📢 Sanctuary Closure Notice – Tuesday 10th March

The Brook Sanctuary will be closed to the public on Tuesday 10th March as we welcome kākā to the Sanctuary.

This is an exciting and significant milestone, and the temporary closure allows our team and Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō to ensure the birds settle safely into their temporary aviary before being released into the ngahere (forest) at a later date.

We will reopen on Wednesday, and we look forward to welcoming visitors back to the Sanctuary to enjoy the many tracks.

Thank you for your understanding and support as we continue restoring our native wildlife. 🌿

#BrookWaimāramaSanctuary #Kākā #ConservationNZ #NelsonNZ #PredatorFree #NativeWildlife #Biodiversity

🌙 Discover the Sanctuary After Dark

When the sun goes down, the Brook Sanctuary truly comes alive.

Join us for a Night Guided Tour and experience the magic of the forest in a whole new way. Walk beneath the stars with one of our knowledgeable guides and listen as the daytime birds settle and the night shift begins. You may hear the haunting call of ruru, maybe kiwi pukupuku, spot wētā and glowworms.

These small-group tours offer a rare opportunity to explore the Sanctuary after hours, learn about our conservation work, and witness the unique rhythms of the ngahere at night.

✨ An unforgettable experience for locals and visitors alike.
🎟 Spaces are limited and bookings are essential.

Come and see — and hear — the Sanctuary in its most magical light.

Visit our website to book your night experience: www.brooksanctuary.org.nz/night-tours

#nelsonnz #nelsontasman #thingstodonelson #kiwipukupuku #littlespottedkiwi #naturelovers #supportlocalnz #conservationnz #brookwaimāramasanctuary

🪶 Ngahere Neighbourhood: piriwai (spiny gilled mayfly)

Tiny, ancient, and found only in Aotearoa — the spiny gilled mayfly (Coloburiscus humeralis) spends up to four years underwater before living just a few days as an adult.

Piriwai can only survive in clean, fast-flowing streams. Its larvae cling to river rocks, filtering food from the water with tiny hair-like gills. They are an important sign of healthy freshwater ecosystems, so much so that this species gets a rating of 8-9 on the sensitivity/stream health rating. All native stream macroinvertebrates are ranked in terms of their sensitivity and used as a bioindicator of stream health.

The Sanctuary stream is a reference site for stream health and represents a `pure`, unadulterated site and thus is highly diverse in sensitive stream invertebrates.

📸 Photo: Taken by Henry Hart here at the Sanctuary

#NgahereNeighbourhood #BrookSanctuary #AotearoaNature #FreshwaterLife #NelsonTasman #Conservation #Piriwai

Their Raucous Call Returns: Kākā Set to Reclaim the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary. 🦜

This March, we’re scheduled to welcome two male and one female kākā fledglings from the Dunedin Botanic Garden kākā breeding programme. There’s also the potential for a further four birds to arrive in May.

Kākā are unique to Aotearoa and are nationally vulnerable, with populations heavily impacted by introduced predators. Releasing them into a pest-free sanctuary with ideal habitat (old growth beech forest) gives them the best chance to thrive.

This release will build on years of species translocations as part of the Sanctuary’s ambitious ecosystem restoration efforts, including:

🏠 Kākāriki karaka in 2021
🏠 Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina (giant snails) in 2021
🏠 Tuatara in November 2024 and May 2025
🏠 Kiwi in May 2025

Over the coming weeks, our team will be busy planning and preparing for this important translocation. We’ll share more details on timing and what to expect closer to the date.

Thank you to our community of donors, volunteers, business supporters, and Sanctuary Members for continuing to back the Sanctuary — your support is vital to every species return. We can’t wait to celebrate this next milestone with you.

#BrookWaimāramaSanctuary #Kākā #ConservationNZ #NelsonNZ #PredatorFree #NativeWildlife #Biodiversity

Win prizes for your best summer photo at the Sanctuary 📸🏆☀️

This season, we want to see the Sanctuary through your lens — the bright light through the canopy, the textures of the forest floor, and the tiny details that make summer feel alive.

Enter our Summer Photography Competition (part of our Sanctuary Seasons series) and you could win:

🏆 Instant camera (Junior Photography winner)
🌙 Family ticket to a guided night tour
📰 Feature in our newsletter + social media
🖼️ Printed display at the Visitor Centre

📅 Entries close 28 February - Submit your entries via our website: Link in bio

Photo credit: Helen Power - Entry from the spring photography competition

#BrookWaimāramaSanctuary #SanctuarySeasons #Ngahere #NaturePhotography #NZWildlife #NelsonTasman #VisitNelson #NZHikes #EcoTourismNZ #ConservationStorytelling