News & Tips

Rising in mid-winter, the cluster of stars known as Matariki represents a time of solemn reflection followed by a celebration of the present and a looking ahead to the future. We’re excited about this important new national holiday - and here’s a round-up of how people are celebrating around Aotearoa. 

“They’re a hard-case crew and absolutely great to work with,” says GM Greg Webster. “They knew what they wanted and just got stuck into it. There was no make-up artist, no reshoots and everything was kept as natural as possible. It really was a slice of life type of shoot.”

As a component of a healthy and balanced diet, raw meat has numerous benefits for canine health. For one thing, it’s easily digestible and contains tons of naturally-occurring goodness. For another, dogs find raw meat highly palatable (just put it next to some dry, processed tucker and see which gets gobbled first!)  And what’s more, the benefits of fresh raw meat can be preserved by freeze-drying it.

As winter hits, trees and shrubs go dormant above ground for the season, biding their time until spring arrives. That means fewer food sources like nectar, berries and insects for our wild bird friends.

Waking up to a chorus of bird song is one of the great delights of living in Aotearoa. But can you differentiate the chime of a korimako (bellbird) from the tūī in that kōwhai tree? 

Following on from other successful trapping schemes in the region the Topflite team is delighted to back the arrival of the Oamaru Urban Trapping Project.

We are used to seeing creatives rely on a separate income stream to fund their artistic endeavours. In a very Kiwi take on the struggling artist stereotype, Ashley McDonald did the opposite. She used her nature-centred artwork to pay her way through university and fund an emerging career in ecology and conservation.

Aside from the good ol’ Easter Egg Hunt, there are lots of eggscellent ways to celebrate the long weekend with the kids and the grown-up kids. Here are a few of our suggestions: