Alison Ballance

Hauturu-Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf became New Zealand's first nature reserve back in 1897. Following the eradication of cats and rats, the wildlife on the island is in rude, loud health… Audio

Alison Ballance joins Massey University's Michael Anderson on Hauturu-Little Barrier Island in an attempt to catch a long-tailed cuckoo and attach a satellite transmitter. Along the way she discovers… Audio

The world's supply of terrestrial phosphorus will run out in about 50 years - but at the same time lots of phosphorus ends up in effluent ponds around the country and is sent to landfill. Alison… Audio

It's spring and all around the country birds and animals are busy doing the 'wild thing' - and a relatively new population of kakariki, or red-crowned parakeets, in central Wellington are no… Audio

Hauturu-Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf is one of New Zealand's most precious nature reserves - and it's now home to nine of our most threatened birds, the kakapo. Most kakapo are… Audio

Sneezing, itchy eyes and runny noses mean one thing - spring is here. During spring and summer, pollen produced by trees, weeds and grasses leads to hayfever in those folk with pollen allergies. To… Audio

24/7, regardless of the weather, TASCAM, a hi-tech marine buoy anchored off Motueka in Tasman Bay, beams back information to the Cawthron Institute. As Alison Ballance finds out, it's not just… Audio

When it comes to designing and building robots, New Zealand secondary school students are the world's best. But before they compete on the international stage young robotics fans get to test out their… Audio

When you take a walk down Queen Street in central Auckland, how noisy is it - and do you mind that noise? What levels of air pollution are you being exposed to by that bus idling at the traffic… Audio

Every year more than 300,000 visitors head to the Goat Island Marine Reserve at Leigh, north of Auckland. But as they swim and snorkel their way past the little island that gives the reserve its name… Audio

The kiwifruit that you see in supermarkets at the moment were picked back in autumn when they were still very hard. Since then they've been stored in special conditions that are designed to keep them… Audio

The first Maori settlers in New Zealand were hunter-gatherers who found a rich larder of seafood for the taking. Archaeologist Ian Smith from the University of Otago tells Alison Ballance how he's… Audio

A research programme at the University of Otago is forcing a re-think about the impact of early Maori on our fauna, especially coastal species. Alison Ballance is at Dunedin's Sandfly Bay with… Audio

Three years after an ambitious project to eradicate possums from the Otago Peninsula began it is now home to 6000 fewer possums than it used to have. Alison Ballance heads out with local farmer… Audio

How many times a minute does the heart of a green-lipped mussel beat, and how do you measure it? Norman Ragg is a physiologist working with shellfish at the Cawthron Institute. Alison Ballance joins… Audio

Abatrosses are giants of the seabird world, with wing spans of more than 3 metres. When Alison Ballance got a chance to help out on an albatross research project on remote subantarctic Adams Island… Audio

How many texts do you send a day? How much homework do you do, and how heavy is your school bag? Just some of the questions that 20,000 students have been answering as part of Census at School. Audio

When it comes to waterways in Hamilton everyone is familiar with the mighty Waikato - but feeding into the river are a myriad of small streams that make their way down the city's many gullies. And it… Audio

Golden Bay is home to a wildlife spectacle that only a few early risers know about. Each day at dawn, especially in mid-winter, large numbers of spotted shags arrive at Tata Beach for a bit of bathing… Audio

They're large and green, move in packs and love their broccoli - and for the last year they've been the target of a search and destroy mission. They're the caterpillars of the recently-arrived great… Audio