Issue 179
September 2020
Cover: A pair of mallards enjoy the peace and quiet of Te Mome Stream, Petone
Photo: Alfred Memelink, Artspace Gallery
- Ramsar status for Wairio
- 2020 Conference & AGM
- Game camera action
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…
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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,…
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President Ross Cottle welcomed DU members to the 46th Conference and AGM in Gisborne – the first time it hasbeen 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…
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…
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'They said we couldn't do it' 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…
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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…
Predator control goes on hold The Department of Conservation had to suspend all non-essential services, including predator control programmes,during Covid-19 Level 4, which beganon March 5. But the timing of the lockdown in many ways couldn't have been better, Brent Beaven, Predator Free 2050 manager for DOC, said. Most birds weren't breeding, and most of…
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The winners of a DU auction for a Blue Duck Station experience had a ball. John Dermer reports. It’s quite a drive! You turn west at Raurimu, famous for its railway spiral, and travel a windy gravel road till you are sure you are lost. When you come to a gate across the road, you’ve…
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Where are the swans?Royal swans are on the wane and DU Director Will Abel wants suggestions about getting hold of some breeding stock. Please contact Will on 06 362 6675. More Flights scheduled From next year, Flight magazine will be published three times a year in February, June and October. Submissions of stories, photos, story…
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Auckland-Waikato Fish & Game wildlife manager John Dyer has discovered a secret world of wildlife. This article is to share the idea of how useful game cameras (aka trail cameras) are in exploring what is happening at your favourite pond or wetland. Put a game camera in front of a nest box, a ground nest,…
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On a trip around the top half of the South Island last summer, a friend who lives in Greymouth suggested that I visit New Zealand's only white heron (kōtuku) breeding site, just north of Ōkārito. The tour operator is White Heron Sanctuary Tours, based in a little town called Whataroa, about an hour south of…
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Victoria University student Shannon Bentley is the recipient of DU’s first Wetland Care scholarship. Shannon, who is from Upper Hutt and Carterton, has a bachelor of science degree and is now studying for a master’s in ecology. She is looking at facilitating effective wetland restoration in the Wetlands for People and Place research group. “This…
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