Earthsea Gallery

The Tata Islands Motu and Ngawhiti just off Tata Beach are well loved landmarks on the Golden Bay coastline. For those of us that have had the opportunity to kayak or sail around these islands and have seen the Spotted Shags nesting precariously on the limestone outcrops amongst the hanging gardens and in the trees, the pleasurable memory is long lasting. Sadly the Spotted Shag population is in decline from predation, pressure on food supply and climate change. The colony was once estimated to be over 5000 birds and now barely 500 remain. 4 years ago we initiated the Tata Island Pest Eradication Project starting with 30 decommissioned box traps from DOC. Over the years we have killed 100s of rats which prey on the easy pickings of Shag eggs and chicks. We have since sourced a further 40 traps. The high salt-laden environment is taking its toll on the galvanised mechanisms and many of the traps have rusted trigger plates and framework. With the nesting season for the Spotted Shag fast approaching it's time to consider replacement traps. Peter painted 'Birds of a Feather - Parekareka the Spotted Shag' with this in mind. For every print sold (up to number 50) EarthSea Gallery will purchase one new Stainless Steel trap mechanism at a cost of $54 each to replace the failing traps. It would be amazing to see the Spotted Shag population recover over time. We are hugely grateful to the lovely ladies at Trash Palace who kindly gave a donation for the first 10 new stainless steel mechanisms and for DOC for providing us with bait for the traps.