. In summer we focus on taking care of our plants ("search and rescue") and in winter on planting. And there is always our nursery! All our working bees are accessible for all...
Nursery Tuesday
Our Tuesdays at the Nursery have been going since the beginning of 2021, and are a weekly event I'm always looking forward to as it is so nice to be with likeminded people sharing stories about plants, life, art... The Waitakere Rivercare volunteers Derek, Jenny,...
Pitching in!
Through the Sustainable Business Network we have received funding for our Jobs4Nature team - and even before that, we worked with them on several successful fundraisers as part of Million Metres Streamside Restoration. So when they asked us to do another planting day...
Growing our future
Thanks to Auckland Council's Community Coordinator Fund, we have been able to engage Brian Ireland to make our first ever education plan. With his experience at big projects like Zealandia, Auckland Zoo, Rotoroa and many others, we're super stoked we were able to...
Our 5th Anniversary
On the 6th of November 2016 four trustees signed the sales agreement and became the owners of 111 Bethells Road, soon to be called "Matuku Link". Five years later to the day, on Saturday 6th of November 2021 they are inviting all the people who helped to make Matuku...
OK Boomer!
The Matuku isn't our namesake for nothing, it is a very special bird. They are cryptic birds so we need to know more about them. Developing a database of where they were heard will increase awareness of matuku presence generally and add to knowledge of their site...
Henderson Valley School visit
Finally we were able to welcome the children from year 3 and 4 from our local Henderson Valley Primary school. Finally, because this trip has been planned two times before... both during last year's lockdowns! Luckily this time this year we could go ahead and have...
Why test wai?
Kimberley D'Souza from our friends at Whitebait Connection, who also have helped us installing the fish ladder, came for our first training session on water quality testing. Over the next couple of years we aim to do the testing every second month, at our Working Bee,...
Contact us:
Secretary Annalily van den Broeke
021-2207136 or email us at hello@matukulink.org.nz
Physical address:
111 Bethells Road, Te Henga, Auckland
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