2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. Andrea Crawford, of the Department of Conservation, finds a small island just off the coast from Dunedin is providing just the sort of habitat the year is designed to promote.
There's a yellow-eyed penguin patiently sitting on its nest under a tree on Green Island, just off the Brighton coast near Dunedin.
A sleek fur seal blunders through the spiky, low-growing taupata, shoves his whiskered head into the penguin's personal space, gives a loud bellow and forces the penguin to evacuate its sheltered haven.
The penguin - hoiho in Maori - is not about to argue with a creature 20 times its size, so it waddles away in search of a safer home.
Blinking its distinctive eyes, it shakes its yellow headband, as if it can't believe the cheek of its fellow islander considering the work it's put into making a nest.
The nest, it should be said, is so unstructured it is just called a bowl - a smooth dent in the dirt below vegetation.
Egg-sitting duties are shared by both parents, who defend their patch with squeals and squawks, though many nests are nearby.
The seal appears smugly content with its new/used abode, which offers sea views and shelter from the howling southerlies that frequently hit the island.
But today there's only a slight breeze, the sun is out and it's perfect nesting and loafing weather for penguins and ideal conditions for Department of Conservation (Doc) staff to do their annual hoiho nest and chick count.
I'm on the island with Doc rangers Jim Fyfe and Graeme Loh - Mr Fyfe is checking on the penguins while Mr Loh's task is to nurture the Cook's scurvy grass (Lepidium oleraceum) plants on the island.
The plant belongs to the cabbage family and was discovered by Captain James Cook's botanists in 1769.
Captain Cook fed it to his crew to protect them from scurvy.
It has now almost entirely disappeared from New Zealand and teeters on the brink of extinction.
Mr Loh places protective battens around the precious plants to protect them from seals and cuts back weeds around the plants.
Taupata grows like a weed on the island and he is anxious that it doesn't smother the valuable Lepidium specimens.
Green Island is off-limits to visitors.
It's a nature reserve and no-one is allowed to land there without a permit.
Permits are issued for essential conservation management, usually for the purposes of scientific investigation.
We hire a ride to the island on a Brighton Surf Life Saving Club rubber dinghy, although I don't feel so lucky during the ride as we get soaked through by high waves.
We soon warm up after changing into dry clothes and scrambling up the island's rocks and cliffs to the start of our penguin hunt.
The breeding season is in full swing and we follow a GPS satellite map showing the exact location of last season's 20 nests.
It is obvious early on that a tough day lies ahead - Mr Fyfe has worked for Doc for 10 years, specialising in the marine environment, and is more than used to clambering round steep cliffs and sharp rocks and under thick scrub.
Being new to my Doc role as communications manager, I'm more used to sitting at a desk staring into a computer screen.
Rock-climbing and cliff-scaling are not listed in my job description but as I scramble after him, I begin to wish I had more experience in the outdoors.
The island is now home to a rookery of seals but this hasn't always been the case.
Sealers lived on the island in 1809-10 and helped wipe out the local seal population.
Fur seals returned to breed on the island only in the 1980s.
Searching under scrub on our hands and knees, Mr Fyfe and I find another hoiho nest occupied by a parent with its grey-blue feathers, white belly and pink webbed feet.
Most nests have one or two chicks that are nearly as big as mum and dad, but look different with their fluffy brown down.
Hoiho are shy, solitary creatures that seek privacy and nest in pairs well away from other penguins.
As we approach the nests, parents eye us warily and often reluctantly leave the nest, whereas chicks stare at us and stay put.
Banding helps Doc and the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust learn what hoiho get up to during the breeding season.
Thirty years ago, the number of breeding pairs in New Zealand had declined significantly, leading to fears for the future of the mainland population.
Since then, there's been a huge effort by Doc and other environmental groups such as the trust to boost their numbers.
Now there are about 460 pairs on the South Island's southeast coast.
Hoiho don't fare so well a little further up the coast.
On Otago Peninsula beaches that are pounded by people, chick weights can get dangerously low, reducing their survival rate.
Research has shown that the sight of a human is enough to elevate hoiho stress levels for long periods.
If they see people on a beach as they return from fishing, hoiho will wait for long periods in the water, therefore digesting food intended for their chicks.
Adult hoiho almost always return to the same breeding area year after year.
As creatures of habit, they are unable to flee increasing disturbance at their home.
Young hoiho will find a mate and a quiet place to begin their breeding lives - which means that the more disturbed sites are no longer favoured breeding grounds.
As well as heavy-footed humans, hoiho eggs and chicks are also at the mercy of rats, stoats, dogs and feral cats.
But Green Island has none of these threats and is paradise for not only hoiho, but many other birds, such as royal spoonbills, blue penguins, Stewart Island shags, black-backed gulls, fairy prions and oyster-catchers.
Jim warns to take care not to stand on the seabird burrows that dot the cliffs.
He points out a royal spoonbill nest about 2m up a tree, low enough to peer in and meet the beady stare of a gangly chick.
We come across a group of four hoiho chicks playing around a nest.
Once chicks have grown to a certain size, both parents start to go away simultaneously from the nest to find food for their ever-demanding young.
During this stage, chicks congregate in "crèches" that provide protection from predators and warmth during bad weather and is good social activity for the little guys.
I could spend hours watching birds and seals go about their daily business, but the life-saving boat is about to return to the island to take us back to Brighton and we are on a mission to locate all the recorded nests.
Hoiho recovery is a slow, sometimes heart-breaking process, but seeing them thrive on this island gives hope we may be able to save this much-admired Otago taonga.
• Green Island
- 2km from the coast
- 42m tall
- Surface area of 3ha
• Events coming up
- Seaweek, from March 7-14, will include a poster competition being run by Dunedin City Council, activities at the Portobello aquarium and Otago Museum and storytime at Dunedin Library.
- The children's radio show Space Station Kiwi (Toroa Radio 1575AM) is running a special Seaweek programme from 5-6pm on Wednesday, March 10.
- Otago's Changing Seas' forum at NZ Marine Studies Centre March 7, 1-5pm.
- Dunedin Coastal Cleanup Sunday, March 14, as part of Seaweek 2010.
• Andrea Crawford is the Dunedin-based communications manager for the Department of Conservation Otago conservancy.
