Mana Island, off the west coast of Wellington, is proving its worth as an ecological restoration site with seabirds laying eggs in specially designed burrows.
Two pairs of fluttering shearwater have laid eggs.
The Department of Conservation has not yet confirmed whether these birds were among the 225 chicks transferred from Long Island in the Marlborough Sounds to Mana Island between 2006 and 2008.
Helen Gummer from the Friends of Mana Island organisation is confident that the birds are among those introduced to the island.
She says the news of eggs being laid is hopefully the beginning of fluttering shearwater repopulating Mana Island, where they lived many years ago.
