Contractors have been spotted doing their bit to preserve the beauty of Moturiki Island.

Full Circle crew members were spotted planting at the island earlier this week by Rosalie Liddle Crawford, during filming for SunLive's daily sunrise video.

Tauranga City Council parks manager Mark Smith says the contractors have been working throughout the week, to plant native vegetation in the area.

'This is part of our annual maintenance programme,” he says. 'This year we were planting four different native species – mountain flax, giant sedge, a rush called wiwi and kawakawa.

'These plants will provide some low cover to protect the burrows of the little blue penguins which nest in the area.”

Mark says alongside this the plants are also visually attractive, and do a great job at preventing erosion.