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🌿 Locals Weekend – This Weekend! 🌿
We can’t wait to welcome our Nelson Tasman community back for Locals Weekend — a special thank you to everyone who supports the Sanctuary year-round.
Entry is by koha (donation) for all locals, so gather your whānau and enjoy a day reconnecting with nature. Wander our forest trails, spot wildlife, and take in the sights and sounds of a thriving ngahere just minutes from the city.
🦋 Explore 15 km of walking tracks through our predator-free forest
🧭 Enjoy a walk around the Loop Track — learn about our conservation work as you go
🌱 Find out about our new Junior Ranger Family Memberships
While we aren’t able to offer guided tours this weekend due to volunteer availability, our friendly Visitor Centre team will be on hand to answer questions and help you make the most of your visit.
📅 Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 November
🕘 9 am – 5 pm
📍 Brook Waimārama Sanctuary
Bring your friends, family, and neighbours — and join us in celebrating the community that makes the Sanctuary possible. 💚
👉 RSVP or share the event on Facebook
Nov 13
Guardians of the Forest – Thank You! 🌿✨
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us at Guardians of the Forest at The Suter last month. Across four sessions, hundreds of people came together to celebrate conservation, storytelling, and the incredible mahi happening at the Sanctuary.
It was a privilege to share our many stories — from translocations and tuatara to the premiere of our new kiwi pukupuku (little spotted kiwi) documentary.
If you missed out, you can now watch the kiwi documentary on YouTube 🎥
👉 Link in bio
Ngā mihi nui to everyone who helped make these events possible — our volunteers, partners, filmmakers, and the Nelson community who continue to support the Sanctuary’s mission to protect and restore native wildlife.
#GuardiansOfTheForest #KiwiPukupuku #BrookWaimāramaSanctuary #ConservationInAction
Nov 12
🌿 Ngahere Neighbourhood: Ashen coral 🌿
(Tremellodendropsis tuberosa)
At first glance, this pale, branching fungus looks like a tiny piece of coral washed up in the forest. Ashen coral is a tough little species that grows directly from the forest floor, sometimes sprouting from well-decayed wood.
What makes it special is not just its unusual form, but its place in fungal science. The ashen coral’s spore-bearing structures are unlike most other fungi, combining traits of both jelly fungi and typical mushrooms. This quirk has kept scientists debating its classification for nearly 200 years — and even today, DNA studies suggest it belongs in an order of its own!
Small, intricate, and quietly fascinating, ashen coral is one of those species that reminds us how much there is still to learn about the hidden life of the ngahere. 🍄✨
Photo taken by Rebecca Bowater, right here at the Sanctuary
🌿 Ngahere Neighbourhood — celebrating the unique fungi, plants and creatures that call the Sanctuary home.
#NgahereNeighbourhood #BrookSanctuary #FungiOfNZ #Biodiversity
Nov 11
🌿 Rangatahi in action at the Sanctuary!
On Tuesday 4 November we hosted @volunteernelson’s Rangatahi in the Community launch with students from Nayland College. Together we rolled up our sleeves to build tracking tunnels used in the Sanctuary’s biosecurity and conservation mahi, then headed out for a guided loop walk to see how a community organisation operates. Highlight of the morning: spotting a tuatara basking in the sun!
Ngā mihi nui to Volunteer Nelson and the Nayland College crew for your energy and awhi. We love seeing young people gaining real-life skills and connecting with nature on our doorstep.
Keen to learn more or get your school involved? Email Volunteer Nelson’s youth coordinator: admin@volunteernelson.org.nz
#BrookWaimāramaSanctuary #NelsonTasman #Rangatahi #Volunteering #Conservation #Community #Biosecurity #Tuatara #NatureOnYourDoorstep
Nov 6
💚 Aotearoa Icons: Kererū as taonga
For generations, kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) have been treasured as taonga by Māori. They appear in pūrākau (stories) and historically numbered in flocks of hundreds of birds and were thus a major source of food for māori and central to some seasonal celebrations, when the birds grew fat on autumn berries.
Their striking feathers were woven into fine korowai (cloaks), and their presence in the ngahere has always carried deep cultural meaning. In Māori legend, the trickster Māui transformed into a kererū to journey into the underworld, carrying with him his mother’s apron and belt — forever reflected in the bird’s green-blue and white plumage.
📸 Photo by Henry, taken here at the Sanctuary.
🌿 Aotearoa Icons — celebrating the beloved species that shape our identity, from the backyard to the Sanctuary.
#AotearoaIcons #Kererū #BrookSanctuary #Taonga #BirdOfTheYear
Oct 29
🌿 The Brook Waimārama Sanctuary Open This Labour Weekend! 🌿
Looking for something special to do this long weekend? We are open for the long weekend, including Labour Day Monday, so come and enjoy a peaceful walk surrounded by native birdsong and lush forest.
Pack a picnic, bring your friends and whānau, and reconnect with nature right here in Nelson.
🕒 Open Sat, Sun and Mon
🌿Reach further up the Valley and see what gems you find
📍 Brook Waimārama Sanctuary, Nelson
💚 Experience the wild, just minutes from town.
Oct 25
