MARION VAN DIJK/Stuff
Haulashore Island, once part of the Boulder Bank, marks the entrance to Port Nelson and volunteers hope to make it a home for little penguins. (File photo)
Nelson’s Haulashore Island could become a thriving little penguin habitat, with people able to watch the world’s smallest penguin return to the shore at dusk.
The five-hectare island off Nelson's waterfront road has been the focus of renewed predator control efforts last year to protect the birdlife, thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers.
The island is a major breeding site for pied shags and also home to the at-risk northern spotted skink. But it's the little penguin, often called the little blue penguin or kororā, that volunteers hope will return to nest there as they reduce the number of predators.