---
title: "New Zealand’s Glenfern Sanctuary protects ACAP-listed Black Petrels in the face of winter storms"
---

# New Zealand’s Glenfern Sanctuary protects ACAP-listed Black Petrels in the face of winter storms

[Glenfern Sanctuary](http://www.glenfern.org.nz/) is a predator-controlled area on [Great Barrier Island](http://www.acap.aq/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1361-acap-breeding-sites-no-24-great-barrier-aotea-and-little-barrier-hauturu-islands-new-zealand-only-breeding-sites-of-the-black-petrel) in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park of New Zealand.

 A 2.1-km [Xcluder®](http://www.xcluder.co.nz/) fence built across the Kotuku Peninsula on inhabited Great Barrier in 2009 by the [Glenfern Sanctuary Charitable Trust](http://www.glenfern.org.nz/kotuku.html) helps protect [Vulnerable](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3923) and ACAP-listed Black Petrels *Procellaria parkinsoni* and other burrowing seabirds within the 250-ha sanctuary against feral domestic cats *Felis catus*, feral pigs *Sus scrofa domesticus*, Pacific Rats or Kiore *Rattus exulans* and Norway or Brown Rats *R. norvegicus.*  Monitoring of over 1000 bait stations and tracking tunnels helps prevent reinvasions of pests becoming established.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/B/Black/4 s.jpg)

 Black Petrels, photograph by Biz Bell

 In June this year a major storm caused extensive damage to the natural environment on Great Barrier with landslips, fallen trees and foot bridges and parts of the walkways in the sanctuary washed away – as described in the sanctuary’s on-line newsletter ([click here](http://www.glenfern.org.nz/images/Newsletter%20PDF/Glenfern%20Newsletter%20winter%202014.pdf)).

 The winter 2014 newsletter also reports on the last summer’s breeding:

 “Seasonal monitoring of blacks and Cooks [*Pterodroma cookii*] petrels is proving very promising with three areas with both Blacks and Cooks within the Sanctuary and confirmation of fluttering shearwaters [*Puffinus gavia*] located near the cliffs at the western boundary of the Peninsula. In total, 22 Cooks and 16 black petrel burrows were identified this season, including 17 new burrow locations.  A total of nine Cooks and six black petrels were considered to have fledged successfully based on our monitoring – and thankfully all before the big storm hit.”

 A [Black Petrel Action Group](http://www.gbict.co.nz/ActionGroups/BlackPetrel/BlackPetrel.html) was established in 2011.

 Watch a short video on Black Petrel conservation [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBrnFx0ex_M&feature=youtu.be).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 August 2014*