Conservation Amplified

17/09/2026

🌿 HELP SUPPORT OUR AMAZING NATIVE BITTERN! 🌿

Have you heard the deep “boom” of a matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) around the Rotorua lakes and wetlands?

The last known flock in the Rotorua district was seen rising from raupō, but it is believed that bittern are still using wetlands and freshwater habitats around our lakes.

How many are still out there is unknown.

Matuku-hūrepo are just one step from extinction, with the national population thought to be fewer than 1,000 birds. With numbers this low every bittern counts.

We’re supporting Love Bittern / Community Conservation Action Aotearoa in raising awareness locally and encouraging people to take part in The Great Matuku-hūrepo Muster, a nationwide synchronised count where people listen for and record the distinctive booming call of male bittern.

Last year, a small group of people and a couple of recorders detected bittern near Lake Ōkāreka, and two young bittern were also sighted near Lake Rotoehu.

Imagine what we might discover with more people listening!

Matuku Mingle:
Saturday 10 October | 2–4pm�Boyes Beach�Postponement: Sunday 11 October

Come along for an informal afternoon to learn more about bittern, meet others interested in helping, and, weather permitting, enjoy a walk and talk through nearby restored wetlands. Training will also be available for those interested in taking part in the Muster.

☕ Bring a drink and a plate to share for afternoon tea.

🎧 The Great Matuku-hūrepo Muster:

The Muster is your chance to help find out where bittern are still living around our lakes and wetlands by listening for their booming calls and recording what you hear.

If you’re a local who would like to learn more or help with the count, please check out the event details and get in touch via the website link below. You don’t need to be a bittern expert, just a willingness to listen and help!

Every pair of ears could help with the discovery of another matuku-hūrepo. 💚

👉 Find out more about The Great Matuku-hūrepo Muster:

https://lovebittern.com/take-action/the-great-matuku-hurepo-muster/

Kaharoa Kōkako Trust

13/09/2026

Last chance to get your tickets for our River Lessons from Europe event with Envirohub | Bay of Plenty tomorrow night.

We will be sharing what we discovered through our 8 week expedition cycling 3000+ km along the entire Danube River to learn about conservation.

Tickets are free but they're booking out. Get yours at https://events.humanitix.com/river-lessons-from-europe-climate-action-festival-bayofplenty-2026

15th September
5:30 - 7pm
Envirohub HQ, 31B Glasgow Street, Tauranga

This event is part of Envirohub's Climate Action Festival.

We will try to publish a recording for people further afield.

09/09/2026

1. Rivers are more than a blue line on a map.

2. Nature needs a seat at the table, not just an afterthought.

3. We can help rivers in our everyday lives by being more sustainable.

These are just a few of the lessons we've learned from cycling 3000+ km along the entire Danube River and interviewing conservationists as we go.

Come along to our live event with Envirohub | Bay of Plenty next Tuesday as part of the Climate Action Festival to hear about our journey and the lessons we've learned along the way.

15th September, 5:30 - 7pm
At Envirohub HQ, Tauranga
Tickets are free but you need to register
Sign up here: https://events.humanitix.com/river-lessons-from-europe-climate-action-festival-bayofplenty-2026

03/09/2026

Tuesday 15th September, 5:30pm - 7pm at Envirohub | Bay of Plenty in Tauranga, NZ.

We will be sharing our journey, and the lessons we've learned about helping nature from speaking to experts along the world's most international river and cycling 3000km+

Come along if you're around. Tickets are free but you need to register here: https://events.humanitix.com/river-lessons-from-europe-climate-action-festival-bayofplenty-2026 😊

29/08/2026

"Callum put it plainly: the last two centuries have seen us build a version of Europe that considers human needs and treats nature's needs as an afterthought.

His conclusion isn't subtle: that equation doesn't work anymore. Continue on the same path, he argues, and the suffering it produces will only scale up."

Thanks to Christian Cummins from Radio FM4 Austria for this interesting write up about what we learned about conservation while cycling the entire Danube River from source to sea.

https://fm4.orf.at/story/cycling-danube-drought100

24/08/2026

Danube on two wheels - the unusual journey of two New Zealanders

Thank you to Radio Vidin and Elizabeth Hristova for covering our expedition:

"We're two New Zealanders with the crazy idea of ​​cycling the entire length of the Danube to learn more about conservation and how people are helping nature recover along this international river...

We kind of got into this situation with low water levels and a heat wave, not expecting it to happen, but it really changed the direction of the story we're telling...

I think we're definitely witnessing something extreme right now. But the biggest question is: Is this an anomaly or is this our new normal because of climate change and everything else...

I think in the past we've taken nature for granted and said, 'Well, the river will flow, the seasons will be stable.' And we've built our lives, our businesses, our cultures around that stability.

And what's shocking to me is what happens when you can't count on that anymore..."

Full story here: https://bnrnews.bg/vidin/post/516510/dunav-na-dve-kolela-neobichaynoto-patuvane-na-dvama-novozelandtsi

21/08/2026

The low river levels and wildfires in Europe are very intense this year.

This week, Euronews Earth covered our experience cycling the entire Danube River in the midst of it.

“We’ve seen a lot of wildlife, in particular birds, panting during the day. We’re obviously cycling in the heat, and we’re struggling. But then seeing them struggle is even worse,”

But despite the challenges, there are great conservation projects getting results for nature, which we have been filming for our upcoming documentary.

“There are these speckles of hope everywhere of things that are already happening, and we’re seeing results,”

Thanks to Angela Symons from Euronews for covering our story. Video copyright: Euronews.

To subscribe for updates on the documentary, head to our website - www.conservationamplified.org (or link in bio if you're watching this on Instagram).

16/08/2026

We have been cycling through record low water levels in the Danube River, experiencing wildfires, panting birds, wilting crops and much more.

Rosalie from The Weekend Sun (our local newspaper) published a story of our journey and encounters with this extreme weather.

Some interesting snippets:

“Climate is a bigger part of the story now than we initially planned because of everything we’re seeing,”

“The smoke was coming up in black plumes of smoke, and it was right at the edge of the village,”

“Are we seeing an isolated event or a preview of the future?”

“When fires start coming to the edge of towns, when your freight ships can’t actually move through the river, when your crops are wilting, when you’re struggling to get electricity generation, then all of a sudden the problems with nature directly affect our economy, our livelihoods and our ability to live our lives.”

“Rivers are more than just a blue line on a map,”

Read the full story here (or link in bio): https://www.theweekendsun.co.nz/news/19631-bop-cyclists-face-fires-on-shrinking-danube-flows.html

And subscribe for updates here as we produce the documentary and share it with the world (link in bio also): https://conservationamplified.org/blog/cycling-the-entire-danube-for-conservation

16/08/2026

We have been cycling through record low water levels in the Danube River, experiencing wildfires, panting birds, wilting crops and much more.

Rosalie from SunLive (our local newspaper) recently published a story of our journey. Check it out here:

BOP cyclists face fires on shrinking Danube flows

09/08/2026

Our story made the Saturday morning news on Bulgaria's national TV station.

With the crazy low water levels of the Danube River, we were able to provide a unique window into the situation as we've been cycling the entire river over the last 7+ weeks filming a conservation documentary, starting at its source in Germany.

Some quotes from Anna and Callum:

🎤 "We were in Persina Nature Park in the area around Belene and we were just looking at the riverbed and how far the water had receded to the point where you could see so many exposed shells, exposed seaweed, and then even cracked ground where it was starting to get even deeper. You feel like this should be three or four meters underwater, and I look at it and it’s dry. I think it’s a huge contrast,"

🎤 "I think that human activity and climate change go hand in hand to some extent. Some of the things we do are accelerating climate change, and I think that's more visible than ever this summer. It's, you know, the forest fires, the low river flows, the fact that we see a lot of wildlife that is also struggling to survive – all of these things. And the most incredible thing for me is that we've heard similar stories from Germany all the way to Bulgaria, where we are now,"

🎤 "If we restore the river and particularly the floodplains closer to their natural form, we will be more resilient both to floods and to these drier summers because, as Callum mentioned earlier, it allows more water to be stored in the soil. But also, if there is a flood for example, the water can go somewhere, and that ‘somewhere’ is the floodplain, not the next town."

Full article here:

https://btvnovinite.bg/predavania/tazi-sabota-i-nedelia/izobshto-ne-sa-ochakvali-tova-koeto-shte-vidjat-dvama-velosipedisti-preminavat-po-cjaloto-porechie-na-dunav-3000-km.html

Thanks to Melina Vasileva from bTV for covering our story.

The full documentary we're making for Conservation Amplified on how nature is being recovered along the Danube River will be published later this year. Subscribe to be notified when it goes live here: https://conservationamplified.org/blog/cycling-the-entire-danube-for-conservation

Те се движат от мястото, където извира реката, до там, където се влива в Черно море. Сега са в България