“Caught in a trap” These 2 little beasts have come to a sticky end as part of conservation work at Lake Heron. On the left is a stoat and on the right a ferret. Both were introduced to New Zealand as the answer to the burgeoing rabbit plague. However, our indigenous birds were much easier prey, and ferrets and stoats rapidly spread through the countryside decimating native birdlife. Efforts by the Lake Heron Conservation Group (of which Philip is one of the keen volunteers) and the Department of Conservation are aimed at wiping out these predators so that the local birdlife has a long term chance of surviving. Threathened birds in the area include the Australasian crested grebe, bittern, black fronted tern and wrybill.