5:00 am today

The fight for the forest and the fernbird

From Our Changing World, 5:00 am today

A trip into the bush and through a wetland to meet conservationists working to help the forest and its inhabitants. About two hours south of Dunedin, in the Catlins, the Tautuku and Fleming rivers flow into the sea at Tautuku beach. Covered in native bush from headwaters to the ocean, this special catchment is home to many native, and some threatened, plants and animals. But there’s an ongoing battle. Browsing animal such as deer and pigs are destroying the undergrowth, while feral cats and stoats are predating on critters such as the mÄtÄtÄ, the South Island fernbird. We meet some of the people fighting back.