Did you know Glenorchy is currently hedgehog free? Almost nobody does. 

It matters because hedgehogs are not the garden friend we grew up with. They carry disease, and out on the braided rivers they eat the eggs and chicks of three birds that are local treasures: the wrybill, the black-fronted tern and the banded dotterel. All three are officially threatened or at risk. 

The wrybill is the only bird in the world whose bill bends sideways. The black-fronted tern breeds nowhere on earth except the braided rivers of the South Island. The banded dotterel is losing ground year on year. Every one of them lays its eggs in the open on bare shingle, which makes them easy work for something that hunts by nose in the dark.

And they wouldn't just target braided rivers. We either stop them now, or we don't stop them at all. Given time they will work their way up the Rees and into takahē country, and the head of the lake stops being a refuge and becomes just another place that used to have birds.

New Zealand has set itself the goal of being predator free by 2050. Here at the head of the lake we are already one predator down. That is a rare advantage, and one you only get to lose once, because once a pest is established, getting rid of it is close to impossible and ruinously expensive to even attempt.

We have held this line before. Hedgehogs turned up at the base of Mt Alfred and with the help of Rusty, we hunted them down. A hedgehog detection dog survey in 2023 confirmed the incursion was eliminated. Then, in early 2025, a hedgehog was caught near the mouth of the Greenstone River.

We responded to the new threat. Traps and cameras went in on both the east and west sides of the lake and we took out four hedgehogs. Our volunteers stepped up the rounds on the Buckler Burn traps, our last line of defence, and though they pulled out plenty of rats and stoats, not one hedgehog. A hedgehog detection dog swept the area at the end of summer and found no sign.

For now, we are holding them off. This year we are ramping up our defences on both sides of the lake and will continue to expand our efforts. The positive side to this is while the goal is to keep out the hedgehogs, the expanded traps are also taking out the much hated stoats and rats.

Glenorchy won't stay hedgehog free by hoping. Let's keep the little pricks out.