This year has been one of rapid growth and progress for Ducks Unlimited. Waterfowl conditions in most parts of New Zealand improved considerably and most regions experienced an excellent breeding season. Prospects for 1976/77 appear most encouraging for the ducks – however, these favourable circumstances must not lull us into a false sense of security or complacency. Our work is just as urgent – the need is still as great.

Your group’s financial situation has continued to improve and the financial statement to 31 March 1976 is enclosed for your perusal. Membership has almost doubled and continues to grow at a steady pace. We have welcomed our fifth life member, our third trade member and our fifth acclimatisation society member. We also have a growing membership from persons overseas – in Australia, Canada and the United States. In 1976/77 we aim to double membership.

‘Operation Gretel’ is now well under way and results are encouraging. ‘Operation Pateke’ has attracted much attention and we are delighted with our progress – 1976/77 promises to be a great year for the Brown Teal.

As a fundraising project, our T-shirt promotion produced excellent results and the gift card subscription scheme similarly was most successful and resulted in many new members.

At the end of the financial year, we announced our plans for project number 3 – ‘Operation HQ’. The objectives of project 3 are the establishment of a national headquarters comprising a research centre and display area, the latter designed to be a fundraising activity. Already several members have promised their entire waterfowl collections to the centre. We look forward with much enthusiasm to our third project which must, of necessity, be staged over several years.

In 1975/76 Ducks Unlimited has not been entirely inward looking and has interested itself in other related conservation projects. One such project is the Westshore plan in Napier and our director, Henry Lickers, participated in meetings concerning this matter.

We have enjoyed visits from a director of Ducks Unlimited (Canada), Mr Gerry Malaher, and from the National President of Ducks Unlimited Inc USA, Mr Gaylord Donnelley – such visits lead to a closer understanding and liaison between the international groups. In the same ways, the visit of director, Dudley Bell, to the northern hemisphere was another valuable opportunity – he has now returned with many exciting possibilities for us in New Zealand.

One of the unique attractions of membership in Ducks Unlimited is the opportunity for all to positively participate in field work – in fundraising – and in contributing ideas, knowledge, expertise etc – financial memberships means so much more than just writing a cheque for $10.

In the short time since we began, with a few hundred dollars to support the dream, significant progress has been made. However, we are still very much in the establishment period. Hard work and enthusiastic support have helped to make the dream materialise and DU is contributing in a positive way to the preservation of New Zealand’s waterfowl heritage – but there is a long road to travel.

The guest speaker at this year’s conference, Murray Stevenson, spoke about gun dogs and the importance of training them to suit the terrain. The three main groups of gun dogs – retrievers, spaniels and pointers/setters – all have very different temperaments and purposes.

He stressed the importance of letting puppies play and not putting too much pressure on them too early, saying to fully train a gun dog takes two years or more.

Experience has taught him that eight dogs equals eight times more work. It was important for owners of multiple dogs to give each dog one-on-one time and make sure none were left out.

He brought along some of his $3000 worth of dog training equipment with him and explained some basic techniques such as teaching pups to respond to a whistle rather than a human voice, and as a first step for them to learn “yes” and “no”.

Through a series of anecdotes, Murray described his experiences with different breeds. Labradors, he said, were easy to train as they were one-dimensional: they liked peanut butter sandwiches and retrieving ducks.

He said the two true bird dogs were the English pointer and English setter. Murray’s not-so-successful experience with owning an English setter taught him that they are good in long-range conditions but not suited to bush-covered, short-range conditions, and can be a challenge to train.

His advice for teaching a dog to run in a straight line is to train it along a fenceline, using incremental steps, so the dog can only deviate left or right, not both ways, making it easier to control.

He concluded by saying, “We hurry our training too much. Make sure your dog is 100 per cent right before you move on.”

This year’s Ducks Unlimited New Zealand’s 45th conference was held at the Collegiate Motor Inn in Whanganui, with just over 50 attendees. The weather was kind and, after a bitterly cold, wet and windy Friday, turned on the sunshine in time for the field trip on Saturday, 3 August.

President Ross Cottle opened proceedings at the AGM by saying it had been a reasonably quiet year, with only three members’ wetlands being developed, however work at Wairio Wetland was going well and good progress had been made.

He paid tribute to long-time DU supporter and Wairarapa Chapter Secretary/Treasurer Joyce Brooks who passed away shortly after the previous AGM.

Treasurer John Bishop, after his traditional warm-up joke, presented his report. He confirmed and reviewed the requirements of being a charitable trust, which include providing a mission statement, entity structure and a yearly report of income, expenditure, activities and volunteer support.

The information for the Charities Register notes DU is reliant on volunteers, with about 8000 volunteer hours a year spent on wetlands assessment and building, swan collection, and advice, education, field days, bittern project, supplying magazine content, Wairio planting and education, supporting schools, fundraising, auctions and dinners.

After running through the financials, which show a slight deficit for the year, John concluded:

“We are remain solvent, through support from membership subscriptions, auctions, grants from the Wetland Care Trust, and donations from Treadwells, Pharazyn Trust, Muter Trust, South Wairarapa Rotary and one-off grants.”

Election of Officers

The DU Board remained unchanged, with the two directors whose two-year terms were up, Jim Law and John Dermer, being re-elected unanimously.

Waterfowl and Wetland Trust

David Smith reported that the trust was in good shape thanks to the sharemarket, and despite paying out $40,000 to DU, was in a similar financial position as it was at the end of 2017.

He said the trust was doing exactly what it was set up to do: provide money to enable DU to carry on its work.

Wetland Care

Will Abel said that in line with the previous couple of years, there had been few applications for new projects, with most of the wetland creation activities centred on the Wairio Wetland.

A large wetland in Pahiatua that DU committed $5000 to three years ago had been completed, and in Masterton, DU had helped created another large wetland, to which it contributed $4000.

Royal Swan

Will Abel said it had been a disastrous year for the royal swan, with no cygnets available and even the wildlife centre at Peacock Springs, Canterbury, the usual source of swans, was looking for some new breeding stock.

“We have no idea why really, but anecdotally I suspect it is because it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing,” he said, tongue in cheek.

“If it improves next year, my supposition will be proved correct, and I will present a paper at the next conference on it.”

He said it was fortunate that there had not been many requests for swans.

Whio

Peter Russell reported that the breeding programme had had a good season, with 65 whio reared from captive pairs and 15 reared from wild clutches. A total of 72 were released.

In the North Island, 30 were released. Three older birds from last season were released on the Whakapapanui in December, and 12 birds, six males and six females, were released at Blue Duck Station in January.

The third release, on the Manganui a-te-Ao, was in early March, with eight males released at the Ruatiti Domain and four females released down the river where there was a surplus of males. Three male birds were released on Mangawhero stream on 20 March.

Peter said it was always a great thrill to take part in the releases out on the river. He has been doing them since 1997 and it has changed so much. In 2000 they released seven, compared with 72 in the past year.

In the South Island, 20 birds were released on the West Coast in January in the Wainihinihi, Arahura, Styx and Kawhake rivers; 12 birds were released on the Taipo River in March; in Tasman 10 birds were released.

Membership

Paul Mason reported that DU currently had 280 members, with 57 of those unpaid as at the AGM.

He said a second subs reminder would be sent out, following email and postal reminders subsequent to the initial subs mailout.

He noted that in the past three years, payment preferences were moving from cheque to internet banking. Credit card payments remained about the same and PayPal transactions were increasing.

More members were responding to the suggestion that DU communicated with them more by email, he said.

Website

Paul said new articles were added as events occur, with the most recent being the planting day at Wairio Wetland. Flight magazines, from No 155 to the current issue, have been loaded on to the site. Issue 29 has also been scanned and added as a PDF file.

Articles from more recent Flight magazines are being transcribed and loaded as searchable items – so far back to issue 159. Old issues are being scanned and loaded as PDFs.

He noted a drop-off in website visitors in the past three months and in response had upgraded the site-mapping software and re-registered the site with search engines.

The main files being downloaded were Flight magazines and people were also accessing the educational resources files (from Quack Club), he said.

Wairio Wetland

Jim Law reported that the wetland was in good heart, benefiting from continued restoration work, albeit at a more modest cost to DU ($4455 versus $9500 in the prior year). Work focused on more bund wall improvements ($1700), tree planting ($2000) and noxious plant control ($755).

At last, significant progress was made by the Greater Wellington Regional Council to reticulate water from Matthews Lagoon and Boggy Pond to Wairio. Earthworks have been completed but after a “weather event”, remedial work is required. This will be done this summer.

“We had provisionally budgeted to fund a portion of this work but GWRC assumed full responsibility,” he said.

Total expenditure by the Wairio Restoration Committee, not counting volunteer time, since inception 14 years ago, now stands at $220,000.

The Victoria University of Wellington School for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology remain focused on their research at Stage 3.

The Restoration Committee is still holding funds (lodged with DU) from fundraising efforts totalling $10,807. A further $15,000 grant was recently received by local donors. These funds are also being held by DU on behalf of the project committee.

As mentioned last year, Wairarapa Moana, which includes the Wairio Wetland (administered by DOC on behalf of the Crown), has been included in a Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Wairarapa iwi. “Whilst the settlement has been delayed, the local iwi has assured us that they want us to continue our good work restoring the Wairio Wetland.

“We remain of the view, though perhaps slightly biased, that DU members should be proud of this project,” Jim said.

Scholarships

Jim Law reported on DU’s new initiative offering scholarships to students doing research in a relevant area. A trial offering a total of $25,000 over three years in grants of $5000 per student so far had had little response to date.

Four universities had been approached and it was likely the first recipient of one of the $5000 grants would come from Victoria University working on the Wairio site.

Welcome:

The President, David Smith, welcomed members to the 38th Annual General  Meeting.

Many thanks to Di Pritt and Waimarino Wine Club for a very enjoyable evening last night.

David spoke of the end of his presidency – but still a lot of work to be done. DU faces a crisis in interest and membership.

He spoke of the Boards time spent looking at alternatives in the drive for younger members. Advice was sought and some  possibilities have come out of that. We could look at the possibility of getting  together with all like organisations, e.g.  Forest & Bird, Fish & Game, National

Wetlands Trust, and Waterfowlers to form umbrella group to go to Government. This means that we would retain identity with no merger. There is a large amount of cross fertilisation over these organisations. However DUNZ could become a member with a stronger thrust on a national basis. As a result of the discussions at Board level David and John Bishop met with Tony Roxburgh some three weeks previous. They see some merit in the idea. DUNZ is seen as having the wetland expertise. Tony Roxburgh, from National Wetlands Trust, was introduced to the AGM and gave his background. He reinforced David’s  comments and said that the idea of an  umbrella group had a lot of merit. It had been raised with the Trust and they were comfortable at this stage of discussion. The forming of an alliance would give all individual small groups a voice. David then asked members to talk to Board members throughout the day and give some feedback. David now needs to step back and Ross Cottle has agreed to take over his role as President.

Apologies:

Lady Isaac, Kevin and Vietta Campbell, Alan Wilks, Ossie and Mary Latham, Euan Bidwell, Chris Bindon, Barbara Hanbidge, Gordon Pilone, Rob and Robin Borthwick, Lorraine Jensen, Wendy Simmons, Shonagh Lindsay, Myra Smith, Janet Denny, John and Diny Dermer, Graham Gurr, Dawn Pirani, Andrew Fulford, Sharon Cottle,  Ken and Jacqui Barnes, Pam & Brian Maunsell, Adrienne Bushell, Peter and Anne Russell, Raeleen Mabin.

Motion: That the apologies tendered are  accepted.
Moved: John Bishop, Seconded: James Martin. Carried.

Minutes of the last AGM:
Circulated in Flight #150 and copies 
available at the AGM.
Motion: That the minutes of the last AGM be accepted as a true and complete record. Moved: Ian Jensen, Seconded:  James Martin. Carried.

Matters arising from the 2011 minutes: There were no matters arising.

Thanks to David Smith to be recorded and congratulations on appointment as Judge of District Court.

Presidents Report: David Smith As circulated in Flight #150 and tabled.

Motion: The Presidents report is accepted. Moved: John Bishop, Seconded: W Abel. Carried.

Matters arising from the Presidents 2012 Report: There were no matters arising.

Financial Report: John Bishop

Presented at the meeting – as at March 31, 2011.

Current Account  $19,854
Rapid Saver  $9
Term Deposit   $46648  

Accounts be accepted subject to the review of engagement.

Due to the timing of the AGM this year the 2012 accounts are not yet finalised. Motion: That the 2011 financial report be accepted.

Moved: John Bishop, Seconded: David Smith.

Carried.

Waterfowl and Wetlands Trust Report: David Smith (tabled). Reiterated that the nature of this investment means that it is a long term one that  fluctuates, however we are almost back to the position of 2007 and the next 9 months should see an improvement. Moved: David Smith, Seconded: Jim Law. Carried.

Election of Officers:

Board Election:

The President read out the following  Statement:

The Constitution states that the Board should consist of not less than six, of which half, but not more than two thirds shall be permanently appointed Directors.

As of right, the permanent appointments are the Chairman, President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Other permanent appointments are Neil Candy and William Abel.

Nominations for the Board:

New nomination from Jim Law for Andrew Fulford. Has been a long term member of DUNZ and works in wetland restoration. Moved: Jim Law, Seconded: Ross Cottle. Carried.

Are there any other nominations from the floor? None.

Reports:

Wetland Care: William Abel (tabled). Moved: William Abel, Seconded: Ian Jensen.

Carried.

Website Report: (tabled).

Michelle Cooper (webmaster) covered off her report. The website is getting a lot of hits – what is being looked at? Through the background information I am able to see the mostly looked at are news, duck facts and wetland facts and 69 percent of people are coming to DUNZ website directly.

Quack Club now has 80 members. Five schools are using our resources.

Moved: Jim Law, Seconded: William Abel. Carried.

Wairio Wetland:

Jim Law (Full report tabled).

Covered off report. • Have raised profile and credibility • Maintaining good coverage in media • Looking to ratchet up project due to  success • Need to update strategic plans • Making a case to DU Board for further funding.  Moved: Jim Law, Seconded: John Bishop. Carried. Jim Campbell proposed a vote of thanks to Jim Law for his energy and hard work with Wairio and said that without Jim it all wouldn’t happen. Pateke: Full report tabled

Opuatia Report:

John Bishop - This project is in abeyance.

General Business:

Received an email regarding DUCs 75th anniversary at Oak Hammock Marsh
DUNZ AGM – to go back to winter time scenario. July/August. Aware that we need to keep costs down.
Dart competition at Di Pritts last night raised $46 with the winner getting 102 points in 2 shots!
Ian Jensen spoke of Pharazyn Reserve - a KCDC project for the rehabilitation of an old wetland in Waikanae. Local schools are heavily involved but very light on members.
Thanks to Liz Brook for Flight magazine.

Closure:

The President thanked the Board for their work throughout the year.

The meeting closed at 10.20am.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council was  delighted to receive a Distinction Award from the New Zealand Institute of  Landscape Architects at the NZILA Resene Pride of Place Landscape Architecture Awards for 2013 in April.

The citation for the award states that Pekapeka Wetland provides a range of  experience opportunities for users and  acknowledges the contributing work of Shannon Bray Landscape Architect.

Stephen Cave, HBRC’s Operation  Environmental Manager said “This is one of three awards for Pekapeka Wetland  since 2009, realising its champion value and raising the awareness of wetlands throughout Hawke’s Bay.

“The award from NZILA is a great  reflection on the restoration work  happening in Hawke’s Bay and we are  very honoured. It is estimated this award puts Pekapeka Wetland in the top five  percent of landscape architecture projects undertaken throughout New Zealand in  recent years.”

The award recognises Pekapeka Wetland as a high quality interpretive site for wetland restoration. It is noted for integrating public accessibility with educational  features, using local materials and stories.

Stephen is quick to acknowledge a number of the project’s key supporters, particularly Shannon Bray, Waa Harris, Peter Dunkerley, the Community Foundation, Rotary Club of Stortford Lodge, Eastern and Central Community Trust and the preliminary work of Titchener Monzingo Aitken Ltd.

Iwi groups plus many children from schools (particularly Pukehou School) and Kiwi Conservation Club all played a key role in planting areas around the swamp.

Duck brood study

A $300,000 Fish & Game study is hoped to shed light on nesting success of native birds, in particular duck broods.

DU in NZ

Ducks Unlimited is New Zealand’s leading wetlands and waterfowl conservation group. We work to save our wetlands through  protection, funding, technical aid and  education so that the flora and fauna of our most endangered ecosystem are a legacy we can pass down to future generations. Our key focus is to increase the efficiency and number of New Zealand wetlands  developed and support any relevant wildfowl recovery programmes. To aid in this worthwhile cause we harness  community support and Government  resources, plus utilise global links and  findings from wetland global research programmes.

Second generation kiwi on way

MB23 - he’s one of the first generation North Island Brown kiwi born at Pukaha Mount Bruce after Operation Nest Egg  delivered his parents there in May 2010. Now he’s sitting on his own nest!

Department of Conservation Ranger Yuri Forbes is tracking his activities with a chick timer transmitter which tells Yuri that he’s nesting. The eggs (there’s usually two) will be removed at around 70 days incubation and with any luck the reserve will have their second generation kiwi about 20 days later hatching in the nursery.

Lots of interesting birds in Myanmar (aka Burma) I was told. I looked forward to seeing a few. A very few was what I got. Domestic ducks were almost everywhere, the variety of colors was amazing. Out on Lake  Inlay I saw an Egret perched high on a pole, and flocks of gulls also on this inland lake.

Finally at the Kandawagyi Gardens at Puin Oo Lwin in the hill country, there were some interesting ducks. Golden ducks I was told. A Google search came up with only Golden Duck restuarants.

Gordon Pilone of Pohangina Wetlands came to the rescue. They are Ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea). They breed in south-eastern  Europe, east through southern and central Asia to Mongolia and western China, with  separate populations in northwest Africa and Ethiopia. As a migratory species they travel south before the onset of winter, with most  European and Asian birds moving to south and south-eastern Asia, from Afghanistan east to eastern China. North African birds go eastwards along the North African coastline, and Ethiopian birds move into lowland areas.

They are hunted in much of south-eastern  Europe and south Asia, but are relatively well protected in Buddhist countries by its status as a ‘sacred’ bird. Consequently, numbers of ruddy shelducks in central and eastern Asia are thought to be stable, even increasing.

The ruddy shelduck reaches maturity at around two years of age. Courtship is brief, with male and female  engaging in head-bowing and jerking. The nest is a cavity created in a sand or clay bank, usually up to nine eggs. The male defends the nest while the female incubates them up to 29 days, and then both adults tend to the chicks. Liz Brook

I have been a member of DUNZ since the early 1980s, and a past Director. I owned my first wetlands in 1962 when I was 18 (100 acres in the Waimarino Wetlands, now known as the Deans Block), and I have been actively involved in wetland ownership and preservation ever since. I am currently a partner in the wonderful ‘Home of the Duck’ wetlands in Broadlands.

I have been a keen shooter most of my life, but now chose not to shoot live game. I still  attend duck season opening weekend, set  decoys and call birds, but decided to not kill birds any more. Even so, I still cannot help but draw a mental bead on any duck or pheasant that flies past, and I enjoy clay bird shooting. As a youngster with my father I have shot godwit on the Manukau tidal flats outside the then Henry Kelliher home. I think it was legal then, maybe not! I have shot sparrow and pigeon at the Auckland Met Gun Club, seagulls, hawks, and starlings when I got bored as a stroppy young duck shooter,  pheasant, and quail, and duck aplenty. On  reflection, I am not pleased with some of my shooting decisions, but I have many  wonderful memories of shooting seasons past and the camaraderie that accompanies the hunt.

The reason for this preamble is to firmly place myself in the shooters camp, although I no longer shoot birds. I feel my past and present experience give me a fairly balanced view of wetland conservation trends, and I would like to once again raise the old discussion on the position and relevance of Ducks Unlimited in a modern society. There are many indications of the modern city view of shooters.

A recent (June 2013) Campbell Live programme on TV3 highlighted the scorn heaped on swan cullers. Even though it was entirely legal, and possibly environmentally justifiable, it was presented in the worst  possible way. It was hard not to see this as a pretty squalid and cruel affair.

With the urbanisation of the country and more farms being turned into larger corporate style holdings, there seems to be less and less city folk interested in shooting game. Indeed, there has been a very strong swing against shooting with a majority seeing killing birds for ‘sport’ as barbaric. Forget the argument that their lamb chop for dinner has come from a cute baby sheep- live bird shooting is seen as a  brutal and despised occupation. There used to be scores of cars and utes, loaded with eager blokes and an over excited Labrador dog and towing a shabby duck punt, all heading out of Auckland for that first May weekend. This last year I was on the southern migration, and several of us remarked that we saw very few like minded souls. Many traditional swamps and ponds seem undershot compared to years past.

I am blessed to live in the Mahurangi region, close to the magnificent Tawharanui Regional Park. Apart from some of the world’s most beautiful coastline, this park has a total predator control system and a significant wetland presence. Ducks  Unlimited and Banrock Station Wine donated a very generous $40,000.00 to the wetland  development a few years ago. I was at a recent Queen’s Birthday planting exercise with a turnout of about 180 volunteers over two days. There was a cross section of the community, but all with a conservation bent. Speaking with some of those present, there seemed an underlying feeling that Ducks Unlimited was a vaguely threatening entity to have as a benefactor. There is that strong perception that Ducks Unlimited is a shooters ‘club’, and certainly I cannot dispute the general correctness of this. I would have found it difficult to find DU membership prospects.

I note with interest that the Directors of DUNZ are engaging with other like minded groups in an endeavour to harness the  combined membership of other environmental groups, all whom seem to be confronting  similar dwindling membership. It is a concept that makes sense to me. As an aside, where does The National Wetland Trust fit into all of this?

Is now a time to yet again consider a change of name and direction? The direction would be much the same as the existing core principal of Ducks Unlimited- preserving and creating wetland habitat- but the emphasis would come off the shooting of ducks.

We already have a vehicle in the DU affiliate “Wetland Care”, and maybe this could be pushed to the fore?

There would be major problems involved. Would this alienate existing members, most of whom are keen hunters, and who have  traditionally been the backbone of DU? Would it excite any potential new members in major numbers? Would it encourage sponsors? Is there the energy, resources or passion to  rejuvenate this group?

I am conscious of the danger of being a  standoff commentator with no real input to a solution, if indeed one is needed. I hope my comments are taken as positive input into a group that has been doing such fantastic  environmental work over many years.