Flight magazine asked Pukaha/Mt Bruce's captive breeding ranger Tara Swan how the wildlife centre coped
during lockdown.
"Lockdown at Pukaha was lovely actually! Obviously businesswise, like everywhere, it was a bit of a big change, but for the wildlife, it was like a break for them. I think nature enjoyed it." she said.
The stand-out moment during lockdown was the arrival of a kōkako pair, walking the tracks daily and visiting the rangers.
"I think the lack of visitors walking around inspired the birds to come and check out what we do every day.
"We had a stunning orange- fronted kākāriki clutch raised and fledged during the lockdown (actually due for release in
September, depending on how this new Covid update plays out)", Tara said.
During the first week of lockdown, four kākā juveniles from the centre's Aviary 3 pair were released into the forest.
This was ideal timing as it meant they could get used to the feed stations and other kākā without the distraction of
people too. They still hang around the feed stations so are easy to spot.
"Once lockdown was over, we sent two kiwi chicks to Sanctuary Mountain for release and four red-crowned kākāriki juveniles were released at Cape Sanctuary.
"Nine yellow-crowned kākāriki went to Nelson, where some stayed for some new captive breeding pairs and the rest were released on Puangiangi Island. "So yes, it was a bit mad! During and after as so many bird transfers were delayed due to the travel restrictions. Thankfully it was during the quiet season," Tara said.
Contractors wildlife expert Sandy Bull and Ecoworks' Steve Sawyer bring birdlife into Nick's Head Station and look after the 2-metres-high predator-proof fence, which protects 35 hectares of native bush and a wide array of wildlife.
About 60 tuatara were translocated from Stephens Island in Marlborough Sounds, and now, safe within the fence, their numbers have grown to more than 100.
There are also about 180 nesting gannets, about 55 to 60 grey-faced petrels, sooty and fluttering shearwaters and even an arctic skua has been seen within the fence.
"Initially, they said we couldn't do it," Sandy says.
To attract the seabirds, Steve smothered the rocks with white paint to look like guano and installed a sound system to replicate the calls of various seabirds. The gannets have been nesting there for several years now.
Sandy says there are plans to translocate saddlebacks and giant weta. He has also been involved in translocating pāteke to the wetland and about 200 have been released. He says they are now moving around the region and another survey of bird numbers is due but it is clear the pāteke are doing well.
Sandy told DU members that he was well aware of the wealth of knowledge within DU and members' involvement with wetlands around New Zealand.
He says Gisborne is desperately short of wetlands. The biggest is Lake Repongaere, covering about 110 acres. "There are farm ponds all over Gisborne attracting wildlife but we are very short of big wetlands. This one [at Nick's Head Station] is a joy to behold."
Some of the visiting and resident birds:
The wetland at Nick's Head Station at Muriwai, south of Gisborne, is a world-leading example of positive human interactions with the land, and of what vision and money can achieve.
General manager Kim Dodgshun has worked at Nick's Head Station since 1994, eight years before the current owners bought the property. "They inherited me and we've worked well as a team ever since," Kim says.
When Kim arrived, the land that is now the main wetland was being grazed with livestock roaming all over, and with cows wandering along the beach. "It was nothing like it is today."
Early on, Kim had the idea of creating a bird reserve on the property and ran it past wildlife ecologist and former Wildlife Service ranger Sandy Bull.
The plan, however, hit a snag when the owners at the time said they did not wish to proceed with something that would not produce financial returns.
Undeterred, in 1995 Kim managed to obtain a $15,000 Natural Heritage Fund grant from the local district council and, with Sandy's help, starting trapping. "We caught a big polecat down on the beach," Kim says.
They also put up "No shooting" signs – it had been a popular duck shooting site, fenced off 15 hectares and planted flax around the outside. The birds flocked in, bringing seeds from other wetlands in the area and the plants began to grow.
The story of the wetland took another turn in 2003 when the farm changed hands after the Overseas Investment Commission approved an application from a US billionaire to buy the land, in what turned out to be a 12-month-long process.
He had first visited the farm in 2002 and embraced Kim's plans to create a wildlife reserve.
The final step for the sale was to gain iwi approval. Kim says communication was the key and once the iwi knew what the owner planned to do with the property, the deal was approved.
In response to Kim's plans, the owner said, "Let's make this bigger and better", and brought out renowned landscape architect Thomas Woltz from the US to design the wetland, with advice from Kim and Sandy.
A previous manager who had farmed there for 35 years had set in place the foundations to drain the saltwater from the low lying areas. He put up a netting fence on the beach which collected all the driftwood and storm debris, building a natural wall with sand.
Next, he added another fence on top of that and planted it out with marran grass and other plants.
Later, in the 1960s, a drain was put in to get rid of the remaining saltwater but a narrow, shallow channel remained, with 700 acres of catchment running into it. In summer it dried up. The surrounding paddocks were all very wet with no drainage.
Kim had already planted some native blocks but as Thomas Woltz learnt more about New Zealand and its trees, "the master plan was to revert the land back to how it was 700 or 800 years ago, with a profitable farming operation, back when there were no predators and the land was covered in native trees", Kim says.
Planting began in earnest in 2003 and now there's almost 700,000 natives on the property – coastal varieties with "the big fellas" – rimu, matai and totara – planted among them.
The wetland project began in 2005 – plans were drawn up, the land was surveyed and work began, initially with six diggers.
Kim had warned the contractors that trucks with wheels and 20-tonne diggers wouldn't work in the boggy terrain, but they brought them in anyway and all of them got stuck.
Which left the six smaller diggers. Firstly, a wall was put in to stop the saltwater coming in over the original wall at the beach. "We put in some more small ponds up the valley and worked our way west."
Deep channels – "about 2½-cars deep" – were dug out to ensure the wetland had water year-round.
The material excavated from the channels was made up of a layer of Plasticine-like blue tacky soil sandwiched between shells and "rubbishy" soil. The blue material was used to seal the walls or build the islands, while the "rubbishy" soil helped shape them.
Diggers scraped up the topsoil which was carted on to the shaped islands by trucks with tracks to prepare them for planting.
However, when they came to seal the western side of the wetland, they ran out of the blue soil so plastic liner had to be used in some sections.
"We pegged out all the walls and had three diggers in a row, one digging the holes, another with a big roll of the plastic, working at snail pace, unrolling it, with a third quickly filling it in before the walls collapsed," Kim says. Thankfully, it worked.
"Once it was all done, we had to pump all the water out. "We got council permission to pump it out into the sea over sheets of corrugated iron to protect the beach."
In the process, they found some old kahikatea, big, old stumps of trees, leading them to believe that, pre-settlement, it must have been an old kahikatea swamp.
"There are some stumps on the beach visible at low tide that have been dated at more than 8000 years old," Kim says.
As well as dealing with the challenges presented by the terrain, during planting, they encountered another problem.
Holes were dug with an augur, and some crystal rain put in with soil over the top before the tree was planted with a fertiliser capsule.
Later they went back to one of the islands to put in stakes to mark where the native plants were but found that most of them had been pulled out.
"All the rats were just pulling them out and eating the fertiliser caps. They were having a ball."
The answer was to use about 100 bait stations with Pestoff rat bait, from Farmlands, and "there were bucketloads of rats coming in," Kim says. It's slowed down now.
"That was just another little challenge. I can't believe how well the plants have grown."
Now the islands are all finished and planted with native trees – 10,000 trees to the hectare. On the hills, it's 2500 to the hectare.
The wetland has two 1ha islands and several smaller ones. All the islands are in place of valleys, which was Thomas Woltz's plan, imagining erosion coming down and islands forming.
At its peak, 25 people were working on the project. The labour was all local and all the trees were sourced from the Muriwai area. "Now the locals come to get our native trees," Kim says.
The farm is 3300 acres in total with nine kilometres of coastline. It runs Angus cattle, 285 breeding cows and 3300 sheep. This is likely to be reduced to 3200, with the aim of getting more out of fewer stock, by doing things better, "by selling them when they are ready to go and when the market is ready to take them".
"We are looking at the possibility of going down the regenerative farming path, though the steep contours of Nick's Head Station add to the challenge – more investigations in this area are required."
Facial eczema is a problem so the farm focuses on sourcing facial eczema-resistant stock. The farm uses dicalcic phosphate fertiliser, not straight superphosphate, and nitrogen, which was seldom used, has not been used for about eight years.
The station employs a staff of 16, who look after conservation, including a former DOC worker who does trapping and twice-weekly night shoots by bike, general hands, stockmen, groundsmen, a secretary, a citrus manager and assistant, who have 50 hectares of citrus to tend, plus contractors.
Kim pauses, distracted by something that needs fixing. "Everything we do on this place, we got to maintain it.
"We've got this magic place that we've all had something to do with and created what it is today. We can't let it go back. We can't let wild pine trees start growing.
"We've got convolvulus – we've got to keep taking it out – we've got kikuyu grass on the farm that we have been spraying, we have got to keep at it. "
"The old place never sleeps."
watch?v=9VlY-3V63yI.
President Ross Cottle welcomed DU members to the 46th Conference and AGM in Gisborne – the first time it has
been held there.
He said the turnout was better than expected after the Covid-19 lockdown. The timing of the conference, on the weekend of July 31 and August 1, turned out to be fortuitous, with the country facing further lockdown restrictions from August 11.
Ross thanked Kees and Kay Weytmans for organising everything at the Gisborne end.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Ross said it had been another relatively quiet year of activity, not helped by Covid-19.
Wairio continued to be a major focus for DU in the Wairarapa. The attempt to get a permanent water supply from Matthews Lagoon had not been very successful, with the wall of the diversion canal blowing out last winter.
It was yet to be reinstated although DU hoped it would be completed next summer.
DU was still seeking opportunities to advocate for wetland construction, and the promotion of environmental issues where needed.
"Our membership is holding, although there is noticeably more grey hair, and in some cases no hair at all, showing up to events each year," he said.
It was reported at last year's AGM that the Board had decided to offer scholarships to university students studying in the
wetland environmental area.
There had been a much slower uptake than expected, but in July, Adrienne Longuet-Bushell, Jim Law and Ross presented
Victoria University student Shannon Bentley with $5000 to continue her studies in carbon sequestration in wetlands.
Ross concluded by thanking the Board members for their work over the past 12 months.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Donations have come from the Wetland Trust, the Pharazyn Trust and Treadwells, and a one-off private donation.
Members' subscriptions and donations, along with last year's raffles and auctions contributed to the rest of the income, Treasurer John Bishop said.
DU accumulated $75,000 for the year and, once expenses were deducted, it was left with a surplus of $30,765, though a big portion of this is earmarked for work at Wairio.
John was this year’s Bill Barrett Trophy recipient.
WATERFOWL AND WETLAND TRUST
David Smith said that at the end of the trust's financial year, which is on December 31, it recorded its highest net assets at $522,000, but then there was Covid-19.
On March 23, the funds had taken a dive of just over $72,000, though this was also partly because of Donald Trump's trade war with China.
The trust sat tight and, as at July 22, the trust's funds were back to $505,000 as sharemarkets recovered much of their losses.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Three Board members – Adrienne Longuet-Bushell, Gill Lundie and Emma Williams – had completed their two-year
terms. All were re-elected unopposed for a further two years. Liz Brook has retired from the Board.
WETLAND CARE
DU assisted with two projects this year, both in the Masterton area.
Matt Wyeth, of Spring Valley Enterprises, is creating a wetland and pond of about 2 hectares which will complement the already extensive areas created in the past 20 years.
The cost would be more than $10,000, and DU would contribute $5000 towards it. It was due to be completed but had been delayed by Covid-19.
John Murray, of Kainga Mauru Trust, has also created an approximately 2ha wetland and pond. DU has contributed $5000 towards the $10,000 work required to do the excavations.
ROYAL SWAN
Will Abel said that sadly, there was nothing more to add this year, with no swans available.
"The breeding birds we have had over the years have departed the scheme, and we are having no success in replacing
them," he said.
"Even our strongest suppliers, Peacock Springs, are now needing breeding stock. We don’t really have any ideas how to
reverse the trend as importing birds is still not possible."
About 10 pairs had been seen on Henley Lake in Masterton, but there was no easy way to capture them.
MEMBERSHIP
Ducks Unlimited is stable with 275 members, of which 80 are non-paying or life members.
Reminders will be sent to those with outstanding subscriptions.
WEBSITE
The website is now mobile-friendly and the number of people accessing the site through their phones is nearly as high as those using desktop computers.
More copies of Flight magazines have been added to the website with 100 issues now online.
WAIRIO
Jim Law said the Wairio project was moving from a development stage to maturity.
The site was being visited by more people taking advantage of the grassed walkway around the wetland.
"Just watch your boots" because waterfowl are fond of parking up on it, he said.
DU continues to work with iwi who will be more involved with the management of Wairarapa Moana once their Treaty settlement is signed. "Our relationships with them are very good," Jim said. Greater Wellington Regional Council had taken over responsibility for the Matthews Lagoon and Boggy Pond reticulation project, but it had failed.
"We believe it will be fixed this summer." There was also debate within GWRC about the need for a fish passage at the site and this needed to be resolved.
The fantastic partnership with Victoria University was continuing, with students regularly working on Stage 3 at Wairio.
In July, the first Wetland Care scholarship was presented to a Victoria University student. The university also has another student who is likely to apply for a scholarship in the next two to three months.
DU has a five-year Wairio strategy which now needs to be updated. Also, its management contract with DOC expires in December 2021 so next year members will be asked about whether to continue that contract.
"There will be less work – we are just waiting for the trees to grow, some repairs and some planting. Our preference is most likely that we would continue," Jim said.
Ross applauded Jim's negotiation skills in dealing with the different Wairio partners.
Di Pritt asked the meeting to record a huge vote of thanks to Jim, Ross and the Wairio committee for their work. She said when they first visited the wetland 15 years ago, their first reaction was: "What are we doing?"
"It was the bleakest place – Siberia had nothing on it", and now it is a significant wetland, she said.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Fred Bailey asked how to access funds for predator control. It was generally thought regional councils should be the first point of contact.
Guest speaker Sam Gibson suggested contacting DOC's local relationship officer to tap into the DOC Community Fund and Jobs for Nature funding.
John Cheyne said Hawke's Bay Regional Council was the greatest source of resources in his region, as well as the DOC Community Fund.
Wairarapa Moana, which includes the Wairio wetland, has been recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Wetland Convention.
Wairio has been Ducks Unlimited’s most significant, and its most rewarding, project over the past 15 years.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage, in announcing Ramsar’s decision at a ceremony at Lake Onoke on August 21, congratulated all the partners involved, including Ducks Unlimited.
Hi everyone. Last month we got the exciting news that Wairarapa Moana has been granted Ramsar status as a wetland of international importance, joining six other wetlands in New Zealand.
I hope this will mean repair work on the Matthews Lagoon reticulation project at Wairio will be completed sooner rather than later.
Our conference was held in Gisborne this year and it was most enjoyable. Everything ran very smoothly and according to plan. Timing of all the events was spot on.
We were extremely privileged to be able to visit to Nick's Head Station, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Next year's conference will be in Wellington, with a trip to Zealandia on the agenda.
Our congratulations to Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust's Anne Richardson, who was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in June.
Nationally Recognised restoration efforts
According to WaiWetlands, you should prepare to be inspired by nationally recognised restoration efforts at Wairio by community group Ducks Unlimited.
Once a paradise for waterfowl and aquatic species, the wetlands were greatly affected by drainage schemes in the twentieth century. Today they are a living example of what is possible through wetland restoration efforts.
Go to the Wairarapa Moana Wetlands website and read the whole story
Mr David McNeil opened his remarks commenting that the decision by the Wildlife Service to capture and supply Ducks Unlimited with 10 pairs of birds was received with great enthusiasm as DU had long considered that the development of expertise with this species (before numbers in the wild are affected by habitat reduction and other causes to a dangerously low level)was a logical move.
Mr McNeil outlined background to the project and gave details of experience achieved in adapting the birds to new diet and conditions during acclimatisation. Praise was given to Mr and Mrs I.H. Pirani and Mr M. Powell for their efforts in rearing the birds under aviary conditions — he said it would be difficult to imagine a greater change from conditions in the wild but commented that those involved with rearing had been astonished at the birds' natural quietness and lack of concern when approached closely — perhaps a fatal flaw in their nature. Pair bonding was discussed and experiences with natural pairing shared with the audience.
Overall it was felt that a great deal of progress had been made and Mr McNeil said he hoped the Wildlife Service could catch the balance of their agreed total as a permanent nucleus of captured birds was essential to the survival of the species. The Wildlife Service was being kept fully informed of Ducks Unlimited‘s progress. The only disturbing factor had been the recent reports of poaching of Blue Duck and other wildlife species for overseas markets, and Mr McNeil said Ducks Unlimited would assist with publicity and conservation of this unique species. A member requested that a remit be presented by Ducks Unlimited to the Minister of the Environment inquiring if anything had been done concerning alleged poaching recently reported in the press.
The President reported that he understood a special task force had been set up by the wildlife Service to investigate the matter of poaching Blue Duck and other species and undertook that a letter would be written to the Minister expressing the organisation's concern and seeking clarification of the position.
Mr F.N. Hayes re—stated DU's objective to permanently establish the Canada goose in the North _ Island, which is being achieved by transferring geese from the South Island and releasing them in a pinioned state on to suitable dams and lagoons. He outlined the history of the project, since 1977, concerning geese supplied from the South Island and also those bred by North Island DU members and zoological societies and supplied to the project. The majority of geese have been distributed to farmers in the Wairarapa in groups of 6—8 birds per lagoon. The Wellington Acclimatisation Society Senior Field Officer has been largely responsible for distribution of geese in the Wairarapa district and DU's appreciation was extended to Mr Ian Buchanan and to the Society for its co-Operation. Thanks were also expressed to the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. Mr P.M. McLeod received special thanks for his part in arranging shipments of geese to the North Island since 1977 - also Mr L. Piper of the North Canterbury Society's game farm for his outstanding assistance.
The establishment of the species in the North Island was progressing well and apart from the good breeding results in the Wairarapa, very healthy populations were being established in the Bay of Plenty where approximately 200 birds exist, and in Hawkes Bay where there is about the same number.
These populations have grown from wildlife Service releases in the l960/70s.
Concern was expressed at recent moves in the South Island to return the Canada goose to a non-protected status there. Canada geese are partially protected at present and DU considered a change in this status (achieved only last year) would ultimately lead to the species' annihilation in the South Island. Comments were made from the chair and the floor that the Canada goose in New Zealand has been and possibly still is one of the most maligned and abused forms of wildlife. A decision had to be made whether to manage the goose constructively or destructively while, at the same time, acknowledging all viewpoints commented Mr Hayes.
These remarks were followed by comments from members on the need to keep in perspective the whole question of Canada Geese in New Zealand and the President confirmed that Ducks Unlimited would be closely monitoring the situation.
For the first time in living memory, men watched while the Kakapo population increased by two. The wildlife team on the island described the find as ‘mind boggling‘.
The N.Z. Wildlife Service team have good reason to pat themselves on the back. Since 1977. when they discovered a community of thirty of the rare birds on Stewart Island. they‘ve been working hard to preserve the species.
The discovery of the two chicks was an indication of how important the team‘s work in eradicating pests. tagging and studying the birds has been.
The Kakapo needs your help too.
The wildlife team. whose good work became so evident recently. need somewhere to live while they study and protect the Kakapo. The World Wildlife Fund has set the Project Kakapo target at $25,000 to build and equip a hut with basic living and research facilities.
Because all materials must be ?own into the remote and rugged regions of Stewart Island by helicopter. the cost of construction will be high. But it’s the ?rst step on the road to survival for this unique and delightful New Zealand bird.
Build the hut or see the Kakapo fade into myth — the choice is yours.
Support Project Kakapo.
Less than a hundred Kakapo remain — a bare few in Fiordland. and the small colony in almost inaccess— ible parts of Stewart Island.
The Kakapo’s survival is dependent on your support.
The World Wildlife Fund has committed $25.00( to supporting the Kakapo, it needs your help to raist the money.
Without your help the Kakapo will die.
How much do you know about the Kakapo?
Probably next to nothing, because little is known even by trained naturalists and researchers, about it: life cycle, its habits, its rituals. its young — even its life span.
The Kakapo is as big as a goose, booms like 2 bittern, climbs trees, digs holes and looks very like at owl. The bird remains one of nature’s riddles. Flight less, nocturnal, the Kakapo is the world’s biggest ant strangest parrot, it has a separate sub—species classifica tion all of its own.
With moss green body feathers and bronze wings, the Kakapo waddles as it walks. It looks for all the world like a plump and stumpy Charlie Chaplin as it beats feeding tracks across dense scrubland in southern Stewart Island.
Tearing moss and grass roots from the boggy, peaty ground, its food is held in long claws and nibbled with a powerfully hooked beak.
But for all its apparent armament, the Kakapo is a placid, docile creature, certainly no match for the killers of the bush,
Wild cats and dogs maintain a reign ofterror. Mauled skeletons of members of Stewart Island’s
Kakapo community are sad relics of the havoc caused by predators imported by the early Pakeha settlers.
Dogs hunt, kill and eat Kakapo. But the biggest threat comes from the wild cats, whose agile speed makes the slow-moving Kakapo easy prey.
The New Zealand Wildlife Service team will send their specialist in wild cat eradication, to Stewart Island — but like other members of the team, he needs shelter. The donation you make will house this man and others like him, who may need to spend up to ten years studying, learning and keeping the last Kakapo colony in New Zealand alive. The current research team is living under canvas in conditions of extreme hardship in the same remote corner of the island where the Kakapo have been herded.
To keep the research team the Project Kakapo hut mustd be built. Otherwise the Kakapo cannot be protecte .
Where do I send my donation?
Please help save the Kakapo by sending a cheque, postal note or money order to:
Project Kakapo
World Wildlife Fund
P.O. Box 12-200
WELLINGTON NORTH
A receipt will be posted to you — and all deductions of $2 or over are tax deductible within the prescribed limits. The money you give to Project Kakapo will be used only for Project Kakapo.
The Kakapo will live —- with your help — if given now.