Cloak of Protection

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MORGAN ROTHWELL

ILLUSTRATOR: CLOAK OF PROTECTION

9 April 1947 – 23 August 2020

As a child, in St Helens, Morgan had his own natural history museum, in the garden shed.  His friend Harry Friar remembers “The museum would always have a centerpiece as the main attraction: a sparrow’s skull; an owl pallet; cow horns.

“His dad used to bring them [the cow horns] home and we would leave them in the garden until there was only a shell left.   We would walk around with them over our shoulder tied with a piece of string.  We must have been bubonic plague carriers, they didn’t half smell.”

His house on the Kapiti Coast was full of reconstructed skeletons, and his garden was full of buried skeletons.  Different country / same habits!

He was recruited to NZ, as a wallpaper designer, around 1980.   He impressed John Callwood, of Ashley Wallpapers, with his design experience, his phenomenal charm, and (most importantly) his love of Folk Music.

Sasana. L-R John, Morgan, Pete.

Their band Sasana played at the launch of Cloak of Protection, at the Mahara Gallery, 21 Jan, 2012.

I’d gone to find him after seeing an exhibition of his illustrations at the Paraparaumu Library.  His airbrush work was magical.  Whether he was illustrating wildlife or whether he was illustrating fantasy, he knew these creatures from the inside out . . .

. . .what I did not know, but was to learn, was that Morgan only ever did one thing or the other.

In all aspects of his life, Morgan was a contrary combination of opposites – as if he viewed life through slits in opposing walls.

He would take a position to view through one slit, on a mission to illustrate and/or defend this spot to the death. Then he would cross to an opposite wall and take a sighting through its slit.

When I asked him to do both (wildlife and fantasy) on the same project, he was excited (he loved sets), but he was also flummoxed.  He had no way to see through both window slits at once!?

Given time, Morgan eventually worked out a way. . .it was to be one of his proudest achievements.  He was (as Harry says) ‘a talented git’.

75 air-brush illustrations.  This was his BIG completed project.  It was the piece of work which he declared himself most proud.  He had made his mark!

The game has been so successful, that earlier this year we meet to discuss a new edition.

Whither he goes, through which-ever slit through which he watches the world, and where-ever he sits, may his glass always be full, and may his elbow always find a place to lean.

POSTSCRIPT

His beloved Liverpool, won the EPL title, for the first time, this year.  He rests a happy man.

 

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this Feedback

on Cloak of Protection has just come through. It’s wow! Also it lists the very useful ways to use the game in the classroom, for which I’m very grateful . . .

Quite frankly Cloak of Protection is one of the best educational games I have come across (and I and my family are all into board and card games so we have tried a lot).

Not only is the game play enjoyable (some luck, some strategy and negotiation), but I really appreciate the quality of the artwork, and the scope of the learning that takes place. 

Before even playing the game:

  • We can examine the cards one realm at a time, and with the information on the predators we can see that some predators are a problem in some areas/habitats, and the damage they can do/have done
  • We can discuss how and why birds became extinct and it motivates us to help prevent more birds being exposed to predators 
  • We can learn to identify and classify birds by their habitats and have interesting discussions about their physical features and how they might have adaptations to help them in their habitat
  • We can see the diversity and appreciate it, learn to do backyard surveys etc

Then we get to play, and the game is fun and engaging (and challenging when we are hit hard by predators, kids are building resilience skills too when they hit a big setback!). 

I have a multi-age classroom and students have played this from 6-12 years of age (the five year olds, and some six year olds can play, they just may be a little less savvy in negotiations, although there are others willing to support!).  

Although I have this as a learning game, it is on our shelf and available during wet lunch times and is a highly prized option. 

Helen. Primary Teacher and Science Leader

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ch..ch..changes

Cloak of Protection
Cloak of Protection
have come upon us! While we’re at Level 3, I can send you games, but I’ve no idea how long courier delivery will take. But should be within a week.

So, now there’s free delivery with your order.

I’ll send from my rural delivery postbox (to save on travel), and will (as always) let you know the tracking number, as well as following it myself.

Best we can do. ngā mihi. JiL

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a tide of tui

Cloak of Protection. FOREST
are spilling over the predator proof fence at Maungatautari Ecosanctuary, according to an article just published in Notornis – the research journal of BirdsNZ.

The study was carried out by Neil Fitzgerald, John Innes (SCIENCE ADVISOR, CLOAK of PROTECTION) and Norman Mason from Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research.

Construction of a 47 km pest-resistant fence encircling 3,240 hectare of the forest was completed in August 2006 and eradication of all pest mammals except house mice commenced in November 2006.

“This created the largest area of virtually pest-free forest on the New Zealand mainland.

“Congregations of 100 or more tūī were reported 6 times. Such exceptional congregations of tūī have not been previously reported in Waikato.

“The increased presence of tūī in the wider landscape will help restore indigenous dominance in ecosystem processes such as pollination and seed dispersal.”

In Cloak of Protection, tūī live in the forest realm, but this movement shows that they could just as easily be settlement birds!

In Flight of Pollen, tūī are necessary pollinators and seed dispersers

from the article, Tūī spill out from Maungatautari, Predator Free NZ, blogpost
FEBRUARY 13, 2020 BY KATE GUTHRIE

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one find of moa poo

Stout legged moa
found in a cave in Nelson is thought to be 8000 years old.

In Flight of Pollen, fresh native pollen is carried from plant-to-plant. But in new research, it’s evidence of which plants were eaten, way back thousands of years ago!

Scientists analysed the pollen in fossilised moa poo and in fresh deer poo, from Daley’s Flat, Dart River Valley, West Otago.

It’s thought four species of moa lived where the samples were found, three of which can be found in Cloak of Protection: the bush moa; the heavy-footed moa – described as a “40-gallon drum walking on toddler’s gumboots”; the upland moa; and the South Island giant moa.

The pollen, thousands of years old, and still remaining in the dried poo, indicates that each of these species grazed on different plant types within the area.

The pollen also shows that plants that were present when moa roamed the country are now pretty much absent – due to the introduction of deer.

Deer are not like moa. Research by Jamie Wood and Janet Wilmshurst, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research

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Culling invasive species on islands worldwide

could save nearly 10% of the world’s bird, mammal, amphibian and reptile species currently on the brink of extinction.

So the Guardian reported on research published in the journal Plos One.

Recently I saw this for myself on Kapiti Island, which – thanks to volunteers who criss-crossed the island with traps, and to the ongoing surveillance of DOC – has been predator-free since 1998. Only one pregnant ferret has disturbed the peace since then!

Kākā watched us from trees above, kōkako sang, weka dug in the undergrowth, the lone takahē hid from sight, hihi flitted by, and we found empty kiwi holes…

“This is about as cost-effective, high-impact species extinction prevention spending as one can find – as close as we can get to a silver bullet. . .People are often surprised at just how successful and doable these projects are . ..” said Jonathan Hall, the RSPB’s head of UK overseas territories.

With the predators in Cloak of Protection removed, wildlife is flourishing. To celebrate this, dolphins frolicked in the marine reserve, and beside our boat, both ways.

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Rivers as barriers

RATS in Cloak of Protection
even quite small rivers are an effective barrier to possum migration. So found ZIP (Zero Invasive Predators), in 2017, when they ran a trial in Remutaka Forest Park.

Last year, a similar trial began in the Perth River valley, to measure whether or not larger rivers are also an effective barrier to the migration of rats.

By 19 February 2019, after more than seven months of continuous bio-marking and trapping, confidence has grown. Trials were run across winter (where the river levels are lowest; the water is at its coldest; and rat breeding and dispersal activity is low), and across spring/summer (when the river levels rise as snow and ice melts; and rat breeding and movement increases).

“We are very encouraged by this promising result!” say the team.

Maybe, just maybe, some rats don’t like getting their feet wet!?

More information at Zero Invasive Predators Assessing the Perth River (and Scone Creek) as a barrier to rats

In Cloak of Protection, there are three rats: kiore; Norway; and Ship (shown).

Making Flight of Pollen we learnt that the endangered sort-tailed bat / pekapeka (which is a phenomenal pollinator), has had much of its role in our Native bush, taken over by the Ship rat – when the rat doesn’t eat everything in sight ie the whole flower (of course)!

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the kākāpō breeding season

this summer is expected to be the biggest we’ve ever known.

That’s because we’re having the biggest rimu mast that’s ever been recorded.

Rimu mast (seed fruiting in large amounts) is the trigger for the female kākāpō on Codfish Island/Whenua Hou (about three kilometres north-west of Stewart Island/Rakiura), and on Anchor Island/Puke Nui (in Fiordland’s Dusky Sound) to come, answer the boys booming. Finally joining them to dance in their sounding bowls!

These Islands are home to New Zealand’s main populations of kākāpō. The third Island is Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island, in the Hauraki Gulf.

There are 148 kākāpō and the population is slowly increasing. But the likeable parrots face lots of problems. The biggest is infertility.

Kākāpō and takahē expert Andrew Digby, a DOC scientist says that, “Only about half of the eggs hatch, and only about a third of the eggs that are laid turn into chicks that fledge.”

Last year, for example, there were 122 eggs laid but only 34 chicks fledged.

That makes mast years like next year of huge importance. Digby says, “It’s going to be a big one for us.”

One that will bring out the girls!

Thanks to the undaunting efforts of the Department of Conservation, in Cloak of Protection, Kākāpō remain in the FOREST realm, and have not joined the EXTINCT realm.

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First takahē eggs for Kahurangi

Takahe eggs
Image: DOC
The pitter patter of little takahē feet is on the cards at Kahurangi National Park. DOC reports that the first eggs of the new wild population have been found at Gouland Downs off the Heaphy Track, only the second wild site for takahē.

Today it is exactly 70 years since takahē were rediscovered in the Murchison mountains of Fiordland.

As a student, one of my holiday jobs was working at the Murrell Accomodation in Manapouri. Old man Murrell told me that he had been one of the group that lead Orbell up into the mountains on that day.

He also laughed and claimed that they knew of the existence of the birds long before this. I wonder?

Never-the-less, we mark today as the 70th year of their rediscovery.

Takahē in Cloak of Protection belong in Tane’s Forest Realm. The work of The Takahē Recovery Programme means that they did not join Hine Nui Te Po in the realm of the extinct.

Seventy years on they remain with us, and are now laying eggs in the wild in two locations.