Alison Ballance

North Island saddleback - or tieke - are one of New Zealand's conservation success stories. By the 1960s they were found on just a single island, Hen Island in the Hen and Chicken group near… Audio

After decades, and sometimes centuries, of absence, native wildlife is staging a comeback around the country - and in some cases having natural neighbours again is taking a bit of adjustment. In… Audio

John Kendrick, the wildlife film-maker and sound recordist to whom we owe our bird calls on Radio New Zealand National, has died in Whangarei aged 91. Audio

If you stand at Cape Reinga in the Far North on a fine day you can just glimpse some islands on the horizon. They are the Three Kings Islands, where Alison Ballance joined Auckland Museum's recent… Audio

New Zealand's a land of birds - and there's now a website that's the ultimate one-stop shop for everything you ever wanted to know about them. Alison Ballance is off to find out more. Audio

Over the next few weeks we're going to be rolling out some new bird calls on Morning Report, which come from New Zealand Birds Online. Audio

Doctors have long known that a drug that works well for one person may not work as well for someone else. And we're increasingly finding that it's differences in our genes that are responsible, just… Audio

Kauri dieback disease is killing the trees in the garden of Colin McCahon House in Titirangi. It has no cure, there's no vaccination. Alison Ballance investigates, in a Waitakere Ranges forest. Audio

Kauri dieback disease knows no boundaries. It's killing our iconic kauri trees in suburban gardens in West Auckland and in the great kauri forests of Northland. Alison Ballance heads to Titirangi to… Audio

We mostly know them as Muttonbirds - that dark rich delicacy collected from the Titi Islands around Stewart Island. But they're also known as Sooty Shearwaters - not only our most abundant bird… Audio

For six weeks after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake millions of litres of raw sewage - along with lots of liquefaction - poured into the Avon and Heathcote Rivers. A team of biologists… Audio

For more than a hundred years, since an Australian steamer ran aground with a cargo of gold and silver coins, the Three Kings Islands in the Far North of New Zealand have been a focus for treasure… Audio

The North Island is still in the grip of the most severe drought on record, and there are reports that native trees and wildlife are suffering. So what will happen if droughts like this become more… Audio

All around the country migratory wading birds such as godwits and knots are winging their way north to breeding grounds in the Arctic. Alison Ballance heads to the Firth of Thames to see some of the… Audio

Banks Peninsula is mostly hilly farming country, but these days conservation sits alongside farming and tourism on the peninsula, and local farmers are some of the most ardent conservationists. Alison… Audio

Using an articulograph to study how we process food in our mouths while we eat will help in smarter food innovation Audio

Two years ago Zealandia sanctuary in Wellington and the Department of Conservation joined forces to try and eradicate brown trout from waterways. It was an experiment - but it's been successful - as… Audio

Alison Ballance was on an expedition to count penguins in their stronghold in the subantarctic Auckland Islands, and she says down there it isn't that rosy for the penguins, despite hard work by a… Audio

Alison Ballance navigates her way to the University of Auckland to hear how homing pigeons might, in future, help us find our way around on distant stars. Audio