http://blog.farewellspit.com Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:28:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en     The Gannets are returning to the Spit end colony and are gathering nesting material to start the next breeding season. They collect kelp and seaweed from the beach along with other debris soon there will be thousands of them jostling for the best position on the conical shelly banks 2 ... http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/07/15/gannets-return-to-farewell-spit-colony-to-nest/   One of the local school bus drivers and local school caretaker Bill Climo found a Giant Petrel wandering on the roadside at Puponga near the beginning of Farewell Spit recently. Luckily our office in the main street of Collingwood is a Petrel station so he dropped in to show us the ... http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/06/03/cheep-petrel-near-farewell-spit/ The Garden Gnomes from around the world and even Nelson are planning to converge on Collingwood near Farewell Spit in Golden Bay for the second "A Gnome away from Home weekend" in the last weekend of August. Have a look at last year's movie below.   http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/06/03/the-gnomes-are-coming/ For the last several days Whale spouts have been seen near Cape Farewell at the beginning of Farewell Spit. Farewell Spit Eco Tours guides and clients have had a grandstand view from the clifftops and a pod of 4 were seen yesterday, we think they are Humpback Whales. They migrate at ... http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/06/03/whales-spout-near-cape-farewell/ Last year transmitters were implanted into female Godwits to track their migration to Alaska. This year the researchers are fitting them to male birds in the firth of Thames on the North Island here you can see the video shown on TVNZ last night. http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/04/07/godwits-tracked-by-satellites-from-farewell-spit-to-alaska/   Just two weeks ago the beach in front of the Farewell Spit lighthouse was as flat as a flat thing that had just been through a press. Now though with just a few windy days many small dunes have formed and are tumbling toward the end of the Spit. The westerly ... http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/03/21/big-changes-among-th-dunes-at-farewell-spit/ Whilst returning along the beach the other night a Skua was spied chasing a White fronted Tern. Now the purpose of this was not to eat the Tern but to make it regurgitate the fish it had recently caught and was happily digesting as the sun set into the sea. Quite a ... http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/03/10/skua-makes-tern-airsick-on-farewell-spit/ The 30th and 31st of August are the dates for the second annual "A Gnome away from home " weekend. Have a look here to see what they got up to last year. http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/02/27/a-gnome-away-from-home/ Sometimes when things go just right you see something special. This was one of those times. Looking back at the Farewell Spit Lighthouse from near the Gannet Colony just as a rain shower passed over. Have a look at our photo gallery to enlarge this image. http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/02/25/somewhere-under-the-rainbow-at-the-end-of-farewell-spit/ The Belladonna Lillies or "Naked Ladies" planted by the Lighthouse keepers in days gone by flower every year about this time. These ones are along the path at the foot of the lighthouse. The concrete in the path is made of sand cement and shells, the shells were used instead of stones ... http://blog.farewellspit.com/2008/02/25/naked-ladies-on-farewell-spit/