Janet Ledingham documents sea lions on the Otago Peninsula. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
A Dunedin octogenarian spends her days documenting one of the rarest sea lion species in the world - and even has one named after her.
Janet Ledingham, 82, wanders the shores and dunes around the Otago Peninsula looking for New Zealand sea lions, often going out daily if the weather is good enough.
A former medical researcher, Ledingham said she has always had an interest in conservation but her passion for sea lions began in late 2015, when she happened across a mum and her newly-born pup near Ōtepoti.
"I got hooked then and there, and followed them ... we had to do a bit of babysitting because they were a bit vulnerable where they were at low tide with surfers and whatnot. They were back off the beach but we had to make sure that nobody with dogs or anything was going to bother them."
Ledingham described herself as a nursemaid, visiting and watching the pair regularly, documenting their day-to-day lives.
That dedication was recognised by the Department of Conservation who named the pup after her. It has since had three pups of her own.
"She's always been good with me. One of the Aramoana people reckons she always used to chase them. I said that was because he was getting too close with his camera.
"If I find her now, sleeping, she sort of opens one eye and says 'Oh, it's you'."
A female sea lion in an inlet on Otago Peninsula. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
Ledingham regularly makes trips along the Otago Peninsula to visit and document sea lions.
One of the locals lets her drive through his paddocks so she does not have to walk as far on the sand.
On the day RNZ tags along, we set off down a rocky path, before reaching the inlet's shore.
It does not take long for Ledingham to spot sea lions relaxing on the sand at a beach.
Sea lion pups are usually born in late December and January, with their mums moving away from their birthing areas to inlets and other areas that offer them protection and less opportunity to be bothered by the males.
Ledingham points out a male with a few females, a pup, and yearlings lying in the sand further along the shore.
"There were about 10 big fellas ... and the word had got out - cover up today - and they'd all dug little holes and covered themselves in sand. One had pulled a piece of seaweed across, giving himself a sun hat."
Janet Ledingham hopes to use her photographs of sea lions to make a book. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
She takes plenty of photos and tries to identify the mums and pups she sees, mainly using their tag numbers and a reference list.
She sends this information to DOC and the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust.
DOC coastal Otago biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said her near daily reports were extremely valuable.
Coupled with her great eye for a photo and story - it was a no brainer to name a pup after her, he said.
"I had a colleague who frequently reminded me that there is no substitute for time in the field, and there is no one I know that spends more time in the field with the local sea lions than Janet," Fyfe said.
She also had a lot of locally relevant information, he said.
"A good example of this is a time I was very worried about a potentially abandoned pup that was clearly hungry and wandering around Smaills Beach calling for her mother for a number of days. I put out a call to our Trust volunteers - 'Has anyone seen the mother- Hiriwa?'.
"Janet got back almost straight away to say she had seen Hiriwa earlier that day being held captive by a large adult male.
"We were able to rectify the situation by moving the pup back to her mother - an intervention that was easy and likely saved the life of this pup."
Ledingham was quick to spot an emerging issue and has been very generous allowing her photos to be used for advocacy, he said.
"I am simply blown away by Janet's enthusiasm and stamina. She gets out most days and reports on what she has seen.
"Sometimes I reflect that the work she puts in must almost be the equivalent of a full time job. This is despite some of the mobility challenges that age can bring.
"It does give me hope that retirement might not just be a downhill run. Janet has embraced recording the story of sea lion recovery on the mainland as the activity that brings her joy, and I only hope that I might also have that energy and mobility when I get to 80."
With years worth of records and photos, Ledingham was hopeful she might turn them into a book.
Ledingham's advice for people in sea lion areas:
- Drive slowly
- Keep an eye out
- Make sure dogs are on a leash