Orokonui Ecosanctuary

Orokunui Ecosanctuary's work to help the survival of many native plants has been recognised with a national award.

A young Dunedin business which believes in supporting its community is organising a charity gala to raise money to support the relocation of kiwi to Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

The saddlebacks released into the Orokonui Ecosanctuary last April are breeding a month earlier than they had on their old home on Ulva Island, ecosanctuary general manager Chris Baillie says.

It will be three years before the kiwi being transferred to Orokonui Ecosanctuary will breed.

Up to eight of New Zealand's most endangered kiwi, the Haast tokoeka, will be rehoused in Orokonui Ecosanctuary's predator-proof enclosure from the end of next month.

Orokonui Ecosanctuary plans to develop its educational focus by holding a series of themed talks by "eminent" local and out-of-town speakers every year, Otago Natural History Trust chairman Neville Peat says.

The translocation of jewelled geckos from Otago Peninsula to Orokonui Ecosanctuary has been declared a success, after almost two years.

A lack of co-ordination and communication between the multiple agencies with an interest in Hawkesbury Lagoon, north of Dunedin, and its surrounds is frustrating the community group trying to restore the habitat.

A kaka spotted in a Saddle Hill garden could be the missing bird from Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

An academic award has been established at the University of Otago to remember Dunedin ecologist and conservationist Diane Campbell-Hunt.