Forest & Bird Magazine 318 November 2005 by Forest & Bird

FOREST BIRD Number 318 • NOVEMBER 2005

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Tui is Bird of the Year • Matiu/Somes Island • Goat Island Kakapo • Kevin Smith • Mistletoe • Geoff Moon

Restore The Dawn Chorus Forest and Bird is helping to keep hope alive for our most vulnerable bird species Dear Member This year the red-crowned parakeet or kakariki became the 73rd New Zealand bird species to join the global "Red List" of birds threatened with extinction. Astonishingly, amongst developed nations, only the USA has more bird species on the "Red List". The kakariki now ranks alongside brown kiwi and kokako on the "Red List". Like so many other birds, kakariki fall victim to predation by rats, stoats and possums. But there are reasons for hope. Forest and Bird is helping to keep hope alive through our involvement with inspiring projects that are breathing new life into the dawn chorus by restoring: - robins and stitchbirds at the Ark in the Park project in the Waitakere Ranges, - kakariki at Somes/Matiu Island in Wellington, and - brown kiwi and kokako at Boundary Stream Mainland Island in Hawkes Bay. Already there are positive results. Brown kiwi and kokako are breeding again at Boundary Stream, as are kakariki at Somes/Matiu Island and robins in the Waitakere Ranges. Forest and Bird is also advocating for better pest control and habitat protection. These are the actions needed if we are to save our threatened natural heritage. We urgently need your financial support to help save more of our vulnerable dawn chorus birds. I urge you to support Forest and Bird's 2005 Annual Appeal and help breathe new life into the dawn chorus. Thank you for your generous donation.

Dr Peter Maddison Forest and Bird National President

You can make your donation: Online at www.forestandbird.org.nz Freepost using the envelope included in our recent appeal Freephone 0800 200 064 weekdays during office hours Using the tear-out freepost envelope device on page 51

FOREST BIRD N umber 318 • November 2005 • www.forestandbird.org.

Features 14 Matiu/Somes Island – Secrets in Plain View Community conservation restoring the kakariki. by Dave Hansford

18 Celebrating marine reserves Why Goat Island is an underwater success story.

by Tony and Jenny Enderby

22 Wings of Hope Restoring hope for the kakapo. by Michael Szabo

26 Kevin Smith – Conservation Hero A tribute to a former Conservation Director. by Eugenie Sage

28 Sanctuary New Zealand's spectacular nature reserves. by Shelly Farr Biswell and Eric Dorfman

Forest & Bird is published every February, May, August and November by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Inc. The Society's objectives are to preserve and protect the indigenous flora and fauna and natural features and landscapes of New Zealand for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit of all people. Forest and Bird is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the New Zealand Partner Designate of BirdLife International. The opinions of contributors to Forest & Bird are not necessarily those of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, nor its editor. Forest & Bird is printed on Media Gloss, a totally chlorine-free (TCF) paper which is made from wood fibre sourced from sustainably managed forests. * Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine. ISSN 0015-7384. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

Editor: Michael Szabo PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373 Email: m.szabo@forestandbird.org.nz Contributing Writer: Shelley Farr Biswell Proofing: Judy Mills Designer: Dave Kent Design Prepress/Printing: Astra Print Advertising: Vanessa Clegg Print Advertising Ltd, PO Box 13-128, Auckland. Tel: (09) 634-4982, Fax (09) 634-4951 Email: printad.auck@xtra.co.nz

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Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. General Manager: Mike Britton Conservation Manager: Kevin Hackwell Communications Manager: Michael Szabo Conservation Services Manager: Julie Watson Central Office: 172 Taranaki St, Wellington. Postal address: PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373 Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz Web: www.forestandbird.org.nz Field Officers: Dave Pattemore PO Box 67 123, Mt Eden, Auckland. Tel: (09) 631 7142 Fax: (09) 631 7149 Email: d.pattemore@forestandbird.org.nz Debs Martin PO Box 266, Nelson. Tel: (03) 545 8222 Fax: (03) 545 8213 Email: d.martin@forestandbird.org.nz Eugenie Sage PO Box 2516, Christchurch. Tel: (03) 366 6317 Fax: (03) 365 0788 Email: e.sage@forestandbird.org.nz Sue Maturin PO Box 6230, Dunedin. Tel: (03) 477 9677 Fax: (03) 477 5232 Email: s.maturin@forestandbird.org.nz Ann Graeme, KCC Coordinator 53 Princess Rd, Tauranga Tel: (07) 576-5593 Fax (07) 576-5109 Email: basil@bopis.co.nz

30 The Natural World of Geoff Moon An appreciation of a leading naturalistphotographer. by Gordon Ell

34 Return of the Native Mistletoe A secret world of red, gold and green revealed. by Geoff Keey

Regulars 2 Comment 4 Conservation Briefs Bird of the Year; Albatross; Waiheke Marine Reserve; Subantarctic expeditions; Kiwi at Maungatautari; Kakapo competition winners; Sowing the seeds; Giant land snails; Hector’s dolphin; Falcon; Painted apple moth; Manawatu Estuary; Alpine geckos; Kokako funding; Silver ferns poached; Saddlebacks on Motuihe; More islands pest-free; Whio hatch at Te Anau; Tuna trouble.

36 Going Places Boundary Stream Mainland Island by Brent Stephenson

40 Itinerant Ecologist Home Bush by Geoff Park

42 In the Field The Winged Migration by Ann Graeme, Eila Lawton and Tim Galloway

44 Branching Out

Reg Janes QSM, Don Chapple, Blands Bluff, Conservation Awards 2005, Blowhard Bush.

46 Product Review COVER: The tui has been voted Bird of the Year 2005. Pictured here in a native mistletoe. PHOTOGRAPH: ROD MORRIS FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Comment Comment Leading by example

O the hoopla and ballyhoo of the Election is over. Congratulations to the new Government and to Chris Carter on his re-appointment as Minister of Conservation, David Benson-Pope on his appointment as Minister for the Environment, David Parker, as Minister of Energy and Transport, and Jim Anderton, as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Biosecurity. Forest and Bird looks forward to working with them in advancing our goals for protection of native species and safeguarding our unique environment. That said, I can’t help thinking that conservation and the environment lost out in the Election. Apart from the oneday debacle about West Coast Beech forests, did anyone hear any politicians talking about endangered species or s-ss-sustainability? Of course, there was the much maligned Resource Management Act, but my feeling is that the criticisms of the RMA relate more to the politics of greed and private property rights than they do to preserving the environment. Recently another two of our native bird species – the kakariki and rock wren – were added to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) “Red List” of species threatened with extinction – bringing the total number of threatened bird species to 73. So in New Zealand we now have the dubious honour of being the country with the most threatened species of teal, the most threatened species of shag, the most threatened species of gull and the most threatened species of storm petrel – in the world. Not to mention the world’s rarest and smallest dolphin – Hector’s dolphin and the even rarer North Island Maui’s dolphin. The latest population estimate of the latter is just 111 individual animals. And that doesn’t even take account of the many threatened reptile, frog, insect and

plant species! Add to the picture new introductions into New Zealand. Recently we all learned that ‘rock snot’ – an alga, Didymosphenia geminata (Didymo) – was spreading rapidly through South Island rivers, and that ‘clubbed tunicate’ (sea squirt), Styela clava, had been found in Auckland and Lyttelton harbours. A quick Internet search for the latter will reveal the problem this North Pacific sea squirt has caused to marine life (and marine farms) in the Atlantic – both in Canada and coastal Europe. And recently the retired DSIR botanist, Alan Esler, has calculated that introduced plants become weeds at the rate of four species per year – and that is only in the Auckland urban area. So how best does Forest and Bird, New Zealand’s longest-running and largest conservation society, go about putting our main aim of saving New Zealand’s native species back at the top of the politicians’ agenda? There is nothing like leading by example. Remember that the loss of biodiversity on Kapiti Island was one of the main driving forces that caused Captain Val Sanderson to found our Society. I am impressed by the number and size of community-based restoration projects throughout the country. These range from large-scale endeavours such as Bushy Park and the 1000-hectare Ark in the Park joint Forest and Bird/Auckland Regional Council project in the Waitakere Ranges, to island restoration projects such as Matiu/Somes, Motuora, Tiritiri Matangi, Quail and Aroha, and to modest replanting projects in the Society’s reserves and public land throughout the country. There is also a considerable amount of work being undertaken on private land, including covenanting important patches of wetland and forest on farmland

and planting eco-sourced natives in gardens. The total effort of our Society is truly impressive and includes all the submissions that members write to regional and district plans and on resource consent issues – trying to put in place rules and conditions that serve to protect our natural heritage. Coupled with the advocacy work of members and branches, supported by our staff, is all the magnificent work done organising and participating in evening lecture meetings and field trips. Thanks to all of you for this commitment to voluntary work for the sake of our vulnerable species and precious environment. The sharp end of much of the work is in weed and pest control. Dealing with the pests has been seen as the key element in restoring the birds, reptiles and insect fauna. I have also seen community groups tired out and exhausted by trying to remove weeds and finding that they come back ad nauseam. Finding efficient and effective ways of controlling weeds is one of the key challenges for present day restoration projects. All this work contributes to the greater goal of restoring nature in New Zealand. You will recently have received our Annual Appeal for funds to help Restore the Dawn Chorus. With this in mind, I would like to ask you all to contribute as much as you are able to help Restore the Dawn Chorus and support our dedicated staff. Dr Peter Maddison National President

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923) Registered Office at 172 Taranaki Street, Wellington. PATRON: Her Excellency The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, Governor-General of New Zealand NATIONAL PRESIDENT: Dr Peter Maddison DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Dr Liz Slooten NATIONAL TREASURER: Stephen McPhail EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORS: Keith Beautrais, Mark Bellingham, Jocelyn Bieleski, Anne

Fenn, Mark Fort, Dr Philip Hart, Donald Kerr, Janet Ledingham, Carole Long, Dr Barry Wards. DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS: Dr Bill Ballantine MBE, Stan Butcher, Ken Catt QSM, Audrey Eagle CNZM, Dr Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell ONZM, Hon. Tony Ellis CNZM, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe QSO JP, Stewart Gray, Les Henderson, Joan Leckie, Prof. Alan Mark dcnzm CBE, Dr Gerry McSweeney QSO, Geoff Moon OBE, Prof. John Morton QSO, Margaret Peace QSM, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shands MNZM, Gordon Stephenson CNZM, David Underwood. 2

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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conservationbriefs Tui wins Bird of the Year 2005

HE tui is the winner of Forest and Bird’s inaugural Bird of the Year poll and so has pride of place on the cover of this issue. In all, 76 bird species received 865 votes between them over the two weeks of polling. Amongst the top ten species, the tui was the most popular choice attracting 20% of votes cast, followed by the stitchbird (hihi) on 14%, the fantail (piwakawaka) on 9%, kokako (8%), kea (6%), kereru (6%), kakapo (6%), grey warbler (riroriro) (3%) and pukeko (3%). The enthusiastic response to the poll has been a reminder that New Zealand’s native birds are an intrinsic part of our national identity, and one that we should celebrate, cherish and protect. It was particularly pleasing to see the tui win given it is a central part of the Society’s logo. The tui is undoubtedly one of our most iconic dawn chorus birds with a call that is known and loved across the land. A visually striking bird

with prominent white throat feathers and a ‘lacy cape’, the blue-green and purple iridescence of its black feathers also add a dash of colour. The tui has a distinctive repertoire of calls that vary by ‘regional dialect’. They combine bell-like notes with clicks, cackles and wheezes, and can mimic sounds such as the calls of the bellbird. Perhaps this helps explain why the collective noun for the species is said to be, ‘an ecstacy of tui’. “On behalf of the Society I would like to thank everyone who voted in our first Bird of the Year poll,” said Forest and Bird General Manager Mike Britton. “It has been such a resounding success that we intend to run it annually.” Forest and Bird launched the first online poll to find New Zealand’s favourite bird during October. The poll was the main item in the inaugural edition of Forest and Bird e-News which all members receive for which the Society has an email address. The response to the poll and

Stitchbird (hihi): runner-up by popular demand.

the first issue of e-News has been heartening, as a flurry of complimentary comments were sent in by members. Here’s what some of you said: “Thanks a lot for e-News. Just thought I’d let you know that it’s fantastic!” “Congratulations on a first class e-News. Wonderful.” “e-News is fantastic. Congratulations and thanks.” “Excellent newsletter, attractive, succinct, interesting. Well done.”

If you do not already receive e-News but would like to, please send in a request by email to: s.crawford@forestandbird.org.nz If you have friends that you think would like to receive e-News please forward it using the button in the email. Printed copies of e-News are also sent to all branches. The reports in each issue will be repeated in the following issue of Forest & Bird magazine or on the Society’s website at: www.forestandbird.org.nz

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FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

conservationbriefs

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI/Nyia Strachan

Winner Jade Cassidy

ORTH Island brown kiwi have been restored to Maungatautari after a 100 year absence. Four were transferred in a ceremony marking the first species reintroduction as part of the community-driven restoration project that will return a range of threatened species to the mountain.

Pictured above: Kate Scarlet (Maungatautari Supporter), Irihapeti Smith (Tuwharetoa), Gordon Stephenson (Forest and Bird South Waikato Branch committee member and Deputy Chair of Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust) and Ben Barr (Department of Conservation).

Kakapo naming competition winners announced

ONSERVATION Minister Chris Carter announced the winners of this year’s Kakapo Hatch a Name Competition in September. The competition is a partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC), Comalco New Zealand, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, and the Threatened Species Trust, designed to raise conservation awareness among children. The four winners were Jade Cassidy (8) of Sunnynook Primary School in Auckland, who chose the name Pounamu because it means ‘precious jewel’; Yasmeen Musa (9) of Waihopai School in Invercargill, who chose her own name Yasmin, which means flower in Arabic; William Hewitt (15) of Verdon College in Invercargill, who provided a

compelling whakapapa for his winning entry, Pura; and Kate Stretton (12) of Rangiora High School in North Canterbury, who chose the name Kumi because it means fabulous creature. “Over 2000 kids entered the competition, evidence of the enthusiasm many young New Zealanders feel for the rare and beautiful species that live in our country. I hope this enthusiasm grows into a life-long interest,” said Chris Carter. Three of the winners - Jade Cassidy, Kate Stretton and William Hewitt - were flown to Codfish Island/Whenua Hou accompanied by a parent in September, courtesy of the Kakapo Recovery Programme, and were able to see the new kakapo chicks. Read the full story on page 22.

Winners Jade Cassidy, Kate Stretton and William Hewitt.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI/Nyia Strachan

Kiwi back at Maungatautari

PHOTOGRAPH: GEOFF MOON

Saving the bittern? I’ll drink to that. Whenever you savour the rich, flavoursome taste of Banrock Station wine ... you’re also helping to save wild lives in New Zealand. That’s because in partnership with Wetland Care New Zealand, part proceeds from Banrock Station wine sales are contributing to the vital restoration and preservation of our precious native habitats. These projects include Forest and Bird’s Matuku Reserve in the Te Henga Wetland, Waitakere, which is home to the endangered bittern. This large bird in the heron family can only thrive in dense and healthy marshlands that have a low number of predators.

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So enjoy our wines, knowing that part proceeds contribute to saving wild lives.

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Always enjoy wine in moderation.

conservationbriefs

HERE was good news for albatross in September when the Government passed regulations requiring commercial fishing vessels operating in New Zealand waters to use streamers to scare seabirds away. Forest and Bird welcomed the new regulations as a major step to reduce the number of albatrosses killed annually by trawlers and looks forward to talking to the new Government about ending the discharge of offal from trawlers at sea. In the UK, renowned broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, and the organisers of one of the world’s premier ocean sailing races – The Volvo Ocean Race – announced their support for BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross campaign. BirdLife launched Operation Ocean Task Force with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB – BirdLife Partner in the UK) in October to place trainers on longline fishing

vessels to show crews the simple and practical techniques needed to prevent seabird deaths such as streamer lines and weighted lines. “Albatrosses should be free to circle the globe for millions of years to come – we must stop this needless slaughter now to prevent an entire branch being torn from the evolutionary tree,” said Sir David, who is also Vice-President of the RSPB. Speaking at the launch, he commented: “It is aweinspiring to think that some of the albatrosses nesting when I started my broadcasting career are still raising young, half a century later. However, with 100,000 of these birds drowning annually on longlines, the chance of an individual albatross surviving to old age now, seems as remote as the ability of many albatross species to exist beyond the end of this century.” Glenn Bourke, Volvo Ocean Race’s Chief Executive, added: “Long before man took to

Henk Haazen

Task Force aims to Save the Albatross

Southern royal albatross nesting at the Campbell Islands. This vulnerable species is reported to be frequently caught by Japanese longliners on the high seas. Birds have also been observed killed in trawl nets and associated warps and cables in the New Zealand region.

The Volvo Ocean Race 2005 – 2006 will leave Vigo in Spain on 12th November and finish in Gothenburg, Sweden, next June, after completing a circumnavigation of the globe. During the Southern Ocean legs of the race, the crews will pass through some of the richest albatross waters in the world including New Zealand. Race yachts are due to visit Wellington 17th – 19th February 2006. Find out more at: www.savethealbatross.net

the oceans, albatrosses were mastering the elements to navigate the oceans. Their grace, beauty and remarkable endurance has inspired generations of sailors in their quest towards new horizons. As a racing sailor myself, I cannot imagine the loneliness of crossing the Southern Ocean without being accompanied by these fellow ocean voyagers. Yet, within the lifetime of many sailors – perhaps even my own – that will be the case if we don’t act now.”

David Pattemore

Map courtesy of DOC

Te Matuku Marine Reserve, Waiheke Island.

Celebrations mark new Waiheke marine reserve

HERE were celebrations on Waiheke Island to mark the official commencement of Te Matuku Marine Reserve during conservation week in August – a marine reserve initiated by a Forest and Bird proposal. “This new marine reserve at Waiheke Island is in a fantastic location. Given that New Zealanders treasure the marine environment, it is great to see this bay given the special recognition and protection it

deserves,” said Forest and Bird Northern Conservation Officer David Pattemore, when he joined Hauraki Gulf Islands Branch members and locals for a celebratory party overlooking the bay. “It was fitting that the new marine reserve was established during Conservation Week. This year’s theme of Everything is Connected is a timely reminder of the need to protect the marine environment just as

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

much as we protect our native forests. What we do on the land and in the sea can have a longlasting effect on these special ecosystems,” he said. “The significance of this reserve is that it started as one option of three put forward by Forest and Bird for Waiheke Island, with very widespread consultation. The Te Matuku Bay proposal was unique in that it gained 93% support from the community and

also most of the user-groups,” commented Leith Duncan, one of a number of enthusiastic local promoters of the reserve. Of five south-facing estuaries on Waiheke, Te Matuku Bay is surrounded by the most intact native forest and has the highest biodiversity values, including rare wading birds such as the New Zealand dotterel. There is also a Forest and Bird bush reserve at the headwaters of the estuary.

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conservationbriefs Subantarctic expeditions

ODNEY Russ of Heritage Expeditions recently completed a lecture tour and reports that the Cruise for Conservation to New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands had almost sold out at time of writing. With only a handful of places remaining, there is still time to book one of the remaining places if you would like to join the six-day cruise which runs from 6th – 12th January 2006. Heritage Expeditions will contribute 5% of all ticket sales to Forest and Bird’s Save the Albatross campaign. Waterline Yachts have also announced two voyages to New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands during the summer. The extended trips are designed for small groups to visit the islands on board the sailing vessel Tiama. Places are offered at a 5% discount to Forest and Bird

members (details below). Owner-operator Henk Haazen has more than 25 years of sailing experience. He was logistics manager on four Greenpeace expeditions to Antarctica and since building the ice-capable Tiama has sailed to the Subantarctic Islands on numerous occasions on contract to the Department of Conservation. Tiama under sail.

Exclusive New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Voyage December 2005 and January 2006 The Experience: Two 12 day voyages to the specially protected Sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand are being organized which give you the chance to experience these awe inspiring islands and get up close to their extraordinary birdlife and flowering mega herbs.  Route: Bluff, The Snares, Auckland Islands, Campbell Island, Bluff. Price: Individual bookings NZ$5,800 per person. Discount: Forest and Bird members receive a 5% discount. Voyage 1: From 7 December 2005 until 18 December 2005 (12 Days) Voyage 2: From 29 December 2005 until 9 January 2006 (12 Days) We take five clients per trip. The beauty of sailing on a smaller vessel is that we cater for your individual needs and can adjust the itinerary accordingly. We can cater for all ages. Our vessel Tiama is a purpose built expedition sailing vessel well-suited to the region. Tiama has been working in the Sub-Antarctic islands for the last five years as a support vessel for conservation research work and we pride ourselves on being able to deliver a truly unique and rewarding experience.

We hold a concession from the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) to visit the islands and a DOC representative will be onboard.

Visit our website: www.tiama.com Contact: Henk Haazen by email: tiama@clear.net.nz telephone: 09 372 3105 or mobile: 021 534 003

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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conservationbriefs

ARPENTRY might seem like an odd way to teach conservation, but Stan Hunt’s got it all figured out. Stan, a long-time member of Lower Hutt Forest and Bird, has got a swarm of schoolkids from San Antonio school, in Wellington’s Eastbourne, tapping together lengths of timber, fitting dowels, measuring and bracing, until somehow, out of the havoc, emerges a prefabricated workbench. They must have done something wrong – it’s barely half a metre off the ground. But no; that’s precisely the genius of Stan’s idea. This is a workbench for seven and eight year-olds, because they’re the ones who’ll be potting plants on it, taking weather readings on it, and doing science on it. The benches are just one part of a new plant nursery specially designed for kids. And while many of the plants are destined for a revegetation project over the hill at the Pencarrow Lakes, some will stay behind as a permanent, living botanical textbook. The nursery was established by MIRO, the Mainland Island Restoration Operation based in Wellington’s eastern

bays, and they were happy to accommodate Stan’s education programme, which fits directly into San Antonio’s science and environment curriculum. “There are some things that you can teach better in the nursery than you can in a classroom,” he says, and he should know; he was a teacher for 30 years. The scheme is a pilot. For the first year, San Antonio will be the only school involved, and the principal will be sitting in on classes to make sure they’re being run properly. “It’s very quality centred,” says Stan. “We’ll have set lessons, with very clearly defined objectives.” It won’t all be swot, though. Stan has a few camping weekends planned, and field trips to Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour. Everyone calls it Stan’s project, because as Lower Hutt Forest and Bird Chairman Stan Butcher says, “Because without his initiative, without his sheer physical effort, it wouldn’t have happened.” But there are many other players. MIRO still run the production side of the nursery, while the Eastbourne Forest Rangers are working every Wednesday until it has a brand

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

Powelliphanta “Augustus”

Snails’ fate to be investigated

ONCERNS about Solid Energy’s proposal to mine in October 2005 a five hectare (ha) site containing the entire known habitat of the endemic giant land snail Powelliphanta “Augustus” (P. “Augustus”) has led to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment agreeing

to a Forest and Bird request to investigate how the fate of P. “Augustus” is being managed. Solid Energy proposes translocating a small proportion of the P. “Augustus” population, with or without approval from DOC, to a much smaller site where altitude, exposure, soil chemistry and

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

Sowing the seeds

Lower Hutt Forest and Bird stalwart Stan Hunt gives San Antonio schoolchildren (L) Molly McVey (8) and Alexander Bryan (6) their first lesson in native plant propagation at Pencarrow nursery in Eastbourne, Wellington. Stan’s brainchild, the nursery will not only provide plants for the revegetation of the nearby Pencarrow Lakes block, but act as an outdoor classroom for Year Three and Four San Antonio pupils.

new fence around it. The RSA has pitched in, as have Hutt City Council and Greater Wellington. It’s an entirely new direction for Lower Hutt Forest and Bird, but Stan sees the nursery-come-classroom as an investment in the future. “(Branch) membership has been falling, though not drastically – any branch that’s running three nurseries is obviously still in pretty good shape – but we have to think about who’s coming through

the ranks. “If we don’t do this sort of thing, it’s at our own peril. You look at the world’s resources and how we’re gobbling them up at an unprecedented rate. We need to instil an environmental ethic – a sense of awareness and responsibility.” If the kids take to the potting bags the way they took to the workbenches, they’re well on their way.

vegetation all differ from the original site, which Solid Energy then intends to mine. Their proposal carries a significant risk of failure and hence potentially threatens the snail with extinction. As this snail has just a single known population, its status is currently more critical than that of kakapo and all Powelliphanta are listed among those invertebrates absolutely protected by the Wildlife Act 1953. Forest and Bird has requested that Solid Energy immediately halt all plans to mine the snails’ habitat. According to the Westport News (17 August 2005), Solid Energy’s national Environmental Manager, Mark Pizey, is unwilling to postpone mining activities until such time as the proposed relocation is proved successful, saying that the criteria for what constitutes a healthy population are not

widely understood. Forest and Bird’s legal advice is that the consent of both the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of Energy is required by the Wildlife Act before the site can be mined or the snails removed. Both the Department of Conservation and Solid Energy’s experts say the snails should stay where they are. Advice in Solid Energy’s “Powelliphanta Management Strategy” stated (page three): “In some special cases such as those involving Powelliphanta “Augustus” (only very low densities to date) the best conservation solution would be to restore and protect existing habitat rather than attempt to translocate snails.” This is sound advice which Forest and Bird has been urging Solid Energy to take.

Dave Hansford

Kevin Hackwell w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

conservationbriefs EW Zealand’s unique Hector's dolphins need a special Christmas present this year, according to Forest and Bird Deputy President Dr Liz Slooten, who won the prestigious Sir Charles Fleming Medal earlier this year for her research on them, conducted with Dr Steve Dawson of Otago University. Speaking at the 2005 Marine Sciences Society Conference in Wellington in August, Dr Slooten called for better protection of Hector’s dolphins and the closely related

Maui’s dolphins, including the establishment of four new marine mammal sanctuaries to protect them from drowning in fishing nets: “More than 12,000 Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins have been killed in fishing nets since 1970.” Forest and Bird Conservation Manager Kevin Hackwell also welcomed the Government’s announcement that a new management plan for both Maui’s and Hector’s dolphin is due to be completed by Christmas: “The best Christmas present for these threatened

Falcons on the Plains

URVEYS of nesting sites conducted over the past 30 years show that New Zealand falcon (karearea) numbers are steadily declining. Marlborough is an important stronghold for the eastern subspecies of falcon, and it is here that recent efforts have focussed on reintroducing them to the Marlborough Plains in a joint effort between the Department of Conservation and International Wildlife Consultants. By taking live young from nests (leaving two chicks and implementing predator control at each nest site), the project aims to raise some of these birds on the plains. By using

hand-rearing techniques and mimicking natural conditions, it is anticipated the area will become imprinted on the chicks, triggering them to nest locally as adults. International raptor expert, Dr Nick Fox, who is leading the project aims to bring falcon back to the modified landscapes of Marlborough, asserting that “conservation is about learning to live together, not apart.” The project aims to enhance the falcon population in collaboration with winegrowers in the area, and to harness this bird of prey’s natural instincts to help reduce nuisance populations of birds around

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Hector's dolphin is the world's rarest species of marine dolphin.

‘kiwi’ dolphins would be to create four new protected areas.” He told delegates that Maui’s dolphins could be extinct in a matter of a few years and that Hector’s dolphins are

also declining at an alarming rate: “Local populations have already disappeared from the southern half of the North Island, the Marlborough Sounds and Nelson.”

The eastern subspecies of the New Zealand falcon (karearea)

Brent Stephenson

Steve Dawson

Kiwi dolphins need a Christmas present

the grapes in the growing season. Marlborough Forest and Bird Branch and regional office staff have been involved in dialogue with DOC and project leaders to ensure that strong conservation goals are integral

to the project. Forest and Bird members will also be involved in monitoring newly protected nesting sites and assisting to raise awareness about this magnificent bird. Debs Martin

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

conservationbriefs

Martin Heffer

Prize-winning pest

Painted apple moth caterpillar

EW Zealand science photographer Martin Heffer recently took a top international award for his work in photographing one of New Zealand’s least-loved insect invaders. He won the Digital Showcase award at the 3rd World Congress of Medical and Scientific Imaging, held in Cairns, Australia in August, 2005. His subject: a painted apple moth caterpillar. He photographed the caterpillar during his work for Crown Research Institute

HortResearch. Forest and Bird National President and entomologist, Dr Peter Maddison, discovered the first painted apple moth in New Zealand in 1999 in Auckland. Since that time the moth has been found in neighbouring suburbs. Please report painted apple-moth sightings to Biosecurity New Zealand by calling Freephone 0800 96 96 96 or emailing: info@ paintedapplemoth.govt.nz Shelly Farr Biswell

Department of Conservation Michael Szabo

One of the breeding robins at Ark in the Park.

Robins breed at Ark in the Park

OBINS bred and successfully fledged chicks at Ark in the Park in the Waitakere Ranges over spring. A juvenile bird was caught and banded in October. It is this track record of success that is helping to pave the way for the transfer of juvenile stitchbirds (hihi) from Tiritiri Matangi Island in 2006.

World-class wetland protected

Kowhai

Native plant poll

HE New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (NZPCN) is asking people to go online (www.nzpcn.org.nz) to cast a vote by November 30th for their favourite native plant. Polling to date puts kowhai in the lead with other contenders including Poor Knights lily, pohutukawa, cabbage tree, parapara and Chatham Island forget-me-not. In Auckland the current favourite appears to be Poor Knights lily, in Canterbury it is the climbing everlasting daisy, and in Wellington it is kowhai. Overseas voters appear to prefer kakabeak.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Royal spoonbills at the Manawatu Estuary, a site of international importance

OAN Leckie and the Horowhenua Branch of Forest and Bird have helped put Manawatu Estuary on the map. The estuary was declared a Wetland of International Importance in September under the prestigious Ramsar Convention on the Protection of Wetlands. As Chair of the branch, Joan has devoted much of the past three years to preparing and promoting the case for 200 hectares of river and adjoining wetland at Foxton to be protected under the Convention. The jewel in the crown is a beautiful wetland area on the upper reaches called Fernbird Flat. Rare wetland birds such as crake and fernbird (matata) still persist here, safe from the widespread drainage that has claimed much of our coastal wetlands. “Ramsar status allows the wetland to be valued and protected but still used wisely for recreation by all the different groups which enjoy the estuary: the birdwatchers, the boaties, the recreational fishers, and those taking their daily exercise,” according to Joan Leckie, who is also Chair of the Manawatu Estuary Trust.      The estuary is one of the

largest and most productive estuaries remaining on the southwest coast of the North Island. At different times of year hundreds of wading birds can be seen at the site including royal spoonbills, dotterels, stilts and oystercatchers.      One per cent of the world’s endangered wrybill (ngutuparore) use the Manawatu Estuary, wintering at the wetland each year before returning to their breeding grounds on the braided rivers of Canterbury. “Special thanks go to the Department of Conservation, Horowhenua District Council, Horizons Regional Council, Darren Hughes MP for Otaki, iwi, farmers and schoochildren have all helped and supported the project over the past three years,” she says. “We’ve had so much support everywhere we turn, it’s been terrific.”      In March 2006, a community event is being planned to officially celebrate the Ramsar designation.  March is when the godwits and other migratory wading birds wing their way back to Alaska and Siberia to breed – an annual reminder of just how internationally significant this estuary is. Shelly Farr Biswell Joan Leckie at the Manawatu Estuary, now a Ramsar listed site.

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conservationbriefs

Rod Morris

The scree-dwelling Takitimu gecko.

Between a rock and a hard place

EPARTMENT of Conservation (DOC) researchers, sponsored by Kathmandu, plan to spend a second summer seeking elusive alpine geckos in the mountains of the South Island. This summer two field researchers will be working in the mountains of the South Island to uncover some of the mystery surrounding alpine geckos. Based on lessons learned from last year’s survey, the researchers will greatly depend upon public sightings. “Climbers and mountaineers were critical to the success of the programme last summer,” says survey project coordinator Andrea Goodman. “Obviously our ability to find geckos is much greater if we know that one has already been seen.” In 2004/2005 the survey focused on the area south of Aoraki/Mt Cook. Researchers identified and visited 33 sites that seemed like suitable habitat for alpine geckos, and uncovered one population. However, through eight public sightings, an additional five populations were located. The first alpine gecko mature enough to be identified was discovered in 1996 by DOC field worker, Tony Jewell, on scree

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in the Takitimu Mountains in western Southland. Since that time a handful of other populations have been located in the South Island high country, but a concentrated effort to locate alpine geckos wasn’t undertaken until last year. “The search for alpine geckos is weather dependent, labour intensive and costly,” says Goodman. “A generous contribution from Kathmandu has made it possible for us to hire the surveyors, along with hiring helicopters to get to locations that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach easily. It’s been a huge boost to helping us learn more about this cryptic lizard.” The alpine geckos live amongst rock piles and scree above 1000 metres. They can vary greatly in their colours and patterns – from brownish-grey to red, and from solid-coloured to splotchy to chevron patterns. Three different species of the alpine gecko have been identified to date – the Cascade gecko, the Roy’s Peak gecko and the Takitimu gecko. DOC is asking the public for records and details of any alpine gecko sightings. Please call 0800 GECKOS or email: geckos@kathmandu.co.nz Shelly Farr Biswell FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

conservationbriefs Artists raise funds for kokako

LONDON auction of New Zealand artworks has raised more than $14,000 to aid the recovery of the kokako. The August auction attracted 120 people. Over 50 works were sold, including prints, paintings, photographs, jewellery and quilts. Department of Conservation (DOC) kokako recovery group leader Rose Collen gave full credit to the New Zealand artists for their contributions. Artists who donated to the auction included Rei Hamon, Awanui Hamon, Janet Marshall, Rae West, Rio Rossellini, Janine Whitelaw, Don Merton, Steve Moase, Paul Martinson, Rachel Collen, Rebecca Osborne, Bryan and Leslie Welch, Sarah King, John Collen, Andy Palmer, Tristan Tuckey, Fey Valient, Shona Drake, Merle Stevenson, Trevor Byron and Wendy Evans. Janet Marshall’s painting Kokako living on the edge

(illustrated) reached the highest price of $1550. Paintings by Christchurch artist Rae West Huia love blooms and Huia flora – reached $1136 and $1291 respectively. Auction proceeds will be used to enhance several kokako recovery projects including translocations to boost small kokako populations in areas such as Boundary Stream Mainland Island in Hawke's Bay, and the Hunua Ranges near Auckland. Some of the funds will also contribute towards the establishment of a viable wild population in the 942-hectare Pukaha Mount Bruce forest. Forest and Bird is calling for artists to donate works for its Dawn Chorus and Save the Albatross campaigns for an auction in 2006. Please contact Sarah Crawford at our Wellington office if you would like to donate artworks. Shelly Farr Biswell

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FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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conservationbriefs

MSC RESOURCES Popular Plants in Biosecur

The dawn chorus is returning to Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

Brent Stephenson

N Saddlebacks on Motuihe SADDLEBACKS (tieke) were released to Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf in August after an absence from the island of 100 years. Ten male and ten female birds were transferred from Tiritiri Matangi Island in a release organised by the Motuihe Trust with support from the Department of Conservation, Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi, iwi, sponsors and community volunteers. Saddleback is the first native bird species to be reintroduced to the pest-free island. The plan to restore Motuihe Island includes replanting large areas, returning native birds, lizards and insects, enhancing wetland areas and developing tracks and other visitor facilities. Since 2003, volunteers have grown and planted about 50,000 trees on the island. With this transfer, North Island saddlebacks now occupy 12 predator-free islands, as well as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington on the mainland.

Whio hatch at Te Anau FIVE blue ducklings (whio) hatched at the Department of Conservation’s Te Anau Wildlife Park in October. The five eggs were collected from a nest near the Bowen River at Milford in September as part of the Operation Nest Egg (ONE) Programme. The five new ducklings will be kept in captivity until they are 15 weeks old when they will be released into the stoat control areas of the Clinton and Arthur Valleys.

Silver ferns poached ON 27 September, Opotiki Department of Conservation staff reported the removal of 76 silver ferns from Te Urewera National Park. The illegal removal occurred in an area of native forest close to the road in the Waimana Valley.

More islands go pest-free THE Department of Conservation carried out a rodent eradication operation on Blumine and Pickersgill islands in Queen Charlotte Sound in August. Both islands are home to native birds such as tui, kereru and weka. Kaka have been seen on Blumine, which is also the home of the giant land snail Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor. To avoid reinvasion by stoats, which could swim between the islands and the mainland, stoat traps will be maintained on both islands and the immediate mainland areas.

NEW Pamphlets research confirms what was ew research into three • Radiosuspected Communications already in terms of popular garden plants • Let it Breathe agapanthus and ivy, but that the has raised serious – Camping Appliance Safety invasive capabilities of phoenix concerns about their potential to palm comes as an unwelcome invade and take over natural wake-up call. ecosystems. ‘When we started looking, we The three species researched by found phoenix palms Auckland Regional Council were Outdoor First Aid Manual Outlinesphoenix illness and everywhere: half-grown palms agapanthus, palminjury and prevention measures and that had self-sown into English ivy. The study looked at basic first aid treatments. mangrove wetlands, young the distances plants could spread $25 the range of habitats plants growing in thick kikuyu unassisted, grass on the edges of farm they were capable of invading, paddocks, even seedlings and what impacts they were growing alongside native nikau having on parkland and other palm seedlings in dense bush,’ natural areas. Jack CrawForms says. All three species were found to Intentions For backcountry ‘These plants users are being spread be invasive in a range of to record trip intentions into some of our most remote ecosystems, spreading into before heading out. and vulnerable habitats by birds, remote and inaccessible areas. wind and water. All three species They have significant are becoming significant weeds environmental impacts onORDER the NOW in natural areas.’ natural areas they invade.New Zealand Mountain Safety Council Jack Craw is urging developers Jack Craw, biosecurity Online at www.mountainsafety.org.nz @mountainsafety.org.nz and gardeners to consider manager for the AucklandEmail: orders Phone: 04 385 7162 replacing agapanthus, phoenix Regional Council, says the

Tuna trouble THE southern bluefin tuna stock is estimated to be between 3 and 14% of its original size with no recovery in population in the last 20 years. The current catch greatly limits the probability of rebuilding the spawning stock, hence there are growing concerns about this critically endangered species. The number of young fish growing to maturity in the last decade has been below the average of the last 30 years. Consequently no small fish have entered the New Zealand fishery in the last 3-4 years. Shelly Farr Biswell

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Secrets in Plain View

Lower Hutt Forest and Bird Branch Chair and Distinguished Life Member Stan Butcher.

Dave Hansford

Matiu/Somes Island

Long the forbidden fortress, Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour is today a showcase for community conservation, thanks to Forest and 3 column body bullet Bird's Lower Hutt Branch. Story and photographs by Dave Hansford. 4 column first paragraph

HEY’RE nailing another plaque to the nursery shed today. The name of Nancy Bell – “Resolute in her interest in the natural world” – joins the Forest and Bird honour roll in the quiet glade where rows of polythene potting bags warm the roots of Matiu’s future forest. “We’re all dying to get our plaque on the shed,” quips Stan Butcher dryly, as yet another tree goes into Matiu’s rich dark soil with his boot print around it. He could do this with his eyes shut – he’s never done the maths, but reckons he’s planted “many thousands” of seedlings on this island smack in the centre of Wellington Harbour. With a flourish and dexterity belying his 82 years and a new pacemaker – or because of them – he sets the earth around the roots of a young milk tree. At first, nearly a quarter of a century ago, it was just about getting seedlings to survive. He learned a lot about planting for shelter – getting things established in the right order. And he learned about drainage, about droughts and about the long haul. On the smoko room table sits a photo album; page after page of fading snaps of Lower Hutt Forest and Birders with armfuls of seedlings, many of them raised in their own gardens, still others donated from around the country. There’s Stan, stepping off the police launch on the very first day

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

4 column body Intro text 4 column body bullet 3 column first paragraph care to avoid the Captions tuatara droppings on his – July 26th 1981. Many of the others (the Photo 3 column body morning. He even loves it trip was so popular the launch had to make doorstep each Photographer when the little blue penguins keep him two trips), now have their own plaques on awake at night. the shed. Stan, Lower Hutt Branch Chair, And he loves it that other people is one of just five remaining members who love the island too. “It’s a success story,” made that first trip. he happily brags. “It has a history of The photos may be faded, but the volunteer effort that’s probably second to stark sepia of Matiu was real enough back none nationally – we’ve had hundreds of then. Today, 95,065 spade holes and 24 thousands of hours of volunteer support.” years later, it’s a very different, very much greener place. Rank pasture grasses have disappeared under coastal scrub - taupata, ngaio, tauhinu, muehlenbeckia – and the sheltered, watered gullies are shaded by five-finger, mahoe, karaka and tree hebes. In fact, the pioneer planting is all but done. The nursery under the giant macrocarpa is emptying out – industry now centres about a shade house up the hill next to the Bull Pen, which throngs with upcoming ranks of planters and planted. Nowadays, deft fingers prick out succession species; northern rata, pukatea, miro, pigeonwood. The forest giants, as yet just a few centimetres high, are back on Matiu. “The island has entered a new phase,” says David Moss, Matiu’s Department of Conservation (DOC), supervisor. “We’ve started filling in the gaps.” David is a lean, earnest thirtysomething who’s loving every minute of Matiu. He loves it that his silverbeet gets Red-crowned kakariki, one of the species being chewed by giant weta – that he has to take restored to Matiu/Somes Island. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Dave Hansford

Story title

Dave Hansford

Members of the Lower Hutt Branch of Forest and Bird (L to R) Chris Harfield, Angela Freeston, Jane Kettles and Delphine Cox pot flax seedlings in one of the Society’s plant nurseries on Matiu/Somes Island. More than 95,000 such seedlings have been raised and planted out in a 24-year project to restore the bush on the island.

Besides the Forest and Bird replanting, the Ornithological Society has done countless bird surveys and banding programmes. The Eastbourne Forest Rangers give up their summer weekends to guide visitors – unpaid. The Maritime Archaeological Society is mapping the seabed around Matiu, meticulously searching for artefacts. Tramping clubs help with track work and don harnesses, abseiling down Matiu’s weatherbeaten cliffs to reach the few remaining boxthorn and other weeds. The Matiu Trust (DOC’s iwi management partner), the Mainland Island Restoration Operation, Wellington Botanical Society, Hutt and Wellington City Councils, Greater Wellington, it goes on and on. Today, a group of workmates from the Accident Compensation Commission, kitted out in team Tshirts, will spend a “community service” day planting flaxes below the Bull Pen. But first, David herds them from the gangplank into the rodent room, where they turn out their packs, checking for small furry stowaways. “Who’s been to the island before?” he asks of them. Three hands go up, many more stay down. David continues to be amazed at the number of Wellingtonians who’ve spent much of their life looking across the harbour at Matiu, but never made the 20-minute ferry trip to touch it. To be fair, it’s only been open to the public since August 1995, when DOC took it over as a Scientific and Historic Reserve. Some are uncomfortable with the Department’s dual responsibility for built and natural heritage, but it works well here. Human history is such an intrinsic part of the Matiu experience – a rich trove of tales

that David wants more people to hear. There are plans to open up the quarantine buildings (once the asbestos discovered during recent maintenance has been removed) to the public, and tell those stories through interpretative displays about the island’s human and agricultural history. Most of the buildings have heritage status, but a few decrepit implement sheds will be demolished. Forest and Bird will plant seedlings in their place, but by and large, whatever is now in grass on Matiu will stay that way, and the sheep will be kept on to mow it. Think of Matiu’s ecosystems as a jigsaw that’s been taken apart. Many of the pieces are scattered – they’ll need to be sourced from the wider region now. But that massive replanting effort has rebuilt the frame around the edge – a backdrop to Matiu’s ecological comeback. The task now is to replace the remaining pieces. One of the problems with rebuilding this particular jigsaw is that some of the pieces have a mind of their own, and they’re no respecters of orderly process. As Stan Butcher is talking, a falcon flies over his head. The top predators are back. “Oh yes,” he says somewhat ruefully, as though he rather wishes they weren’t. The falcons – a pair from nearby Eastbourne on the mainland – were quick to notice the naive, slow-flying redcrowned kakariki that DOC reintroduced to the island in 2003, and again the following year. They took out six in the first season, but David says the kakariki have since adopted a more urgent, groundhugging flight. And they’re doing well. A few lit out for the mainland, but some of those that stayed have bred. By the look of the pile of tattered feathers on David’s

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lawn, the falcons have since prey-switched to blackbirds, which suits everyone. More species await reintroduction. Robins were due this year, but the asbestos scare has monopolised so much of David’s time that they’ve been rescheduled for 2006. It’s hoped that some of Matiu’s recolonists will make their own way here. Following the success of DOC’s seabird translocations on Mana Island, off the Kapiti coast, they’re going to try the same trick here, helped by funding from the Matiu Trust; set up some loudspeakers on

A spotted shag (Phalacrocorax punctatus) in breeding plumage at a colony on Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour. In 2005, pairs left the burgeoning colony on Shag rock, the country’s third-largest, to nest on the main island. Birds arrive at colonies in early July, and build nests through August. 1 – 4 eggs are laid between September and November on ledges and in niches and holes on coastal cliffs.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Dave Hansford

David Moss, field centre manager on the Department of Conservation’s island sanctuary of Matiu/Somes, in Wellington Harbour.

Dave Hansford Michael Szabo

A Stephens Island giant weta (Deinacrida rugosa) is released on Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour.

Dave Hansford

One of the myriad hebes that have been planted on Matiu/ Somes Island.

An unidentified stick insect (possibly Tectarchus semilobatus) on Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour.

Dave Hansford

Common skink, one of three skink species found on Matiu/Somes.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

the clifftops and play the calls of fluttering shearwaters to lure them to the island. If they’re curious or amorous enough to land, they’ll find ready-made burrows laid on for them. David says they’ll also try to entice other seabirds typically seen around Wellington such as diving petrels and white-faced storm petrels. “That will be a two-year trial,” says David. “If we’re getting results, we’ll leave it running.” If not, they’ll resort to another technique honed on Mana, in which newly hatched seabird chicks are plucked from their natal burrows on other Cook Strait islands such as Takapourewa, (Stephens Island) before they get a chance to imprint on them as home. Then they’re helicoptered to artificial colonies and fed by hand until they fledge, by which time it’s hoped they’ll have called their new home, well, home. “One day, we’ll have tuatara and seabirds sharing burrows again,” says David with obvious relish. In 1996, Cook Strait giant weta and Wellington tree weta were brought here from Mana, mainly to provide fodder for the Brothers Island tuatara that followed in 1998. David says it’s worked beyond all expectation. On release, one tuatara weighed 330 grams. “When they recaptured it recently, it weighed in at 840 grams. They’re lucky to reach 500 grams on North Brother.” The reptiles have spread over most of the island, but some dashed straight under the buildings and never left. One has a burrow near a broken downpipe – on rainy days, visitors can watch him luxuriating in a cold shower. Last April, forest geckoes were released, and green gecko will follow as soon as Mana Island has its full quota. All these insectivores flourish because, as David puts it, Matiu is first and foremost “an island of invertebrates; everything you turn over has a bug under w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

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Dave Hansford

it.” Soon, there’ll be some new faces staring back; creatures that are struggling on the Wellington mainland such as speargrass weevils and peripatus. None of this would be happening without the replanting, or without the eradication in 1988-89 of rats and mice, thought to have arrived as late as the sixties in packets of timber, Neither does Matiu suffer stoats, or cats, or any other foreign pestilence. But they could arrive at any time; along the anchor warp of a pleasure boat, or fleeing a grounded tanker. But David says the biggest biosecurity risk is the blackblacked gulls endlessly soaring above their breeding grounds on the southern hills. So far, he says, the rats they’ve carried home to the island have all been about 10 millimetres thick – road kills scavenged from the city limits, but it’s not inconceivable that they could fly back with a live, pregnant one. The gulls are themselves the target of a controversial control programme. Wellington airport used to have the country’s worst bird-strike record, and the blame was laid squarely on the gulls. So every breeding season, DOC staff prick some of their eggs –enough to have brought numbers down from 1100 breeding pairs to 370, which is where they mean to keep them. In return, the Airport Company funds restoration and maintenance work. Whatever David thinks of this departure from the DOC mission

Archaeologist Dave Mason maps the seabed in Lighthouse Bay off Matiu/Somes Island. Mr Mason was one of four divers from the Maritime Archaeological Association of New Zealand (MAANZ) who recently surveyed the waters around the island looking for historic artefacts.

statement, he’s keeping it to himself, except to say, “The gulls are the kaitiaki – they’ve been there longer than anybody. It’s their island.” In late evening, they’re still spiralling – the westering sun sets their underwings ablaze. Already, from out of the greying leeward swells, come the mournful wails of little blue penguins, and, moments after, the echo from their mates in burrows deep in the island. Shadows creep, like the first few weta, from out of the forest. Beneath the shed, some reptilian light begins to glow in the tuatara’s mind, and he moves to the mouth of his lair,

watches the rising moon. And the failing breeze wafts the island’s souls on their way to wherever it is that souls go on a night like this. David Moss feels their passing as he looks across the harbour to where Wellington’s lights blink into life. “It’s great at the end of the day, when everyone has gone home,” he says. “This is a beautiful place…loved and admired from afar. It has a mystery about it, a special heart.” Dave Hansford of Origin Natural History Media is a Wellington-based writer and photographer.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Blue maomao.

Celebrating thirty years of marine reserves

J & T Enderby

New Zealand’s first marine reserve at Goat Island is an underwater success story. Words and photographs by Tony and Jenny Enderby.

Visitors enjoy the water at Goat Island.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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J & T Enderby

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J & T Enderby

Goat Island Beach, Cape Rodney to Okakari Point Marine Reserve.

J & T Enderby

SMALL boy emerges dripping from the sea. His first words gurgle from his snorkel but the end of the sentence is clear, “Why aren’t there this many fish at our beach Dad?” His question remains unanswered as his focus returns to the school of blue maomao near the beach at Goat Island. Several thousand people sit on the beach, snorkel, dive, wander the rocks or watch the marine life from the glass bottom boat. After 30 years of protection, the Cape Rodney to Okakari Point Marine Reserve, better known as Goat Island, has more fish than any beach around mainland New Zealand. When it became New Zealand’s first marine reserve, its creators had no idea that people would still come, even if they could not fish or collect marine life. Now, over 200,000 people visit the reserve each year just to look and enjoy it all. Following the example of the young snorkeller, we take the plunge and swim out to the channel. We have the advantage of scuba gear and by the time we descend, an entourage of snapper, blue maomao and parore hover just behind our fins. Once we’re on the bottom a dozen large snapper move around us. A little further out we reach the rocky reef known as Shag Rock. A very large snapper with a misshapen head approaches. Nearly a metre long, it weighs in at about 14 kg and could be more than 80 years old. Its name, Monkeyface, is hardly a compliment to the patriarch or matriarch of Goat Island’s resident fish. Yet this huge fish has been a source of enjoyment for hundreds of visiting children for over ten years who identify it by name. Weigh that up against a single smiling angler holding up a large fish on the cover of a magazine. A dozen large silver drummer move over the seaweeds, then begin to munch mouthfuls, before racing away. Half a minute later they return and go through the same procedure. When the marine reserve was created, silver drummer numbers were minimal due to set netting. Now numerous large schools of 100-plus live in the reserve. Trevally feed over the sand and kahawai swarm in large schools of similar sized fish, swirling around us. The five square kilometres of marine reserve at Goat

Snapper approach a diver.

Island are only a temporary haven for these pelagic fish as purse-seine fishing boats regularly spread nets near the boundaries, catching the schools that stray outside. A large red moki mooches over a patch of stubbly weed. There’s a loud crunch as it grasps a chunk of seabed and backs off. Sand plumes out from its gill as it clears the unwanted sand, shell and weed from its mouthful of worms and crustaceans. Then with another crunch that can almost be felt, it goes through the routine again.

In the days before marine reserve status, spearfishers in the bay said there were no red moki large enough to spear. A little further out we reach thick Ecklonia kelp forest. When the reserve was established, large areas devoid of kelp were thought to be normal. Today, most of these “urchin barrens” have reverted to kelp forest, that in turn attracts other fish like butterfish, kelpfish and marblefish. A dozen large butterfish dart in and out of the kelp and as many golden juveniles follow suit. Many of the kelp fronds have FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

J & T Enderby

Goatfish (ahuruhuru) feeding on the bottom .

J & T Enderby

circular holes, neatly cut by the butterfish as they feed. Above us numerous snorkellers cruise across the surface. Some will be wearing wet-suits hired from local businesses, for the reserve has been good for the local economy too, and hire-shops, eating–places and accommodation for the many visitors have sprung up around nearby Leigh township. A Rodney District Council visitor survey showed the marine reserve added around $20 million to the local economy each year. The only negative comments from visitors seem to be that the beach is too small. More marine reserves would solve that.

We drop onto a sandstone reef with a long crack and a mass of feelers. Red crayfish, or spiny rock lobster, are another success story of marine reserves. Although their numbers along this coast vary due to migrations and large-scale commercial crayfish potting on the boundaries, there are, according to research, on average 15 times more crayfish here than outside the reserve. And they’re bigger too. Some of the biggest are around 4 kg in weight – another plus as larger animals are much more productive breeders. Outside marine reserves, very large crayfish are just a memory. Then there are the green, or packhorse,

crayfish discovered on a previous dive near the Okakari Point end of the reserve. These crays grow much larger than the more common red crayfish but are rarely heard of around the coast now. This was the first nest we had seen in more than 20 years and although the crayfish were small it was a step in the right direction. Goat Island’s marine life didn’t change overnight. Crayfish and snapper began to return in the first 5-7 years after the reserve’s creation. They ate the sea urchins or kina, reducing the population and a further five years later, the kelp forests began to recover. It took another ten years for the kelp forests to reach today’s levels. After storms, tonnes of seaweed is strewn along the beach, yet underwater the loss is hardly noticeable. In the old days, farmers talked of bringing tractors to the beach and taking away the seaweed by the trailer load after storms. This volume of storm-tossed kelp is just beginning to reappear, and no one knows what effect it will have on sand movements or marine life. Sea urchins, the kelp’s major predators, now live in cracks and crevices rather than out in the open. We found out why when we watched a snorkeller remove a sea urchin to show some friends. After he left it on the sea bed a large snapper moved in, grasped it and swam off. We followed and found it crushed by the snapper, with dozens of other snapper, kelpfish, wrasses and spotties darting around in a feeding frenzy.

Snapper amongst the blue maomao.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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J & T Enderby

Trevally, snapper and parore move through a school of blue maomao.

Even 30 years after the marine reserve’s creation, changes are still going on. Giant boarfish, named for their long snouts used for digging up sand-dwelling prey, are usually seen out over the deep gravel patches at 20 metres or more, but have begun to appear in the shallows. The reason for this is unknown, but perhaps they once fed there and were forced out by fishing pressure. Other fish becoming more common on the deeper reefs include Sandager’s wrasse, green wrasse and red pigfish. Even a couple of rare spotted black grouper have taken refuge around the deep reefs, giving credence to stories told by old-timers of catching hapuku on the deeper reefs in winter, before the days of marine reserves. We begin the swim back to the beach, enjoying the marine life as we go. Several blue cod and a kelpfish, species which have learned to recognize divers as a source of food, sit next to us on the sand. While we don’t feed the fish, they know that our fins can disturb something below the sand and Snorkeling with the blue maomao.

aren’t slow to capitalise on it. Back at the beach the shallow waters are still packed with horizontal snorkellers surrounded by fish. The crowd on the beach look even more tightly packed but maybe it’s because the tide is rising and beach space is becoming scarce. No doubt many of these people also enjoy a day in a boat, fishing in the more than 90% of coastal New Zealand sea that isn’t protected. What is really obvious is the enjoyment they get from coming to a place to just watch the marine life. Perhaps the young snorkeller may even get an answer to his question about the lack of fish at his local beach. Thirty years of protection for a small piece of coastline have more than proved their worth for all the players: for visitors, for local businesses and above all, for marine life.

Tony and Jenny Enderby are photo journalists who live at Leigh on the Rodney coast of the Hauraki Gulf.

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Diploma in Conservation and Environmental Management at Northland Polytechnic!

Four good reasons why you should pick the Diploma in Conservation and Environmental Management: · The learning environment is ideal classes are small and lecturers are very accessible. · The two-year diploma leads straight into a third year of a bachelor’s degree (Bachelor of Applied Science) at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). · Regular ﬁeld trips ensure that the students gain a strong background in the practical as well as theoretical sides of the discipline. · Through several of its lecturers, the programme has strong links to relevant organisations and industries (e.g. DoC, NRC). For further information, please contact Lorna Douglas (ldouglas@northland.ac.nz) or Dr Olivier Ball (oball@northland.ac.nz) on (09) 430 5830 For further information

J & T Enderby

Phone 0800 162 100 www.northland.ac.nz

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FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Wings of hope Michael Szabo joins eight-year-old Jade Cassidy, national winner of this year’s Kakapo Hatch a Name competition, on Codfish Island/Whenua Hou for a nocturnal appointment with a giant parrot.

Trevor feeding on poroporo fruit.

OOKING part owl and part giant budgie, Pura cautiously waddles towards us as we sit round a feeding station deep in Kakapo Country. Our Department of Conservation (DOC) guide, Jason van der Wetering, starts making what can only be described as the call of a slightly demented parrot. It’s his imitation of a young kakapo’s begging call which is meant to reassure Pura, one of four kakapo chicks to hatch and fledge earlier this year. As darkness falls, kaka whistle out from the bush, and a morepork (ruru) intones loudly from a nearby tree. At first Pura is reluctant to show herself, but after a moment of stage fright, she steps up onto the feeding station and starts plucking nuts from the hopper. With a bit of coaxing she uses her formidable blue-grey bill to take bites from a raw kumara Jason is holding. She comes into full view of our head lamps and draws whispers of amazement from Jade Cassidy and her mother. Jade stretches out her arm to offer Pura more kumara. After

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hesitating, Pura steps forward to take a bite. Jade is over the moon and so is her mother. Jason entices Pura back to the feeder, which doubles as a weighing station. He talks her onto the swing arrangement to weigh her. Eventually she steps up to weigh in at 1.6 kg, pretty good for a growing kakapo, apparently. Pura then takes a turn to socialise with the rest of our party. This gives Jason a chance to show us how to tickle a kakapo by the whiskers, by gently placing thumb and forefinger at the corners of her mouth. It feels alarmingly like tickling a pair of hairy secateurs. Pura “begs” in response and then waddles around tugging on trousers and pulling at shoes like a kea on steroids. As we assemble our packs to leave, Pura walks up a branch, lifts her wings and begins to flap them as if to say, “Don’t go - you haven’t seen what I can do with these yet!” She soon has our undivided attention as we sit watching a flightless parrot rehearsing flight. Strictly speaking kakapo are incapable of flight, but they can “parachute” two or three metres down out of a tree with their large rounded wings outstretched, which may explain her behaviour. Back at the DOC hut, Jade Cassidy and her mother Megan compare notes with another of the four competition winners, Kate Stretton, and her mother Katherine. National Kakapo Team Leader Paul Jansen and competition sponsor Comalco’s CEO Tom Campbell swap tips on how best to balance a kakapo on the arm, while the rest of us gather around digital cameras to compare the night’s shots. Then after a late dinner, we meet

Yasmeen, another of the juvenile female kakapo. Held in one of the nearby enclosures, Yasmeen seems blasé about our approach. She see-saws on a carefully balanced branch that pivots slowly under her weight, casually taking some nuts from Kate, before climbing around a bush, contorting herself, hanging upside down and pivoting on her bill. Her work-out ends with a thud as she drops to the ground and waddles off to find something more interesting to do than entertain the visitors. It’s a reminder that kakapo were previously so abundant on both main islands of New Zealand that early European settlers recorded shaking them out of trees in the bush and keeping them as pets around bush camps. Perhaps Kate’s children will one day be lucky enough to experience something like that abundance of these extraordinary flightless night parrots with the face of an owl, whiskers like a cat, and the arboreal agility of a small primate. Pura 'on the wing'.

Michael Szabo

Don Merton

Anchor Island in Fiordland is home to nine kakapo.

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“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul …”

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Barry Harcourt Barry Harcourt

National competition winner Jade Cassidy meets Pura.

National competition winner Kate Stretton meets Kumi.

Comalco CEO Tom Campbell meets Kumi. Pieces of eight: National Kakapo Team Leader Paul 'Scratch' Jansen gives Kumi a helping hand.

Barry Harcourt

Don Merton

T is unlikely American poet Emily Dickinson had ever heard of the kakapo when she wrote these lines. If she were around today she might want to add that it looks like a bright green parrot. Because in spite of the precarious situation the species finds itself in, Strigops habroptilus perhaps best represents hope for the future; hope for itself and for a lost world that is at last being restored. With a lifespan of possibly up to 100 years, the outlook for kakapo seems better now than it has been for decades. In 2005 there are 86 kakapo; back at the level they were in 1981, with more young birds entering the population. The turnaround is due to the Kakapo Recovery Programme which is funded by the Threatened Species Trust. Forest and Bird, along with DOC and Comalco New Zealand, is a partner in the programme through its membership of the Trust, which was established in 1990. Writing in this magazine at the time (Threatened Species Trust: Conservation Becomes a Corporate Cause, May 1990), Forest and Bird Conservation Director Kevin Smith made the case for the Trust: “A Comalco kakapo! A Tasman Forestry kokako! What’s happening? Has big industry highjacked New Zealand’s threatened wildlife to serve its own ends? Well, yes it has - but it is good news for the kakapo and kokako which will benefit from commercial sponsorship of the Department of Conservation’s recovery programmes.” Fifteen years on, both the Kakapo and Kokako recovery programmes can lay claim to making real gains to save these species. It hasn’t always been like this, though. In 1974 there were no known surviving kakapo. That’s when the Wildlife Service asked Don Merton to lead the rescue programme – to search Fiordland, and to transfer any birds found to safe islands. He and his team found only two that year. In 1975 ten more were found, but they were all old males. Don Merton came to realise that the remaining Fiordland population was fragmented and all male – “so they were doomed to extinction.” “Little was known about kakapo in the early 1970’s, but our new conservation thrust gave rise to a massive, ongoing

Barry Harcourt

Emily Dickinson

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Don Merton Carter Holt Harvey

This year's kakapo chicks, Pounamu, Pura, Kumi and Yasmeen.

It turns out that kakapo have a taste for green pine cones (pinus radiata) – supplied courtesy of Carter Holt Harvey.

learning process. For instance, we discovered that their tracks and socalled ‘dusting bowls’ had an important courtship function – that unlike any other parrot or any other New Zealand bird, kakapo had an ‘arena’ or ‘lek’ mating system,” he recalls. Using newly developed night-vision scopes the team were able, for the first time, to observe kakapo feeding and displaying at night. “A reprieve came with our discovery of a new population on Stewart Island in 1977,” says Don Merton. “Suddenly the population jumped to around 200 birds – including crucial females!” But the relief was short-lived. Feral cats were found to be decimating the Stewart Island population, so between 1982 and 1992 all surviving kakapo that could be found were airlifted out to other islands. “In retrospect, while this action destroyed the last natural population in the wild, it clearly saved the species – an entire sub-family – from certain extinction. None survive as far as we know in Fiordland or on Stewart Island 24

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– their last natural ranges.” The total number of birds more than halved from just over 100 in 1980 to 51 in 1995. Since then the number has increased to 86 thanks to the Kakapo Recovery Programme. While Don Merton has had a leading role in the programme over the last 31 years, many others have played a vital part including Wildlife Service and DOC staff, and countless volunteers – many from Forest and Bird, Comalco and the Threatened Species Trust itself. Don Merton’s experiences in conserving the Chatham Island black robin, the echo parakeet of Mauritius and other species, helped with the development and adaptation of rescue and recovery strategies. Management techniques such as supplementary feeding now enable successful breeding to take place when natural ‘mast’ food crops such as rimu fail. “It has been a constant learning curve,” observes Don Merton. “In particular, 1992 – the year when the rimu crop on Whenua Hou aborted and caused all nests

to fail – crystalised for me the extreme vulnerability of kakapo during breeding, and the solutions: all chicks died except for ‘Hoki’ who, in a famous first, was handraised by Auckland Zoo. Following that disastrous year we resolved to support all breeding females through supplementary feeding and to protect all nests from Pacific rats (kiore). We also decided to monitor each nest through the breeding cycle and to intervene when necessary by rearing chicks in captivity. Hand-raised birds are then returned to their island and released once they are old enough to fend for themselves.” Now, when kakapo breed, as they did this past summer, all of these techniques – plus a few others – are employed to give them a helping hand. Heated pads are placed over eggs while the sitting female forages for food, away from the nest. If a third egg is laid, it is moved to the nest of another bird, thus improving its chances of survival. Rats have been eradicated, and all females are trained to access supplemental foods. Some nests are even moved into nest-boxes to improve security and enhance access. If a rimu mast year is in the offing, kakapo are helicoptered from island to island and fed a supplementary diet of nuts, apples and kumara in an effort to maximise breeding success. These techniques helped make 2002 a kakapo ‘baby boom’ year. Twenty-four chicks fledged, increasing total numbers from 62 to 86. Fundamental to this outstanding success however, was the fact that 2002 was the first time that the rimu crop in that region had remained on the trees and ripened during the programme. Last season, Codfish Island kakapo were also given green pine (pinus radiata) cones – courtesy of Carter Holt Harvey – to help get them into peak condition in the run up to breeding. They demolished the cones and devoured the nuts, and their numbers went up to 86 again, making up for the loss of four birds to disease in 2003. “This is probably the most enduring bird conservation programme anywhere in the world, so the problems and solutions for kakapo are now pretty well understood,” Don Merton says. “Unlike in earlier years, there is now an impressive body of social, political, corporate and fiscal support for saving this (and other) elements of our remarkable natural heritage.” “Kakapo have proved to be surprisingly adaptable and we do have a few large predator-free islands where, although beyond the kakapo’s natural range, the species may be able to survive with minimal intervention. Meanwhile, their recovery is clearly linked to sustaining the current very effective management thrust over the next few decades.” w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Sitting in his central Wellington office, DOC’s Paul Jansen is similarly upbeat about the long-term prospects for kakapo. In addition to supplementary feeding with pine cones, which he explains may contain compounds which stimulate the production of certain hormones, DOC will trial kakapo artificial insemination in the field this year because research shows the most successful breeding females are birds that have multiple matings with different males. The last known surviving male kakapo from mainland New Zealand – Richard Henry Kakapo – along with other males not well-represented in the genes of the current population, will be used in the programme. Paul Jansen says the main problem now is that only 40% of kakapo eggs are fertile because of past inbreeding. “We really need more Fiordland genes in the population. If any birds – male or female – are left in the wild there we need to find them soon before it is too late.” As a result, DOC will organise helicopter and groundbased searches in Fiordland this summer aimed at finding any surviving kakapo. According to the latest population viability analysis (PVA), Paul Jansen says there should be around 150 kakapo living in three separate populations on Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, Anchor Island in Fiordland and possibly at a large predatorfree mainland site within 10-15 years. The ultimate goal is to move away from intensive management and leave the kakapo to get on with their lives. Here’s hoping that’s what happens. If it does, it will be a fitting anniversary present for the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society when it celebrates 100 years of achievement in 2023.

Hoki was the first kakapo to be hand-reared.

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Don Merton

Rod Morris

Michael Szabo is Forest and Bird's Communications Manager and editor of Forest & Bird.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Kevin Smith - conservation hero Conservation lost a leading light with the untimely death on 16th August of Kevin Smith, former Forest and Bird Field Officer and Conservation Director and then senior advisor to two ministers of Conservation, Hon. Sandra Lee and Hon. Chris Carter. Eugenie Sage recounts his achievments.

IKE Captain Val Sanderson, who founded Forest and Bird, Kevin Smith was always forthright in his advocacy, no matter how unpopular the message, or how challenging the audience – die-hard West Coast native forest loggers, Kaimanawa horse-lovers or fishers opposed to marine reserves. Conservation Minister Chris Carter described Kevin Smith as a “special New Zealander whose courage, tenacity and commitment were deeply admired by the many thousands of people involved in trying to preserve our nation’s natural heritage … [whose] … legacy is writ large on the landscape of New Zealand.” Part of that legacy is the result of his work to protect the West Coast’s forests and wetlands. Growing up in the King Country sawmilling town of Owhango and keen on nature, Kevin Smith attributed his first interest in South Westland’s forests to being given Leonard Cockayne’s “New Zealand Plants and Their Story.” This contained a couple of John John’s “marvellous” black and white photos of South Westland’s forests, including one of a dense stand of kahikatea at Harihari. After a botany degree from the University of Canterbury, teaching science to secondary school students for a year, and working as a technician

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with the Forest Research Institute in Rotorua, he began his doctoral studies on kahikatea forest in Harihari in 1976. But with native forests being logged around him, much of his spare time was soon devoted to conservation. He and his wife, Barbara Devery, became increasingly involved in the campaign to protect Okarito, Waikukupa and other forests. Working with the Christchurch Branch of the Native Forests Action Council, they gathered signatures for the Maruia Declaration and ran field trips. He represented the conservation cause at noisy public meetings, rebutting the often extravagant claims of the West Coast logging industry. It was a tough and often isolated life for both of them. With a young family, Kevin and Barbara supplemented his meagre research grant by possum and deer hunting, and kitchen work at the local hotel. He said that during long periods hunting alone in the bush, the forest became part of him and he gradually learned to live by nature’s rhythms. This intimate connection with nature made him a compelling advocate for forest protection when he became Forest and Bird’s first regional Conservation Officer in 1985. He was always keen to share his delight in the natural world, whether it was leading countless field trips for Easter

Gatherings, or running natural history tours with Barbara or using electric fishing gear to show the Harihari children the amazing array of freshwater fish in local streams. In the mid 1980s plans to convert Tongariro forest to a pine plantation were thwarted with Kevin Smith’s help and a public meeting of 150 locals in Owhango, where his father, Bluey Smith, had been the bush gang foreman at the local mill. The controversial 1986 West Coast Accord was a significant achievement, resulting in Paparoa National Park and the creation of more than 137,000 hectares (ha) of reserves and wildlife corridors. These were often based on his work researching and describing possible reserves from Karamea to Okarito and his tenacious advocacy for them. Leaked Forest Service reports on timber volumes helped him to identify the forests with the highest ecological values. His publicity about the impacts of the Forest Service’s napalming of native forests increased public and political support for that organisation’s demise. During the accompanying Crown land carve-up between 1985 and 1988, Kevin Smith was part of the Forest and Bird team which identified the misallocation of some 600,000 ha and helped get much of this land reallocated to the newly established Department of Conservation (DOC). w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

He was central to the successful campaign to protect 311,000 ha of temperate lowland forests between Fox Glacier and Big Bay, mobilising public support and being the face of the campaign on the West Coast. In 19871988 Kevin Smith represented the Joint Campaign on Native Forests, on the South Westland Forests Working Group chaired by Environment Secretary Roger Blakeley. With strong representation by sawmilling interests including Timberlands CEO, Dave Hilliard, and West Coast local authorities, the meetings included heated debates about the appropriateness of “sustained yield” logging in South Westland, and almost came to blows. In 1989 the Labour Government accepted the minority recommendations from the Joint Campaign and DOC, and allocated the forests south of the Cook River to DOC. In 1991 UNESCO accepted South-West New Zealand, Te Wahi Pounamu, for listing as a World Heritage Area. With logging continuing to destroy native forests on private land, especially in the central North Island, Forest and Bird recognised the value of combining public campaigning and negotiations with the industry. Months of meetings involving Kevin Smith and Gerry McSweeney resulted in the 1989 Tasman Accord in which Tasman Forestry agreed to protect 41,000 ha and cease clearing native forest. In 1989 Kevin Smith moved to Wellington to succeed Gerry McSweeney as Forest and Bird’s Conservation Director. Kevin Smith was a major force behind the August 1991 New Zealand Forest Accord between plantation forest companies and the conservation movement. It was a landmark in New Zealand forest conservation with the companies agreeing not to clear indigenous vegetation which satisfied four criteria. The ban on the export of native woodchips, with major benefits for Nelson and Southland’s beech forests was another achievement. Through the 1990s he worked closely with the forestry, farming and horticulture industries to draw public and political attention to the need for tougher border biosecurity. At one point Trade Minister, Lockwood Smith accused him of ‘economic treason.’ The subsequent decision, however, to require offshore cleaning and inspection of used-car imports owed much to Kevin Smith’s advocacy, as does New Zealand’s significantly expanded biosecurity system. Forest and Bird’s campaign to remedy conservation under-funding was initiated and led by Kevin Smith. It was rewarded w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

with a significant funding boost for DOC with the Biodiversity package in 2000. Just as he had done with the forests, he explored the sea, diving the Wellington coast to connect with and understand the ocean, to better advocate for its protection and for more marine reserves including one at Taputarenga on Wellington’s south coast. Since 2000 he had worked as Senior Adviser to the Minister of Conservation, a role which Chris Carter described him as “outstanding” at. He was involved in adding the 132,000 ha of former Timberlands’ forests to the conservation estate, Sandra Lee’s decision to decline GRD Macrae’s plans to double the size of its Reefton gold mine, the 180,000 ha Molesworth Station becoming conservation land, and the creation of various marine reserves. At work and at home, he sought to “Go Easy on the Earth”. He recognised the urgent need to curb the preoccupation with economic development and overconsumption. At Forest and Bird he regularly used a train or bus, instead of a plane, for out-of-town travel and was a keen cycle commuter as well as competitive cyclist. He was frustrated at the slowness of change but always remained hopeful. In her tribute at his funeral, Sandra Lee quoted from a May 1990 editorial in Forest & Bird entitled, “10 Years to Save the Planet”. Here he wrote, “Nothing has been achieved on the environmental front to match the momentous collapse of the Berlin Wall. Conservation gains have been painstakingly slow, incremental and mostly inadequate. Yet Berlin Wall breakthroughs are desperately required on a host of issues such as ozone depletion, global warming, species extinction and population growth.” Our challenge will be to carry on where he left off. If we do it with even half of his love of nature and passion, we will be doing well. Eugenie Sage is Forest and Bird’s Canterbury Field Officer. Kevin David Smith, born 21 November 1953; died Wellington, 16 August 2005. Survived by his mother Mrs Edna Smith, sister Judy Bloomfield, partner Tania Dewitt, daughters Rachel and Danica, son Karl, and their mother Barbara Devery. Forest and Bird is investigating ways to commemorate Kevin Smith's conservation achievements. If you would like to give a donation in his memory please send it to Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington.

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Sanctuary: New Zealand’s Spectacular Nature Reserves

by Eric Dorfman with original photographs by Antoine Gasperini. Published by Penguin, 2005 Earth, wind and water – Devils Punchbowl, Arthur's Pass National Park.

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willingness to spotlight some of the people involved in New Zealand’s conservation efforts, making it a celebration of “New Zealanders’ passion for, and commitment to, wildlife conservation”. Shelly Farr Biswell

Beneath the Azure Sea – Abel Tasman National Park

“F

UR seals were once common all round the New Zealand coast, as well as on the coast of western and southern Australia. However, after a thousand years of hunting by Maori and Pakeha, they largely vanished. Even though

they have been protected in New Zealand since 1894, it is only recently that their populations have shown obvious signs of bouncing back, lately increasing by a remarkable 23 per cent per year in the Nelson-Marlborough region.”

A bull New Zealand fur seal relaxes at Abel Tasman National Park.

Antoine Gasperini

ROM the rugged coastline of Cape Reinga to the alpine meadows of Arthur’s Pass National Park, Eric Dorfman writes knowledgably and passionately about ten protected areas in New Zealand. His choices reflect an evenhanded geographical spread, are places readers can visit, and showcase the variety of conservation strategies adopted by New Zealanders to protect some of our last remaining wild places. As he writes in his introduction: “Reading any history of New Zealand nature -- and there are many – makes you want to weep. Two islands, large enough to be considered a continent by some, plus a host of smaller ones, bursting at the seams with unique wildlife. The world’s tallest land bird, the giant moa, striding about the landscape and preyed upon by the world’s largest raptor, Haast’s eagle (Harpagornis moorei), and (possibly) its carcass picked over by the adzebill (Aptornis otidiformis), another large, flightless species. Thousands of passerines (perching birds) flying through the trees, and millions of seabirds nesting on the forest floor, from the valley to the mountain tops.” By describing singular places in chapters like “Paradise Reconstructed” on Kapiti Island Nature Reserve, Dorfman deftly depicts the broader implications of New Zealand’s tumultuous natural and cultural history. His book earns additional standing through his

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Goblin Forests and Rugged Peaks – Egmont National Park

A tui, one of the more widespread bird species on Tiritiri Matangi.

P. Shilov

HE NORTH Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) is found in the forests here, as are a small number of common New Zealand bird species, but since the arrival of mammalian predators, birds are no longer abundant or diverse in the park. The luxuriant forests do, however, provide habitat for many species of insect, as well as spiders, millipedes and centipedes. One of the most interesting invertebrates in Egmont National Park is the peripatus, or velvet worm (Peripatus and Ooperipatellus spp.), a small animal that dates back, virtually unchanged, about 500 million years to the Cambrian Period of the Palaeozoic Era, when it shared the Earth with trilobites and other long-extinct species. It has features in common with both worms and insects, and is thought to be an offshoot from the main line of worm-insect evolution, occupying an evolutionary position between the two groups.”

Antoine Gasperini

“T

A velvet worm (peripatus) travels across the moss-covered forest floor at Egmont National Park.

Your Beneficiaries There are more of them than you realise!

The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society has always understood the vital connection between people and nature. By including a bequest to the Society in your will, you can help ensure a brighter future for both. To make a bequest, please use the following language in your will: I give to the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated a _____% share of my Estate (or the sum of $___________) for its general purposes. A receipt given on behalf of the Society will be a complete discharge to my trustees for the gift. To find out more, contact us for a free brochure. Sarah Crawford, Membership Administrator, Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated, PO Box 631, Wellington, Freephone 0800 200 064 Email: s.crawford@forestandbird.org.nz w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

“S

EVENTY feet up a pine tree, a man of retirement age is building a tree hut.” So I began the commentary for a television feature about Geoff Moon, naturalistphotographer, broadcast on the first night of colour television in New Zealand. Geoff Moon was building a hide to photograph white-faced herons at their nest in an adjacent tree. None of us in the television crew was prepared to climb up with him to get the close ups, so we re-staged those details a couple of metres above the ground, with the camera looking upward. The resulting colour images and the story of our filming him are recalled 30 years later in Geoff Moon’s latest book. It was not the only occasion during the making of that pioneer wildlife

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

programme that he outpaced me, a whole generation younger. Geoff Moon was known then to New Zealanders as a superb photographer of the natural world, whose work was featured in early colour books about birds, and in striking colour sequences across the middle of the Weekly News. What I discovered on first meeting him was that for many of the species captured in still photos, there was a matching sequence of “movies” detailing bird behaviour and nesting habits. Motion picture photography is phenomenally expensive, So it was not surprising that the veterinarian from Warkworth did not waste his limited resources taking location shots, nor matching continuity. What he got — and still has — was hundreds of metres of fine portraiture illustrating the private behaviour of often rare species. Viewing this footage was like watching his books come alive on the page.

Geoff Moon A morepork flying to its nest with a stick insect. A chick is emerging from the nest-hole at left. “As I manually trigger my flight shots and have never use the interrupted beam method, it is difficult to capture the image in the frame, because the silent flight of owls gives no warning of their arrival,” says Geoff Moon.

Gordon Ell

At the age of 90, naturalist-photographer Geoff Moon is still publishing his life’s work. Gordon Ell recollects working with the Society’s newest Distinguished Life Member.

Gordon Ell

The natural world of Geoff Moon

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Geoff Moon

A New Zealand Kingfisher flying to its nest with a worm. ”With my hide built about 2.5 metres from the nest hole . . . I have been able to record the variety of food brought to feed the chicks.This ranged from earthworms, insects, particularly cicadas, fish and lizards to the occasioanal mouse and small bird.”

“I soon learned that much of the material in the natural history books had been copied from English observations,” Geoff Moon says. “People simply assumed that New Zealand birds acted in a manner similar to their European relations.” This led to the formal publication of scientific papers, and the publication of his first books, the earliest of which he funded himself. They were eye-catching – who hasn’t wondered at the sequence of a kingfisher diving for goldfish, made possible with home-adapted electronic gear? – but the notes alongside them contained new and original observations too. His original Focus on New Zealand Birds, published in 1957, was printed in black and white (barring one sheet of colour) but in its later editions the original colour pictures were rescanned and presented as they were taken. Some of these ‘classic’ images continue to be republished, here and abroad; pictures of the morepork, kingfisher (kotare), white-fronted heron (matuku-moana), red-crowned parakeet (kakariki), banded rail (moho-pereru) and bittern (matuku) come readily to mind as natural ‘icons’. Since then his books have put him in the top 20 New Zealand writers in the library system. Focus on New Zealand Birds was succeeded by a similar commercial edition, then by Refocus on New Zealand Birds (1967) and The Birds Around Us (1979). His New Zealand’s Birds (with Ronald Lockley) in 1982 was a non-fiction award nominee. New Zealand Birds in Focus (1988) surveyed birds as distant as the Chatham Islands. New Zealand Land of Birds was published in 2001. Sometimes Geoff Moon contributed colour photographs to illustrate the work of other authors, notably The Natural World of the Maori by Margaret Orbell,

a non-fiction prizewinner, The River, the story of the Waikato by Sue Miles, and New Zealand’s Unique Birds by Brian Gill. He’s also written and illustrated many bird guides and an early guide to nature photography which sold 20,000 copies in the United States. Represented by an international photo agency Geoff Moon’s work appears in nature publications worldwide. His latest book, New Zealand Birds in Focus, A Photographer’s Journey, is an album of his best work over nearly 80 years; an explanation of how he took the pictures and what he learned about the birds as he did so. It begins in Britain where as a boy he adapts a box Brownie with a portrait attachment to photograph birds in the Essex marshes near his home. As a veterinary student in London he cobbles together second-hand bits to rebuild a glass-plate camera and photograph English birds. Banded rail (moho-pereru) at the nest.

Geoff Moon

The greatest value of Geoff Moon’s pioneer wildlife filming is to science, for it shows how birds behave, surpassing any note-taking or still photography in capturing their life. As documentary television it required extra filming to make the science into a story for the mass audience. Fortunately, Geoff Moon’s enthusiasm for recording bird behaviour was matched by a commitment to sharing it with others in the interests of conservation. We began making these documentaries with the plight of the New Zealand fairy tern. Geoff Moon had filmed the life cycle of this endangered species at south Mangawhai Heads, matching his classic colour shots with sequences at the nest filmed in black and white. We went back to the beach and showed how he built a hide and approached the rare birds. I squeezed it into a current affairs series which I produced for Northern Television, an early attempt to introduce natural history into the one-channel system. “Naturalist-Photographer” was our next attempt, made independently for Television New Zealand on a budget just big enough to shoot the story of Geoff Moon’s work as a complement to his growing file of movie film. We later went on to make “”Kingfisher”, commissioned to teach nature in the school system, and another television documentary about bird migration. Geoff ’s enthusiasm for spreading the word about the nature of New Zealand among the young led also to our series of Children’s Guides to Nature which we coauthored and published in the early 1980s. Geoff Moon’s energy amazed me then, as now. He would visit a nest between calls at the farms he served; follow-up a farmer’s tip about another nesting bird to establish yet another hide. He bounced up island cliff faces carrying his movie gear to photograph gannets then went back to work as a ‘vet’ for the afternoon. He also spent time on the islands of the Hauraki Gulf photographing birds such as saddleback (tieke) and stitchbird (hihi), restricted at that time to one or two places before the great conservation efforts of the 1980s extendedtheir range. Most of his classic images were captured in odd hours squeezed into the life of a country veterinarian. He’d stay up all night to photograph the life of morepork (ruru) feeding at the nest; spent hours in the hide waiting on a harrier (kahu). All the time he kept scientific records of what he saw: the pigeon (kereru), feeding its young once a day before dawn; the phenomenon of the kingfisher’s eye protected for an instant by a membrane pulled down as it dives into water.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Geoff Moon

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

the region – what we’ve lost.” He was a founding trustee of the Native Forest Restoration Trust, serving on its board until recently, and contributed the forest photography for its campaigning volume The Living Forests of New Zealand (1992). In the north he has long been a friend of Forest and Bird too, giving talks about nature, and lending his support (and his slides) to campaigns to protect the natural environment. “When I retired from veterinary practice I wanted to spread the word about conservation, especially among schoolchildren – they’re the future of conservation,” he says. “I love talking to children. I spent a lot of my time visiting schools and conservation groups as far away as Gisborne and Palmerston North.” He continued to visit schools until a couple of years ago as a member of the Writers in Schools programme. “Most schools gave very good feedback. I used to encourage the children to get notebooks and make notes about bird behaviour.” “New Zealand offers great opportunities for the field naturalist. In England everything is already done but in New Zealand there’s still so much we don’t know about even our common birds – even birds such as the tui. There’s plenty of value amateur naturalists can contribute just by writing down what they see.” He gives a couple of useful hints for watching birds. “You’ll see far more birds during an hour in the forest if you simply sit still and watch. Freeze and keep a low profile. The

Above: After mating a pair of pied stilts (poaka) momentarily cross bills. Below: A morepork at its nest-hole with a weta.

Geoff Moon

In New Zealand since 1947 he’s progressively used glass-plate, large format and miniature photography, and pioneered techniques of flash photography to produce his world-famous images of diving kingfishers. All the time his cameras have been the tools of a scientist, recording the peculiarities of New Zealand birds. For example, he photographed ‘blind’, in the night, revealing for the first time the extraordinary range of foods taken by the nocturnal morepork. The instantaneous exposure of the flashlight did not illuminate the bird to the naked eye, but the results could be read on the glass plates he developed in the ensuing early hours of the morning. “In this way I identified the various items of food brought to feed the chicks,” he says in his new book. Geoff Moon asks not to be described as a nature photographer – rather as a naturalist who uses the camera as a tool in his work. Often he sat in his hide taking notes rather than photographs. “The camera is primarily for recording facets of bird behaviour” he says. ‘There’s still so much we don’t know about birds and conservation in its broadest sense. I continue to go out into the bush to see things happen.” His home in the Waitakere Ranges, near Titirangi, abuts the rainforest. His favourite walk follows a water supply line through the forest. The bush and its marvels remain an inspiration. “I particularly love Whirinaki, those great trees,” he says. “Just think how much of that kind of forest once covered

birds won’t notice you and they’ll come close. And not just robins. I’ll never forget sitting silently in the Waikaremoana forest one day, hoping to see a kokako, when a huge stag walked within metres of me – I must have been downwind of it. Of course we don’t want deer in the bush but it certainly served to demonstrate how nature will ignore you if you sit still.” His other hint is a practical one. Always carry a big plastic bag. Then you can sit on it for an hour without getting wet. Geoff Moon still takes pictures. This year he’s the patron of the Photographic Society of New Zealand, a judge of natural w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Geoff Moon

A life of achievements

history photographs, and is planning to exhibit in next year’s competition: “Maybe natural history, maybe landscape.” His favoured medium now is 35mm colour-slide film though he has a digital camera for family snaps. He lightly talks of retiring in ten years’ time. Then, he says, there might be time to string together his hundreds of metres of movie film to entertain the family. Gordon Ell is a former National President of Forest and Bird (1990-93).

Geoff Moon relaxes at home.

A TREASURE FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF

Geoff Moon

A New Zealand fairy tern with two-day-old chicks, photographed from a hide ten metres from the nest. When chicks are about three days old they wander from the nest and hide near driftwood. With their cryptic colouring, they are often difficult to see.

Geoff Moon has a considerable reputation in other fields too. As a veterinarian he is an active Honorary Life Member of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, a former convenor of its wildlife group and member of several scientific boards. In the photographic movement he has long been a judge, lecturer and mentor. He is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and an Honorary Fellow of the Photographic Society of New Zealand of which he is also the patron. In 1994 he was honoured by the Queen with the OBE for services to the veterinary profession and photography. Geoff Moon was elected a Distinguished Life Member of Forest in Bird this year for his contribution to conservation through his photography and related advocacy for the natural environment.

ANZANG Nature and Landscape Photographer of the Year

2006

New Zealand Birds in Focus: A Photographer’s Journey Geoff Moon $49.99 Geoff Moon has been photographing New Zealand birds for over 50 years. He has pioneered techniques and piqued passions for the recording and conservation of New Zealand birdlife. This photographic collection records the many phases, techniques, developments, adventures and accomplishments of a man whose passion and respect for nature can only ignite the same in any reader who chooses to share his journeys.

AVAILABLE AT

YOUR LOCAL BOOKSELLER www.reed.co.nz

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New Zealand South Island Fantail, photo Andy Trowbridge

To enter the competition photographs must be of subjects within the bioregion of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea. Cash prizes totalling EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS

Entries close 01/05/06 For competition rules, entry forms and further information • Website: www.anzangnature.com • Email: compete@anzangnature.com • Ph. +61 (0) 8 9321 3685; Fax +61 (0) 8 9226 3395 • Postal address: ANZANG Nature GPO Box 2828 Perth, Western Australia 6001

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Rod Morris

Return of the native mistletoe

Geoff Keey explores the red, gold and green world of native mistletoe. Photographs by Rod Morris.

AIRARAPA Forest and Bird member Trevor Thompson received a Conservation Award at Parliament earlier this year for his work to establish the remaining species of native mistletoe in public gardens, bush blocks and reserves throughout the Wairarapa district. He has even roped in the local Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC):  “They’re good little conservationists in the making.” His efforts reflect a renaissance in popularity for native mistletoe that is resulting in community-based and Department of Conservation (DOC) programmes to restore and protect mistletoe in different parts of the country. Of the eight surviving species of mistletoe in New Zealand, seven are unique to these islands and one is also found in Norfolk Island. Described as “semi-parasites”, they produce their own food through photosynthesis, but also have specially adapted roots to extract water and nutrients from the host plant.   They are generally grouped into three species: beech, green and dwarf. The three beech mistletoes are the most colourful with bright red or yellow flowers. The largest of them, Peraxilla colensoi, or scarlet mistletoe, can grow up to three metres across.  At the other end of the scale, the three dwarf mistletoes rarely grow more than 10 cm across and are often almost indistinguishable from twigs

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Red mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetalla)

on the host plant. The red mistletoe is known in Maori as pikirangi, meaning “climb to the sky”. The flowers of the two green mistletoes, Ileostylus micranthus and Tupeia antarctica, are often hard to tell apart, but their fruit is quite distinctive, Ileostylus micranthus having bright yellow fruit while Tupeia antarctica’s is white with purple markings.  Both species have the widest host range of the native mistletoe and Ileostylus micranthus has been found on over 200 different native and exotic species. New Zealand’s beech mistletoe flowers are among the few plants in the world to have a special explosive way of opening.  The colourful flowers remain closed until a potential pollinator, such as a bird or bee, twists the top of the flower.  At this point it explosively opens, showering pollen: nature’s equivalent of someone twisting open the cap of a well-shaken beer bottle.  The unwitting pollinator then spreads the pollen on the next flower it visits. Remarkably, a native bee merely one quarter the size of a single bud can twist open the flowers.  Trilepidea adamsii, the one mistletoe believed to be extinct, appears to have had the most specialised explosive pollination mechanism, a feature which may have contributed to its decline as human settlement began to affect bird populations.  Nick Singers coordinates DOC’s Mistletoe Recovery Group and is pleased with progress on mistletoe conservation, describing efforts as “fairly well advanced”. “Pest control is working and recruitment of new mistletoe is happening at a number of sites,” he says. “Most mainland island sites are very effective at

protecting mistletoe.” At Lake Waikareiti in Te Urewera National Park the recovery group has set up monitoring of mistletoe on beech forest at two possum-free islands.  “It’s the only North Island beech forest free from possums.  We set up permanent monitoring to determine density of mistletoe as it gives us a baseline for possum-free areas,” Mr Singers says. “What we found was mistletoe in incredibly high density – around 20 to 30 mistletoe per hectare. This compares with around two per hectare on mainland sites,” he says. Monitoring of mistletoe on the South Island’s West Coast shows comparable densities in possum-free areas.   Partnership is a theme in mistletoe conservation. The Rotorua Botanical Society, Department of Conservation (DOC) and the Rotorua Branch of Forest and Bird are all involved in a project to restore mistletoe habitat at Lake Okareka. The Botanical Society has been removing plant pests and replanting the area with mistletoe host trees – five-finger, kohuhu and even the exotic tree lucerne. As Paul Cashmore, mistletoe project coordinator for the Rotorua Botanical Society, explains: “The green mistletoes like tree lucerne and it is fast growing.”  “We have good local mistletoe populations in the area and good bird populations so we are largely leaving the spread of mistletoe to natural regeneration.  The project’s focus is plant and animal pests,” he says. The efforts of the Botanical Society are being supported by the Rotorua Branch of Forest and Bird, which runs a programme of bait stations for rats and possums to help keep browsing of mistletoe down and to encourage dispersers like tui. “We have been pleased with the support we have from DOC and Environment Bay of Plenty.  Both organisations have provided expertise and resources to the project,” Rotorua Branch Chair Chris Ecroyd says. Nearby, at Lake Rotorua, DOC is transferring mistletoe to possum-free Mokoia Island, where staff hope to establish new mistletoe populations. The importance of native birds in securing the future of the mistletoe cannot be underestimated.   In 1999, scientists from the University of Canterbury studied pollination and fruiting at three South Island beech mistletoe sites.  They found that low fruit production was being caused through a lack of pollination.  Supplementing natural pollination with hand pollination increased fruit production up to five-fold, suggesting that there were too few birds to adequately pollinate the mistletoe. As pollinators such as tui and bellbirds decline in the face of w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

pests, mistletoe flowers are less likely to be pollinated. Less pollination means fewer seeds, and fewer seedlings to replace old or browsed plants as they die off. This is perhaps less of an issue for the green mistletoes whose flowers are pollinated by a range of small insects such as flies and moths. Unlike beech mistletoes, green mistletoe flowers open by themselves, but the plant is dependent on birds and lizards to disperse its bright berries. But Trevor Thompson in the Wairarapa notes that geckos, another important disperser of mistletoe seeds, have become rarer in his area. Trevor Thompson’s restoration efforts

Rod Morris

Green mistletoe (Ileostylus micranthus)

Yellow mistletoe (Alepis flavida)

have focused on improving recruitment of mistletoe.  “Each species has a different process for attaching to a plant and so I have to mimic the natural role,” he says. Research into the establishment and survival of seedlings backs up Trevor Thompson’s emphasis on recruitment.  The survival rate of mistletoe seeds is low: less than a quarter of some species survives to the first independent leaves, and fewer than one in seven is alive after two years. To compensate for this poor survival rate, high levels of successful pollination and dispersal are needed – which is where the birds, lizards and insects come in.  Mistletoe will only survive if we

Lizards such as this jewelled gecko are important dispersers of mistletoe. Seeds lose their outer skin when passing through the gut, enabling them to germinate.

protect its hosts, the animals that pollinate and disperse its seeds, and the mistletoe plants themselves. They are an important indicator of the health of our forests. Successfully protecting the mistletoe would give us hope that we can do the same for a whole range of New Zealand’s threatened plants and animals. Geoff Keey is the Forest and Bird staff member responsible for biosecurity and pest control issues.

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goingplaces

Boundary Stream Mainland Island Site description

This is the first in a regular series of guides to New Zealand's wild places. Words and photographs by Brent Stephenson.

Brent Stephenson

Pigeons (kereru) are abundant at Boundary Stream.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

LORIOUS birdsong, spectacular views and luxuriant forest growth make a visit to Boundary Stream Mainland Island a memorable experience. Since 1996, intensive work carried out by a dedicated band of Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and Hawke's Bay Forest and Bird branch members has led to this 800-hectare Scenic Reserve becoming one of New Zealand’s most successful Mainland Islands. An array of traps and bait stations, along with careful nurturing of the Reserve itself, have resulted in spectacular increases in bird populations, and similarly encouraging signs of forest health, with greater numbers of threatened plants such as yellowflowered mistletoe, kakabeak and nei-nei. Boundary Stream is located on the eastern slopes of the Maungaharuru Range, and extends from the top of the range at nearly 1000 metres (m) above sea level, down to 300 m. Maungaharuru means “rumbling mountain” – so named because of the volume of birdsong that once reverberated around this incredible landscape. The limestone scarps along the top of the Range provide an interesting backdrop for such plants as mountain holly, and a host of mosses and lichens, whilst at lower levels podocarp, tawa, or kamahi forest dominate, with beech forest preferring the drier ridgeline areas. On warm northerly facing scarps, kowhai are abundant, and kakabeak increasingly so – a spectacular sight when flowering. Surrounded by farmland, the Reserve is bounded by traditional stock fences. Thus, intensive predator and browsing mammal

control has been the key to success achieved so far. Since the inception of the project, North Island robin (toutouwai), brown kiwi, kokako, and saddleback (tieke) have been reintroduced. Robins are now relatively common and kiwi are also doing well, with 21 living within the Reserve. Of these 21 birds, three are chicks that have hatched in the reserve, and several pairs now breed each season. Kokako were first introduced into aviaries in 2001, and following the successful raising of three chicks in 2003, all birds were released. In their first ‘wild’ breeding season they fledged eight chicks, and all but one of these were seen through to mid-winter. This was a very exciting first breeding season. Hearing kokako song around the main car park was one of the rewards for visitors during autumn 2005. Tomtit, rifleman (titipounamu) and whitehead (popokatea) are abundant now, as are fantail (piwakwaka) and grey warbler (riroriro). Before you even step out of the car, tui and bellbird (korimako) calls can be heard, and significant increases in the number of kereru (pigeon) are apparent. New Zealand falcons (karearea) are also resident within the reserve, with up to three pairs utilising home ranges in the area. Their staccato call, or loud mobbing calls from tui, are an indication of their presence. More recently, fernbird (matata) have been detected and sightings of kaka may also be becoming more frequent, so it pays to know the different native bird calls when visiting this reserve. Lizards and invertebrates have also benefited from reductions in mammalian pests, with small recovering populations of green, Pacific, and common geckos and common skinks being monitored. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Brent Stephenson

Shine's Falls.

Brent Stephenson

Morepork (ruru) chicks (above) and adult bird (below).

Where to go

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Brent Stephenson

HERE are five main routes that can be taken within the reserve. The best option to start with is the superb Tumanako Loop track (2 km, 1 hour) which starts from the main car park. The track with its excellent interpretative panels, explores a diversity of forest types, and should allow almost all of the birds present to be seen. Kokako are in this area, and the open beech forest provides possibly the best chance of seeing the impressive but sometimes elusive long-tailed cuckoo (koekoea) during the summer months. The koekoea, and the smaller shining cuckoo (pipiwharauroa), are more easily heard than seen. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best to listen for their calls and then watch the area the call came from in anticipation that the bird will take to the wing. Robins are relatively common along this track, and falcons are also present in this area. A lookout with a bench seat is probably one of the best

FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;˘ NOVEMBER 2005

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Brent Stephenson

Kokako are breathing new life into the Dawn Chorus at Boundary Stream.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Brent Stephenson

One of the many red kakabeak planted by local Forest and Bird members.

Wildlife Service

Brent Stephenson

common bush birds, with kereru being very plentiful in this part of the Reserve. Bellbirds are especially numerous in early spring around the flowering tree fuchsia, and views out over the beech forest mid-way up can be a real experience with bellbird calls reverberating from all directions. From the top, stunning views out over the Reserve and Hawke’s Bay are possible on a good day, with Te Kooti’s lookout visible beside the snaking Mohaka River as you look west into the Mohaka Valley. You will make the most of these views on the way down if you keep to the ridge all the way back to the road. Keep an eye or ear out for falcon and pipit, especially visible along the ridgeline.

are present here in an area that is also good for shining cuckoo and kereru. The falls themselves make for a picturesque, tranquil spot to sit and watch fantails hawking for insects. For the more physically fit, a return walk from the main car park (8.3 km, 5+ hours return), right through the middle of the Reserve via the Kamahi Loop and main walkway, and then down to Shine’s Falls, is possible in a day. If you don’t want to do the return walk, you can of course halve the journey by leaving a car at the Heay’s Access Road car park. Yet another option is the Bell Rock Loop track (5.3 km, 3 hours return) offering the best views out over Hawke’s Bay towards Mahia in the north and Cape Kidnappers to the south. Head up through the almost elfin forest of broadleaf, matai and fuchsia, with luxurious ferns and mosses. Near the top of the range, mountain holly dominates. Once on the top of the range follow the track through grassland to Bell Rock, perched on spectacular limestone scarps. The forest on the way up holds all the

Mary Marshall of Forest and Bird Hastings/Havelock North Branch with kokako chick.

spots to sit and soak up the view over the forest. For a more adventurous walk, the Kamahi Loop track (4.5 km, 2 hours) provides an excellent foray into the reserve, with some steep sections of track and rewarding views. All of the common bush birds should be seen easily; during spring when kowhai are in flower, this is an excellent walk to see these beautiful trees and the vigorously feeding tui and bellbird. Falcon may be located if heard calling, and kereru are usually present here. For those wanting to see the spectacular Shine’s Falls, the easiest way to do so is to park at the car park on Heay’s Access Road and walk the relatively gentle Shine’s Falls track to the base of the falls (4 km, 2 hours return, allowing time to sit and enjoy the falls). During spring this route is especially good for flowering kowhai full of tui and bellbird. A pair of falcons also live in this lower section of the Reserve. Listen and look for the tawny New Zealand pipit in the first section of the track which crosses farmland. The more common bush birds

Kaka numbers are increasing at Boundary Stream.

The elusive long-tailed cuckoo (koekoea). w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

A VISIT to Boundary Stream is worthwhile at any time of the year, but in spring, summer, and autumn, especially, the birdsong is fantastic. Birds will be more obvious in the spring and early summer during the breeding season, and mid-summer is a great time to hear, and – if you’re lucky – see, shining and longtailed cuckoo. Kokako are especially vocal in spring and autumn. During mid-winter (June-August) birdsong is usually less than at other times of the year. Brent Stephenson is an ecologist and photographer who jointly runs Wrybill Birding Tours.

Wildlife Service/Department of Conservation

When to go

Kokako numbers are increasing at Boundary Stream, thanks to the restoration work of Forest and Bird branches in Hawke's Bay in partnership with the Department of Conservation and local volunteers .

Fact file: Boundary Stream, Hawke's Bay Directions

Distances/times

Contact details

HEAD north from Napier, taking State Highway 2 towards Wairoa. After passing Lake Tutira look for the Tutira Store and School and turn left (north-west) into Matahorua Road. After approximately 6 kms you will come to a major fork in the road. To access the main Boundary Stream Mainland Island car park, head left (west) into Pohokura Road, which becomes a well-formed shingle road approximately 200 m after the intersection. Follow the road for 11 km, past Lake Opouahi, and Bellbird Bush on the left, before finally reaching the main car park with its Department of Conservation Boundary Stream sign. From this car park access the Tumanako Loop and Kamahi Loop tracks as well as Shine’s Falls (via the longer main walkway). A further two kilometres up the road is another small car park, marking the beginning of the Bell Rock track. Alternatively, to access the bottom of the Reserve and Shine’s Falls (via the shorter Shine’s Falls track) continue along Matahorua Road past the Pohokura Road intersection. After approximately six kilometres turn left into Heay’s Access Road, travelling another seven kilometres to the Heay’s Access Road car park. Boundary Stream can also be reached from State Highway 5 (Napier-Taupo Road), by turning left (north) into Waitara Road approximately one and a half kilometres after crossing the Mohaka River Bridge heading towards Napier. Keep to this road, which is predominantly a wellformed shingle road for 24 kilometres, until you turn right (east) into Pohokura Road. A further ten kilometres sees you at the main car park. Thus a circuit between the Napier-Taupo (SH5) and NapierWairoa (SH2) roads can be made.

FROM Napier airport, on the outskirts of Napier, to the main car park at Boundary Stream via SH2, is 54 kilometres. However, much of the road is winding, and there is an 11- kilometre stretch of shingle, so allow at least one hour for a one-way trip. From the SH5 turn-off to the main carpark is 34 kilometres, and at least 40 minutes should be allowed. Note that many of these roads are used by logging and farm trucks and you need to drive with caution.

FOR further information contact DOC’s Napier Area Office along Marine Parade Phone (06) 834 3111.

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Access/terrain ACCESS to the Reserve is open at all times. The grade of the tracks varies, although all tracks are maintained to a relatively high standard. During periods of wet weather tracks can become muddy in places, and sensible footwear is advised at all times. The Tumanako Loop track has been designed and built with wheelchairs in mind, making this a fantastic experience for young families or those with impaired mobility. Walking times given are estimates, so allow extra time for a more leisurely experience. Toilet facilities are available at the main car park and at the Heay’s Access Road car park. Please note dogs are not permitted in any part of the Reserve.

Other sites nearby ON the way to or from Napier, stop in at White Pine Bush Scenic Reserve (23 km from Napier Airport), or Lake Tutira Wildlife Refuge (34 km) where New Zealand scaup (matapouri), coot and dabchick (weiweia) and other waterfowl can be seen. Lake Opouahi (48 km) is currently having a predator-proof fence erected around it and its encircling bush, in preparation for its role as a home for kiwi chicks. Bellbird Bush has two access points, approximately three kilometres and one kilometre before Boundary Stream Mainland Island. Like Boundary Stream it also has interesting limestone rock formations, views, and forest but without the added benefit of intensive management, so it provides an interesting comparison. In or around Napier, sites of interest to naturalists include the Ahuriri estuary for its many wading birds, Cape Kidnappers for its Australasian gannet colony, and the National Aquarium for its interesting marine life.

Brent Stephenson

Three pairs of New Zealand falcon (karearea) have territories in the Boundary Stream area.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Itinerant Ecologist – Geoff Park

Home bush

“O

N THE one hand is the sea stretching right up to the yard. On the other, the bush growing close down almost to my front door”. So wrote Katherine Mansfield describing a bay very near the Day’s Bay of her well-known story. Today the bush still reaches down to the sea’s domain. I can speak for the fact. I walked up under its old beech trees this morning, as I do most days. Then this evening, from the beach, I watched the last of a winter sun lingering pink on the trees that were probably the first to teach me that together they made a forest, and to seed a lifelong regard for their ancient, pristine kind. Shorn by centuries of southerlies, in a way I’ve never seen elsewhere, they don’t seem to have changed in the slightest from the days when I roamed in their shade as a kid in the 1950s. These days, they’re my neighbours. Katherine Mansfield’s description of being wedged between the bush and the briny hints at an ambivalent attitude to ‘nature’: a marvel or a menace? That’s her magic of course. There’s a cluster of houses where her family bach was, some so close to the edge that bigger southerlies break over the bay windows. Right next door there’s a new reserve for little blue penguins. The humans have obliged those korora that want them with wee wooden tunnels under the shoreline flax and taupata. And across the road, beyond the sand dunes which they’re restoring to pingao, beyond their picnic grounds and a band of houses, there’s another, much older reserve, a sprawl of ancient forest saved from colonial fires. Wellington grew fast from its sudden 1840 beginnings. By the 1890s, its settlers were looking across the harbour for picnic and holiday spots. In 1894, right at the peak of The Passing of the Forest, one J H Williams bought the whole of the Bay and its forest for a resort that was soon being called “something of a New Zealand Hyde Park”. That same year, across the harbour, Walter Buller addressed the Wellington Philosophical Society on “the threatened

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

wiping-out of an avifauna admitted to be one of the most interesting in the world”. The ultimate extinction within measurable time of “even the commonest species”, he said, “is a matter of certainty… except in so far as a remnant may be preserved through the protective action of the Government”. An acquaintance of Buller’s, Henry Wright, a Wellington photographer, had just been to one such remnant. He’d reported on Hauturu’s (Little Barrier Island) suitability for “bird-preservation”, but in his report he also predicted how it would become a “show place for excursionists in the not very distant future”. . . “when the primeval forest elsewhere will have long since passed away”. Wright wasn’t entirely right. But he wasn’t completely wrong either. And one of the exceptions was just across the harbour from Wellington city. J H Williams didn’t “preserve” the bay’s bush with government laws. That took public campaigns and didn’t happen for years after his resort had done its dash. But from the very beginning, the picnickers and campers who flocked here were warned that “the restriction as to lighting fires and damaging the bush on the estate

. . . “endless succession of lovers’ walks and poets’ retreats” . . . will be strictly enforced”. Katherine Mansfield’s family bach was built in 1906 on the sliver of land between the coast road and the sea that Williams had let his caretaker have. From here she would have wandered the “endless succession of lovers’ walks and poets’ retreats” the Guide to Wellington Harbour Resorts raved about that year. If she didn’t read the Guide before her Urewera journey, its words would have rung true afterwards: how “tourists complain that all the native bush is disappearing, and that one has to journey too far from the centres of civilization to get the real rugged grandeur for which the New Zealand bush is famous”. There was no need, however, it said, to go very

Image from the cover of The Bulletin of the Wellington Botanical Society, September 1950.

far afield: “Day’s Bay affords as fine an example of New Zealand bush scenery as is to be found anywhere”. But by 1907, “the age when axe and fire did their deadly work so fast” had left hardly any land “covered with immense trees, the verdure extending to the very edge of the water” that her culture’s firstcomers, like Augustus Earle, had known. He was referring to the 1820s Bay of Islands, before the spar traders took all. But from Charles Heaphy’s descriptions of early Port Nicholson, it was much the same here. One morning just as I stepped into the old black beech grove, I saw a topmast and sails gliding between the trees. It was the Spirit of New Zealand or its adventuring counterpart out on the harbour, but in that moment, history compressed. I was among trees that had seen the New Zealand Company’s ships come up the harbour in 1839, and they in turn were offspring of those that had seen Kupe’s canoes. They have been standing since my culture arrived here, they were old when I was born, and will be little different long after I’m gone. I didn’t think about them like that when I first knew them as a kid. It’s a consequence, I suspect, of the history that’s infused my ecology, of what I now know about The Passing of the Forest, and why places like this where you can look through the forest to the sea are so few. Get the maps that show such things, run your eye around the coastline, and you’ll see what I mean. Outside the far South and West, it’s something you hardly see anymore. In the w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

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Geoff Park

entire North Island - pretty well - there’s only a handful of such places, one of them the sprawl of forest that I see from my window whenever I’m home. So it’s not surprising I suppose, that my living beside it, knowing its old black beech and its kereru as neighbours, walking in it as others might their garden or farm, constantly reminds me of its historic significance. One of the really fascinating things about our history, to me, is to trace how the greatest writers of our story have considered the bush in our lives. William Pember Reeves in the early 1900s mourned its passing, yet John Beaglehole in the 1930s, reckoned that while New Zealand “pastured its soul in fields classically English”, its identity was where “the bush perpetually and in silence renews its green, inviolate life”. And he meant it not so much in the sense of bush preserved for us in reserves, but in what he called “the tenderness of place, the sense of intimacy . . . mingled with an habitual and inseparable surrounding”. It is the same sense of New Zealand from which Michael King wrote much of his history. One of the “most profound satisfactions”, he wrote in Being Pakeha Now is “to be found in living a life in accord with the natural world”. From the same view where he saw kereru “swoop and loop”, he saw a forest that in less than a century had “reassembled its elements and reasserted its healing powers”. He considered himself blessed to be its witness. I see the same great story in the forest that wraps around me. It might have missed the fires and the loggers that Michael’s Opoutere forest endured, and been a long time reserved. Yet like many, many forests of its kind, it’s been unwell a long time too, unable to regenerate because of the possum we brought in for its fur, and the stoats we brought in to nail the rabbits we brought in to help make another England. Testimony to this sad fact are the ridge rows of dead rata glowing pale in the sun’s last linger. It was close. They almost all went. Then MIRO (Mainland Island Restoration Organisation) got going – with Forest and Birders among them – got out the traps and bait stations, and now everyone in the Bay with an eye out for birds, says it’s a different place. One of the beneficiaries of their restoration work – a kereru – was in the cabbage tree above the house on the midsummer evening I was first moved here. Sometimes way up on a ridge, I’ll hear the whup of kereru wings closer than usual, and entertain the prospect that it’s the same bird – and that it’s aware of me.

Black beech in Day's Bay, where Katherine Mansfield once walked.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

in the field

The Winged Migration Words by Ann Graeme and Eila Lawton. Illustrations by Tim Galloway

and as it falls, they spread out over the mudflats and sand flats to eat and eat and eat. They have used up the blanket of fat that fuelled their journey here. Now they must restore it to keep them going through the summer, to grow new feathers and to get ready for the return trip. By March and April the birds are fuelled-up and glossy. They sport their breeding plumage, the males are eyecatching with brick-red head and underparts, the females more muted to match the tawny-grey vegetation of the tundra where they will nest. The flock becomes restless. Groups of birds rise and wheel and settle again. When the wind is right, flock by flock they will set out. They must arrive at the breeding grounds in good condition, ready to nest immediately in the short Arctic summer, so they make

a refuelling stop on the vast mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China and Korea. Then they fly on to the Arctic Circle where, if the summer is late and the tundra is still covered in snow, many will perish or fail to raise chicks. But let’s hope all has gone well and ‘our’ kuaka have raised their brood. As soon as the chicks can look after themselves, the parents set out for the gathering points on the Alaskan Peninsula, anxious to head off ‘down-under’. Once again they seem to wait for a weather system that will give them a lift. As soon as the juveniles have put on enough weight for the journey, they follow. Like their parents, they set out on the journey without map or GPS, seemingly guided by an in-built compass which follows the Earth’s magnetic fields. Recoveries and sightings of marked birds allow us to gradually piece together the details of these remarkable journeys. The northward journey was traced first. Although some birds may pause for a few weeks in Australia, most head straight off on the 8,000 km flight to the Yellow Sea area. It’s the southward journey that is the really good bit of the puzzle. Godwits should be sighted coming south on this flyway in September and October but – they’re not there. Yet flocks have been recorded leaving Alaska, and six to ten days later the first birds arrive here in New Zealand. The speed suggests that the birds are flying directly, without any stops, across the Pacific Ocean. Such a journey would involve flying at about 70 km per hour for six days.

Geoff Park

AST month, tens of thousands of overseas travellers left the northern hemisphere to spend the summer in New Zealand. By Christmas, about 150,000 visitors will have arrived. Where will they stay? Where will they eat? Think of all those tourist buses on our roads! Relax. These visitors will sleep standing on our sand bars. They’ll search for food in our harbours, eating small shellfish and worms in the mudflats. These visitors are the international migratory birds, the ultimate sun-seekers. For thousands of years, migratory wading birds have been flying to New Zealand. They raise their chicks in the brief but bountiful northern Arctic summer. Then they escape the northern winter to feast and fatten on our southern plenty. At the end of the austral summer they will fly north to rear the next generation of chicks. The story of the bar-tailed godwit is a travellers’ tale without rival. They are true avian Olympians that make the longest migration of any bird species in the world. ‘Our’godwit, Limosa lapponica baueri, nest in Arctic Alaska. Their Maori name is kuaka. After raising their chicks, the kuaka set out in September or October for New Zealand and eastern Australia. Don’t be surprised if they look thin and fatigued when you first see them. They have just flown 10,600 km non-stop from the Arctic Circle, with no in-flight service. They arrive first at New Zealand’s northern estuaries and harbours where most of them stay, but some fly further south as far as Invercargill or further west to the Chatham Islands. The birds rest when the tide is high

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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Profile of mudflat with heads and bills reaching different depths and taking different organisms. With thanks to Peter Maddison.

Sharing the Mudflat Menu

UR mudflats and sand flats are vast dinner plates for wading birds; a chowder of tiny bacteria and shellfish, crustaceans and worms. Their numbers are vast because the sand and mud they live in are fertilised with the nutrients from the

There is circumstantial evidence for such a flight: researchers know that a well-fed godwit can pack on enough fat to make the distance, there are no records of birds landing en-route in the wetlands or estuaries of Oceania, and waders can’t easily land and take off again from the sea. Confirmation of the direct route may be provided this northern autumn when researchers attach radio transmitters to departing birds and track their journeys. Our international migrants are not limited to godwits. Other wading birds come here too. Some fifty to seventy thousand red knot arrive and mingle with the godwit flocks. Fewer in number are the turnstone (5-7000), Pacific golden plover (600-1200) and tiny red-necked stint (150300), little bigger than a sparrow. There is also a domestic migration. The wrybill, an endangered species which now numbers less than 5000 birds, breeds on the braided rivers of the South Island and then flies to the harbours of the northern North Island for the summer. Similarly, South Island pied oystercatcher nest inland in the South Island and migrate to the estuaries and sandy beaches of the North Island and the northern South Island. Banded dotterel (50,000) breed on or near rivers, but some choose sandy coasts. Some migrate to Australia for the summer, others to northern North Island.

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saltmarsh and the mangroves, watered by the rising tide and garnished by the plankton stranded on the ebb tide. Mangroves provide particularly good compost which makes the northern estuaries very productive and favoured

Watching out for Waders

HE best time to see wading birds is an hour or so either side of high tide when their feeding grounds are covered by the water. Then the birds gather in their hundreds or thousands on shell banks or shoreline, resting and preening until they can feed again. A good pair of binoculars also helps to find them, especially if they are gathered at a site across a stretch of water. Tracking individual birds is essential to understanding their biology and migration. The NZ Wader Study Group has been banding wading birds for over 25 years. At first they used small metal

by the largest flocks of waders. Each wader species has a bill of a particular length and design, allowing the species to feed side by side with little competition. leg bands, each with an individual number, but this required catching birds to identify their numbers. Now they also use individual combinations of small coloured plastic leg bands so birds can be identified using binoculars or a telescope. Another technique uses small coloured plastic leg ‘flags’. Any bird with a white ‘flag’ on a leg has been flagged in the North Island. A green flag plus a white flag means it is a South Islander. An orange flag means Victoria. Orange and yellow flags mean north-west Australia and orange and green flags mean Yalu Jiang Nature Reserve in China. You can contribute to this fascinating jigsaw puzzle. If you see flagged birds, you can report them like this: “2 orange-flagged godwits and one with orange and green flags, in a flock of about 50 birds, seen on Manukau harbour on the 12/12/05.” Send the information to The Banding Officer, Department of Conservation, PO Box 10-420, Wellington, and you’ll get the bird’s story in return. Visit these websites for more on New Zealand’s amazing wading birds: www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz www.nzshorebirds.com

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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branchingout

Reg Janes QSM, 1911 – 2005

EG JANES, a Distinguished Life Member of Forest and Bird, died in July at the ripe old age of ninety-four. Just the month before, he had been awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. The honour capped a lifetime of conservation achievement during which he received the Loder Cup, the national Senior Achievers Award and the ‘Keys to Tauranga City.’ Fifty years ago, Reg was a founding member of Tauranga Forest and Bird Branch. He served for many years on the Branch Committee, as its Councillor and as Chair. He was a member of the National Executive during the 1980s when Forest and Bird surged into action with campaigns

Blands Bluff saved

HE Forest and Bird Ashburton Branch is celebrating news that Blands Bluff, a major landscape feature that is home to unique limestone plants has been saved from being quarried. Around 20% of New Zealand’s threatened plant species are found in Canterbury’s limestone ecosystems. The 20 hectares of indigenous vegetation on Blands Bluff includes limestone hardwood forest remnants with broadleaf and kowhai, linked by diverse shrublands of Coprosma, matagouri, hebe and mountain wineberry.

to end logging in state-owned native forests, the domination of the Forest Service, and to establish the Department of Conservation. Always active, Reg led Tauranga Branch in the campaign first to protect the Kaimai ranges from logging and pine planting and then to create a Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park. Further afield, Reg lobbied for Whirinaki, protested at Pureora and carried a banner at Rotoehu in the campaign that led to the Tasman Forest Accord. Reg loved our native forests. Everywhere he went, he gathered seeds and he grew thousands of native plants which now enrich the gardens, parks and reserves of Tauranga. Reg had worked as a primary school teacher but was also a teacher in the broadest sense. He led countless trips and taught generations of Forest and Bird members and children about forest plants. He was very supportive of the Kiwi Conservation Club, raising money to provide the local club with a small income. He encouraged us to lobby and become active conservationsts. He was a giant of the forest. Ann Graeme The bluff ’s cracks and crevices are habitat for distinctive and rare limestone specialists such as the fern Lyall’s spleenwort (Asplenium lyalli) and the threatened Gingidia enysii (aniseed). Blands Bluff also provides what the Department of Conservation (DOC) have described as “exceptional habitat” for geckos and skinks. The Branch worked with landholder and Inverary leasee John Chapman, DOC, the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board and others to make submissions on the resource consent application. Branch Chair Bill Hood summed up the Branch’s case when he told the Council hearing panel: “As a farmer I appreciate the need for

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

Don Chapple, 1931 – 2005

N LATE 1992 the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society was offered a 17.5 hectare block of degraded pastureland on Waiheke Island. The Society's Head Office was initially reluctant to accept the gift. The Hauraki Islands Branch Committee, however, argued that the area deserved reforestation, both for its own sake and as an opportunity to showcase how the land could be healed. The most fervent voice in favour was that of Don Chapple, then in his early sixties. Don organised the first planting day, and so began the labour of love that was to consume the next 12 years of

lime but I am sure there is plenty of lime available in the Ashburton district without destroying the unique landmark with its native flora and fauna still largely intact.” The Ashburton District Council declined the applicants - RC and DR Batchelor - the land use consents required for quarrying. The applicants appealed the decision to the Environment Court but subsequently withdrew. The Branch has since submitted on a change to the District Plan asking that Blands Bluff be better recognised by inclusion in the Plan’s schedule of significant natural features and geopreservation sites.

his life. Don grew many of the trees himself from locally sourced seed, raising them at his cottage or in nurseries established under the gorse in the reserve. In 1999 his efforts to restore the land were rewarded when he received Forest and Bird’s Old Blue award. He would have been disappointed not to see his mission complete, although it is sufficiently advanced that he was able to present his nurseryman friend Ivan Kitson with a handful of maire tawaki berries, the first fruit from a tree Ivan had given him as a seedling some ten years before. The sparkle in Don’s eye as he did so is a memory Ivan will always treasure. Don’s tangi was held beside the reserve near the bay, with now-tall ti kouka clattering gently on the hill behind and a kereru in the tree above. This was as evocative a testament to his life as any of the eulogies in the service. A quiet, unassuming man, he was nevertheless a giant to those who knew him and is much mourned. Janet Hunt

Waikato weed-busting weekend

AIKATO Forest and Bird Branch invites fit members and their friends to its annual camp to help remove wilding Pinus Contorta from Ruapehu, on 18-19 February 2006. Accommodation at an Ohakune ski lodge is provided free of charge and petrol costs are met. Please book early with Philip Hart: prhart@waikato.ac.nz or write to 129 Cambridge Road, Hamilton, or phone (07) 8567992.

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branchingout

Colin Ryder (R) of Forest and Bird Wellington Branch receives his Conservation Award from Rick Barker MP.

Conservation Awards 2005

OREST and Bird members Colin Ryder, Christopher Hopkins, Trevor Thompson and Ron Freeston were honoured at the 2005 Wellington Conservation Awards ceremony recently. Awarded annually by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Wellington Conservation Board during Conservation Week in August, these accolades are given to individuals and groups that show outstanding and sustained voluntary community involvement in conservation.      Colin Ryder, who is Treasurer of the Wellington Branch of Forest and Bird, earned an award in the kaitiakitanga category for his involvement in several conservation projects, including the ecological restoration of Mana Island. The award acknowledges the sheer breadth of Colin’s involvement in conservation projects as anyone active in the Wellington region can attest. As a volunteer, he has raised over $1 million for conservation projects in the region. For example, the eradication of mice from Mana Island was the largest rodent eradication in the world at the time and still ranks as the second largest undertaken involving mice.      Christopher Hopkins of Wainuiomata and Trevor Thompson of Mt Bruce received a special joint award for their long-term commitment to conserving rare native mistletoe in the Tararua Forest Park and other sites in the region. Trevor

L-R: Ian Noble, Teresa Hurst, Don Tait of Hastings/Havelock North Branch.

Blowhard Bush thriving

John Turnbull (R) of Forest and Bird Upper Clutha Branch receives his Conservation Award from Jeff Connell of DOC.

also alerted authorities to a threatened coastal shrubland that is home to eight endangered species and has assisted with pest control and vegetation monitoring. A merit award was also presented to Ron Freeston of Avalon for his work over the past 21 years in restoring Forest and Bird’s wetland reserve at the head of the Pauatahanui Inlet.  As part of the Lower Hutt Forest and Bird Branch, Ron has worked tirelessly to protect the region’s last remaining large estuarine wetland. In Southland, the Otago Conservation Board and DOC presented John Turnbull of Hawea with an award for his dedication to conservation work over many decades. John Turnbull is a foundation member of Forest and Bird’s Upper Clutha Branch, and has been active in many local conservation projects, including weed control, stoat control, revegetation with native plants, submissions on proposals for commercial development, and regular monitoring of the Lake Hawea foreshore. Shelly Farr Biswell

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N APRIL 2002 when the Blowhard Group of Hastings/Havelock North Forest and Bird Branch accepted responsibility for the management and maintenance of the 63-hectare Blowhard Bush Reserve they knew they had their work cut out for them.  After an initial assessment, the group developed a work plan that included a complete revamp of the track system, a replacement of signs, an effective possum control system and toilets above the car park. In August that same year Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) contacted the Blowhard Group and offered to include Blowhard Bush Reserve in a 1080 drop. Since that time HBRC biosecurity staff have continued to work with the volunteer group and provide financial support for ongoing possum control at the Reserve.   The Bush’s other neighbours, Pan Pac Forests Ltd. and the Department of Conservation (DOC) were also involved with the 1080 drop. Pan Pac have since offered their services for a variety of jobs and DOC staff have advised the group on track safety and signs, plus assisted with many of the basic things that crop up when restoring a reserve. Fast forward to 2005 and the Blowhard Bush has become a cherished reserve.

Building good relationships with the Bush’s neighbours is one reason why, but it has also been the amount of elbow grease a core group of volunteers has put into it. The group has reached many of the goals it set for the site, including a maintained track system with good signage, two vented long-drop toilets installed above the carpark and effective possum control. The changes at Blowhard Bush have not gone unnoticed by the community.  In 2004 the group was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Norsewear Conservation Award. DOC, Pan Pac, HBRC and the Blowhard Group plan to work together again this coming summer to erect a picnic shelter at the Reserve.  The DOC-designed shelter (proposed for January/ February 2006) will make Blowhard Bush an even more popular reserve in Hawke’s Bay – particularly for people with children. Recently, the Blowhard Group’s conservation efforts spilled out beyond the boundaries of the Reserve.  Two group members have grown enough tree seedlings (all from seed sourced from Blowhard Bush) to start replanting four hectares of barren DOC land that adjoins the site.  Shelly Farr Biswell

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

productreview

Spoilt for choice S

MALLER binoculars in the 8 x 25 and 10 x 25 range offer great variety. But how do you choose from the wide range of models available? Michael Szabo field tested four models at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.

Canon – 8 x 25 IS (Image Stabilizer) Close focus: 3.5m Field of view @ 1000m: 115m Weight: 480g RRP: $649 Design: I found this chunky pair of image stabilized binoculars to be the easiest to handle. They were well suited for tracking the many kaka

Kowa – BD25 10 x 25 Close focus: 1.8m Field of view @ 1000m: 110m Weight: 300g RRP: $675 Design: Very nice comfortable binoculars. The only difference I noticed is that they felt slightly less maneuverable than some of the other products

Leica – Trinovid 10 x 25 Close focus: 3m Field of view @ 1000m: 90m Weight: 250g RRP: $749 Design: An attractive small lightweight design. This model gave a very crisp image with excellent image detail as I

Nikon – Sportstar 8 x 25 Close focus: 2.5m Field of view @ 1000m: 143m Weight: 300g RRP: $199

Judging from the results of a recent member survey a high proportion of Forest and Bird members own binoculars. So it’s a comforting thought that there are so many good binocular options on the market these days. Along with the growth in the popularity of birds and birdwatching, there are now more manufacturers vying for our attention with a wealth of product choices.

All the products in this review rate as good binoculars, worthy of consideration. There are, as you might expect, some performance differences between the models so your choice will no doubt be influenced by the way they handle, their weight, price and ease of use. But don’t just take our word for it. Go and try them for yourself to judge whether they meet your needs.

that flew over the bush on the ridges. The fixed barrels gave a slight ‘shadow’ in the image as I moved to follow a flying tui.

Eyecups: The relatively large eyecups suited me, although I don’t wear glasses which may influence some people’s preference. The eyecups are, however, close to the focusing wheel which makes focusing a little awkward.

Focus: The easy-to-use focus wheel came in handy when following a very mobile grey warbler as it flitted around in nearby bush. I also noticed they had the widest field of vision when focusing on a close subject. reviewed here as I tracked a swallow over the lake. The focus ring on the right hand barrel was stiff. Focus: I found this model better for focusing on distant objects such as kaka flying along the ridgeline than the others reviewed here. Eyecups: Quite comfortable, although when extended the left-hand eyecup had a habit of

Applications with details of the project close November 30th, 2005. Apply to: Secretary, Waikato Branch Forest and Bird. P.O Box 11092 Hillcrest, Hamilton

Free Holiday in New Plymouth January 2006 Free Bed and Breakfast • double and two singles or double and king. • own facilities and self-catering option in return for some hours weeding in QE II Covented bush and riverside. Large city park-like property near walkways, and Lights Festival park. Contact: Carolyn. Fax: 06 758 2813

falling back down as it hung by the strap around my neck. Image: Looking up over the lake into quite bright sunlight, this model seemed the least able to cope with the brightness. There was a very slight orange edge to the image when looking at a paradise shelduck about 20 metres away. The bird’s white head also seemed to have a slight red edge to it. follow and focus on birds in flight.

Focus: The right barrel focusing wheel moves smoothly. Good field of vision close-up. The focusing wheel is relatively small compared to the other models tested but this meant it was easier to

Image: Very sharp close up and at a distance. They performed well when looking up at kaka flying along the ridgeline in bright light.

Design: Very maneuverable tracking a swallow in flight. Good handling.

Eyecups: Functional, nothing fancy.

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

The Waikato Branch of Forest and Bird has a sum of money to be distributed each year to help groups or individuals with projects aimed at conservation.

Image: Nice sharp image. Perhaps not surprisingly, these binoculars had the most stable image.

looked at flowering clematis in trees across the lake. Very good maneuverability tracking a swallow in flight.

Focus: At first I found the right barrel focus ring a little stiff but it became easier as I got used to it. Good field of vision close up.

Lilian Valder Awards 2005

Eyecups: Functional and compact.

Image: Nice crisp image. The comfortable to use focusing wheel was, if anything, only slightly slower than the Leica. The image was not quite as sharp as the Leica and Canon models.

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Contact: Ivan MacIntosh Waikawa, RD 1 Tokanui, Southland 0800 377 581 • dolphinmagic@xtra.co.nz

KAIKOURA

Pelagic tours by boat to view at close range an exciting number of sea birds including albatross, petrels, shearwaters and more. Tours daily at 9.00am and 1.00pm (duration 2.5 hours, 4 hour tours by arrangement) Phone 0800 733 365 for information and reservations

Contact Karen Baird, Chris Gaskin PO Box 88 Orewa, Auckland Ph 09 422 2115 Fax 09 422 2358 info@kiwiwildlife.com www.kiwiwildlife.com

BIORESEARCHES CONSULTING BIOLOGISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Adults $75.00 Children $35.00 Website with latest sightings at www.oceanwings.co.nz Email info@oceanwings.co.nz

RON GREENWOOD ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST

ESTABLISHED 1972

Environmental Impact Studies Surveys of Marine, Freshwater & Terrestrial Habitats Pollution Investigations Resource Consent procedures Archaeological; Historic Places Appraisal bioresearches@bioresearches.co.nz www.bioresearches.co.nz P.O Box 2828 Auckland PH: AUCKLAND 379 9417 Fax (09) 307 6409

The trust provides financial support for projects advancing the conservation and protection of New Zealand's natural resources, particularly flora and fauna, marine life, geology, atmosphere & waters. More information is available from the Trust, at: PO Box 10-359, Wellington

PHILPROOF PEST CONTROL PRODUCTS WIPEOUT: Possums, Rodents, Mustelids, Rabbits Standard & Mini Philproof Bait Stations & Timms Traps Rodent Bait Stations and Block Baits. Rodent Snap Traps Fenn Traps (MK4 & 6), Trap Covers – Double or Single Also available: Monitoring Tunnels & Bird Nesting Chambers Phone/Fax 07 859 2943 Mobile 021 270 5896 PO Box 4385, Hamilton 2032 Website: http://get.to/philproof Email: philproof.feeders@clear.net.nz w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Would you like to help the planet by becoming a Greenpeace fundraiser? We need passionate people to be the public face of Greenpeace, engaging people on the street, inspiring them to become financial supporters. Sales skills are an advantage but not essential if you care about the environment, are confident, outgoing and a good communicator. Earn $13-$20 p/h. View full job description on: www.greenpeace.org.nz or call 0800 22 33 44 ext. 857 before calling Sheena on 0800 22 33 44 ext 811/309

Ditrac DITRAC All-Weather BLOX is an extruded rat and mouse bait that gets excellent control indoors and out. Its active ingredient, Diphacinone, makes DITRAC an excellent maintenance bait. DITRAC contains the optimal blend of low wax and human food-grade ingredients for high weatherability and bait acceptance. • Multiple edges appeal to rodents desire to gnaw. • Highly weatherable, mold & moisture resistant. • Center hole allows Blox to be easily secured into bait stations or onto nails & wire. • Available as a 28g blox, packaged in 1.8kg & 8.2kg pails. • Used extensively by Government agencies.

Freephone: 0800 111 466•Web: www.nopests.co.nz FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

2005index Authors and articles listed by issue, then page numbers. KEY: Bu = Bulletin BO = Branching Out CB = Conservation Briefs Com = Comment IF = In the Field WW = World Watch

AUTHORS Ell, Gordon, Protecting Fiordland’s Waterways, Feb 24 Graeme, Ann, A Helping Hand to Native Fish, IF Aug 44; (with E. Sage and S. Maturin) A Six-Pack of Conservation Parks, Aug 16; Kiwi-friendly Subdivisions, Bu May 47; Living with Lizards, IF May 42; Margaret Peace tribute, BO May 44; Sewage at the Seaside BO Feb 43; Twists of Life, IF Feb 40 Hackwell, Kevin, Bushy Park Fence Closure, CB Aug 14 Hansford, Dave, Campbell Id Snipe, CB Aug 10; Campbell Id Teal, CB Feb 8; Gilded Ghosts, Aug 26; No High Noon for Billy and the Kid, Feb 32; Returning mauri to Mana, Feb 12; Saving the Ark, May 16; Shining a Light on Bats, CB Aug 6; The Red Hills, Feb 28 Hepburn, Christopher (with Lisa Russell), Undaria spreads, CB May 13 HRH Prince Charles: Save the Albatross speech, May 14 Keey, Geoff, Braided Rivers, May 26; Easter Hope for kakapo, CB May 5; Red List, CB Aug 13; (with Emma Johansen)

Standing Up for Living Rivers, CB May 8; Tararuas, CB Aug 11; The Kea, resilient but vulnerable, Aug 17 Johansen, Emma, (with Geoff Keey) Standing Up for Living Rivers, CB May 8 Lamb, Elaine, Motuora Restoration Society, BO Feb 44 Leufkens, Diane, Flora and Fauna on the Web, CB Feb 6; “Rat Sausages”, CB Feb 9 McSweeney, Gerry, Managing People and Protecting Nature, Com Feb 2; Obituary, Keith Chapple, May 3; Turbulent Times for Conservation, Com Aug 2; Vote for the Earth, Com May 2 Maturin, Sue (with E. Sage and A Graeme) A Six-pack of Parks, Aug 16 Mills, Stephanie, Giants of Gondwana, May 38 Ombler, Kathy, Birdsong at Boundary Stream, Feb 21 Park, Geoff, A Couple of Beauties, May 36; Forests Teeming with Birds, Aug 42; Parnell, Ed, Takahe Take-off, CB Aug 4 Pattemore, David, Tawharanui, CB Aug 15; Tsunami Lessons, Aug 37 Rhodes, John, Coal Id, CB Aug 8

Roche, Simon, Popular Plants become Pests, CB Feb 10 Russell, Lisa (with Christopher Hepburn) Undaria Spreads, CB May 13 Sage, Eugenie, (with A. Graeme and S. Maturin) A Six-Pack of Parks, Aug 16; Eyre Mountains, CB Aug 3 Stephenson, Brent, Captain Kermadec’s Avian Isles, May 30 Sutherland, Fergus, Te Rere Reserve, CB 10 Szabo, Michael, Restoring the Monarch, Aug 30; (with Barry Weeber) Subantarctic Seas, May 21 Wain, Maxine, Nelson Lakes regional meeting, BO Feb 44 Weeber, Barry, Albatross Get a Better Deal, Aug 9; (with Michael Szabo) Subantarctic Seas, May 21; Vote for the Environment, Aug 34 Yates, Sue, Watson Trust grants, BO Feb 42;Weta BO Feb 42 Young, David, Looking Backward, Looking Forward (book extract) Feb 36

In the Field, A Helping Hand with Native Fish, Aug 44, Living with Lizards, May 42, Twists of Life, Feb 40 KCC Co-ordinators’ workshop, Bu May 45; Kaikoura Id, CB Aug 15; Kakapo recovery, CB May 5; Kea, Feb 17; Keith Chapple obit, May 3; Kereru, May 36; Kiwi Bill re-grows, CB May 13; Kiwi Creche, Feb 23; Kiwi Survey, BO May 44 Living Rivers Coalition, CB May 8; Living with Lizards, IF May 42; Looking Backward, Looking Forward (Conservation history in NZ), Feb 32; Mana Id, Feb 12, CB May 9; Managing Motuora, BO Feb 44; Managing People, Protecting Nature, Com May 2; Mast Years, May 16; Maungatautari, CB May 10; Moa, CB Aug 12; Mohaka River WCO, CB Feb 7; Mt Richmond Forest Park, Feb 28 Native Fish IF Aug 45; New editorial address Bu 45; New General Manager May 7; New National President, Deputy and Executive, BO Aug 46; New Year Honours (Ken Catt and Margaret Peace), BO May 44; NZ Birds on Red List, CB Aug 13; No High Noon for Billy and the Kid (wild goats), Feb 32; Old Blue Awards, BO Aug 46 Pest Control, goats, Feb 32, Russell Peninsula, Aug 40, in mast years, May 16, stoats, CB Feb 9; Plants in mineral-rich soils, Feb 28; Popular plants become pests, CB Feb 10; Powelliphanta snails, May 38; Project Hauraki, CB Aug 15; Protecting

Fiordland’s Waterways, Feb 24. “Rat Sausages” (stoat control), CB Feb 9; Red Hills (plant life in Mt Richmond Forest Park), Feb 28; Regional meeting, Nelson Lakes, BO Feb 44; Regional Parks in Auckland, CB Feb 5; RMA Workshops, Bu May 45; Royal Society Award, Bu Feb 45 Saving the Ark (DOC programme in mast years), May 16; Seabird by-catch, CB Aug 9; Shore Plover recovery, CB Aug 4; SixPack of Parks proposal, Aug 16; Skinks, Aug 26; Staffing changes, Bu May 45, Change of editor Feb 4, new GM, May 7; Stitchbird, CB May 6; Subantarctic Seas, May 21 Tahiti’s Monarch, Aug 30; Takahe takeoff, CB Aug 4; Tararua Possum Control, CB Aug 11; Tauranga wetland, CB Aug 14; Tawharanui Regional Park, CB Aug 15; Te Rere reserve, CB Aug 10; Tracking Albatross, CB May 11; Tsunami Lessons, Aug 37; Twists of Life, (Chirality) IF Feb 40; Undaria Spreads, CB May 13; Urban Possums, (mailbag Feb 3) Urban Rail ((Pest control on Russell peninsula) Volunteers for Mana, BO May 44; Vote for the Earth, Com May 2; Vote for the Environment, Aug 34 WCO Mohaka River, CB Feb 7; Watson Trust Grants, BO Feb 42; Weta, BO Feb 42; Wetland Restoration (Kopurererua Valley, Tauranga), CB Aug 14; Wildlife Friendly Subdivisions, Bu May; Wildlife Sanctuary, (Blumine Id) CB May 9 Yellow Kea, CB May 5

SUBJECTS A Couple of Beauties (Whangaroa Harbour and Manapouri), Aug 42; A Helping Hand for Native Fish, IF Aug 44; Albatross, May 14, Campaign, Bu 46, Tracking, CB May 11, Get a Better Deal (seabird by-catch), CB Aug 9 Ball’s Clearing Guidebook, Bu Feb 45; Bats on Kapiti, CB Aug 6; Birdlife International, May 11; Birdsong at Boundary Stream, Feb 20; CB May 4; Blumine Id, CB May 9; Book Notes, Feb 46, May 47; Braided Rivers, Hidden Treasures, (wading birds) May 26; Bushy Park, CB Aug 14, BO Feb 43 Campbell Id snipe, CB Aug 10; Campbell Id teal, CB Feb 8; Captain Kermadec’s Avian Isles, May 30; Coal Id Sanctuary, CB Aug 8; Codfish Id, CB May 5; Distinguished Life Members, BO Aug 47; Dunedin’s Sewage, BO Feb 43; Duneland purchase, CB Aug 12 Editor, change of, Feb 4; Executive elected, BO 46; Eyre Mountains Conservation Park, CB Aug 3 Flora and Fauna Websites, CB Feb 6; Forests Teeming with Birds (kereru), May 36; French Polynesia’s threatened birds, Aug 30 Giants of Gondwana (Powelliphanta snails), May 38; Gilded Ghosts (giant skinks), Aug 26; Goats, wild, Feb 12; Green Ribbon Award, CB Aug 6; Greville Harbour purchase, CB Aug 12 Haast’s Eagle, CB May 6; Hawaii’s po’o-uli, CB May 6; High Country Six-pack of Parks, Aug 16; Hoiho, CB May 12; 48

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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Give the gift . . .

. . . that lasts a lifetime A Forest and Bird or KCC membership is the perfect gift for family or friends who love New Zealand’s native flora and fauna. To give a gift simply fill in your contact details below and the recipient's details on page 51 and return both forms to us using the tear-out freepost device on page 51. We will send your family member or friend a membership pack with a gift card in your name. Your gift message: ............................................................................................................................................ (more space on page 52) Gift from: Name: ........................................................................................................................................................................... Address: .......................................................................................................................................................................................... Phone:...................................................... Email: ........................................................................................................................... Please send the first gift pack to me for personal presentation.

An illustrated guide to 97 scenic walks in the South Island, with an emphasis on accessibility. $25.95 plus $4 postage CONTACT:

anna-j@ihug.co.nz Fax: 03 466 7694 40 Pacific St,Dunedin www.accessiblewalks.co.nz

GO BUSH in Australasia in 2006 GO BUSH Safaris are Australia’s World Heritage Area Specialists. For the past 35 years leading Australian conservationist, John Sinclair, has led safaris to Australian World Heritage areas. Since 1988 Sinclair has personally led all GO BUSH safaris. Vacancies still exist for the following 2006 safaris Greater Blue Mountains • $1800 • Budget Accommodation • 10 days X Sydney: Sunday, 12th March • Return Sydney: Tuesday, 21st March

Lord Howe Island • $2500* • All Accommodated • 9 days X Sydney: Monday, 1st May • Return Sydney: Tuesday, 9th May

Bush & Beyond

Two New Guinea Cruises • BOTH —$5900* • Live Aboard • 15 days Northern Coast & Sepik River X Port Moresby: Thursday, 18th May • Return Port Moresby: Friday, 1st June

Guided Walks

Fly River & Torres Strait

Your Kahurangi Specialists

CERRA and the Border Ranges • $1750* • Camping • 9 days X Brisbane: Sunday, 9th July • Return Brisbane: Monday, 18th July

‘Birders Special’ Guided walking with day- packs only. This trip is designed for the bird lover and covers habitat ranging from alpine, bush, down to coastal and wetlands and visits two conservation projects. Areas visited: Mount Arthur, Cobb Valley, Westhaven Inlet and Farewell Spit. 7-days. Two trips available for the ’06 season February 4 to 10 and March 24 to 30 We also offer Heaphy Track walks and many more in Kahurangi NP – New Zealand’s most diverse park. For further information please contact: 35 School Rd RD 3, Motueka NZ Tel/Fax 03 528 9054 Email: Bushandbeyond@xtra.co.nz Web: www.naturetreks.co.nz

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X Port Moresby: Friday, 9th October • Arrive Thursday Island: Friday, 24th November

Fraser Island – Whale Watching • $1750* • Camping • 9 days X Brisbane: Saturday, 13th August • Return Brisbane: Sunday, 21st August Uluru — Red Centre • $1900 • Camping • 9 days X Alice Springs: Saturday, 2nd September • Return Alice Springs: Sunday, 10th September *All prices are in $ Aus and include GST plus all transport, meals, accommodation, and access fees from start to finish. Australian GST will not apply to air travel within Australia if included with your international flight. Full itineraries and details are available from: GO BUSH Safaris PO Box 9313, WYNNUM PLAZA, QLD 4178 Phone 617 3321 9649 Web site: www.gobush.com.au E-mail: enquiries@gobush.com.au

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

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branchdirectory Upper North Island Central Auckland: Acting Chair, Anne Fenn; Secretary, Isabel Still, PO Box 1118, Shortland St, Auckland. Tel: (09) 528-3986. Far North: Chair, Gary Bramley; Secretary. Michael Winch, PO Box 270, Kaeo, Northland. Tel: (09) 405-1746. Franklin: Chair & Secretary, Keith Gardner, 5 Stembridge Ave, Pukekohe. Tel: (09) 238-9928. Great Barrier Island: Secretary, Jenny Lloyd, 165 Shoal Bay Rd, RD1, Gt Barrier Is. Tel: (09) 429-0404. Hauraki Islands: Chair, Petra White; Secretary; Simon Griffiths, PO Box 314, Ostend, Waiheke Island. Tel: (09) 372-9583. Hibiscus Coast: Chair, Spencer Drinkwater; Secretary, Carrie Drinkwater, PO Box 310, Orewa. Tel: (09) 427-5517. Kaipara: Chair, Suzi Phillips; Secretary, Maire Thompson, Private Bag 1, Helensville 1250. Tel: (09) 411-5494. Mid North: Chair, Warwick Massey; Secretary, Raewyn Morrison, PO Box 552, Warkworth 1241. Tel: (09) 422 9123. Northern: Chair, vacant; Secretary, Beverly Woods, PO Box 1375, Whangarei. Tel: (09) 436-0932. North Shore: Chair, Neil Sutherland; Secretary, Jocelyn Sanders, PO Box 33 873, Takapuna, North Shore City. Tel: (09) 479-2107. South Auckland: Chair, to be confirmed; Secretary, Ken Rutherford, PO Box 23 602, Papatoetoe. Tel: (09) 537-2093. Thames/Hauraki: Chair, Mrs Hazel Genner; Secretary, Marcia Sowman, 507 The Terrace, Thames. Tel: (07) 868-8696. Mercury Bay Section: Chair, Bruce Mackereth; Secretary, Mona Candy, PO Box 205, Whitianga 2856. Tel: (07) 866-4648. Upper Coromandel: Chair, Tina

Morgan; Secretary, Lettecia Williams, PO Box 108 Coromandel. Tel: (07) 866-6926. Waitakere: Chair, Peter Maddison; Secretary, Ken Catt, PO Box 45144, Te Atatu Peninsula, Waitakere. Tel: (09) 834-6214.

Central North Island Eastern Bay of Plenty: Chair, Arthur Sandom; Secretary, Sandee Malloch, c/- 260 Ohiwa Harbour Rd, RD2, Opotiki 3092. Tel: (07) 315-4989. Gisborne: Chair, to be confirmed; Secretary, Grant Vincent, 1 Dominey Street, Gisborne, Tel: (06) 868-8236. King Country: Secretary, Steve Poelman, 37 Rangaroa Road, Taumarunui. Tel: (07) 896-7557. Rotorua: Chair, Chris Ecroyd; Secretary, Herb Madgwick, 36 Selwyn Rd, Rotorua. Tel: (07) 345-6255. South Waikato: Chair, Anne Groos; Secretary, Jack Groos, 37 Waianiwa Place, Tokoroa. Tel: (07) 886-7456. Taupo: Chair, to be confirmed; Secretary, Betty Windley, PO Box 1105 Taupo, Tel: (07) 377-1186. Tauranga: Chair, Basil Graeme; Secretary, Cynthia Carter, PO Box 487, Tauranga. Tel: (07) 571-1455. Te Puke: Chair, Neale Blaymires; Secretary, Colin Horn, PO Box 237, Te Puke. Waihi: Chair, Ian Bradshaw; Secretary, Krishna Buckman, 17 Reservoir Road, Waihi. Tel: (07) 863-8455. Waikato: Chair, Dr Philip Hart; Secretary, Jim MacDiarmid, PO Box 11-092, Hillcrest, Hamilton, Tel: (07) 849-3438. Wairoa: Chair, Stanley Richardson; Secretary, Glenys Single, 72 Kopu Rd, Wairoa 4192. Tel: (06) 838-8232.

Lower North Island Central Hawke's Bay: Chair, Phil Enticott; Secretary, Max Chatfield, PO Box 189, Waipukurau. Tel: (06) 858-9298. Hastings/Havelock North: Chair, Peter Collins; Secretary, Doreen Hall, Flat 1, 805 Kennedy Rd, Hastings. Tel: (06) 876-5978. Horowhenua: Chair, Robert Hirschberg; Secretary, Joan Leckie, Makahika Rd, RD 1, Levin 5500. Tel: (06) 368-1277. Kapiti: Chair, David Gregorie; Secretary, John McLachlan, 78 Langdale Ave, Paraparaumu. Tel: (04) 904-0027. Lower Hutt: Chair, Stan Butcher; Secretary; Bill Watters, PO Box 31194, Lower Hutt. Tel: (04) 565-0638. Manawatu: Chair, Donald Kerr; Secretary, Brent Barrett, PO Box 961, Palmerston Nth, 5301. Tel: (06) 3576962. Napier: Chair, Isabel Morgan; Secretary, Margaret Gwynn, 23 Clyde Rd, Napier. Tel: (06) 835 2122. North Taranaki: Chair, Molly Molloy; Secretary, Murray Duke, 28 Hurford Rd, RD4, New Plymouth 4621. Tel: (06) 751 2759. Rangitikei: Chair, Kit Coleman; Secretary, Betty Graham, 41 Tutaenui Rd, Marton. Tel: (06) 327-7008. South Taranaki: Chair, Rex Hartley; Secretary, Lynda Sutherland, 39 High St, Eltham 4657. Tel: (06) 764-7479. Upper Hutt: Chair, Barry Wards; Secretary, to be confirmed, PO Box 40-875, Upper Hutt. Tel: (04) 971-9739. Wairarapa: Chair, Geoff Doring; Secretary, c/- Mike Lynch, 179 West St, Greytown. Tel: (06) 304-7222. Wanganui: Chair, Stephen Sammons; Secretary, Ray Hutchison, PO Box 4229, Wanganui. Tel: (06) 345-2651. Wellington: Chair, Gordon Purdie; Secretary, Louise Taylor, PO Box 4183,

Wellington. Tel: (04) 971-1770.

fax: (04) 385-7373. Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz

or 10 mins from Days Bay. Ideal place to relax in beautiful surroundings, with accommodation for 8. Bring your own food and bedding and a torch. Smoking is banned everywhere on the island, including the house. For information sheet, send stamped addressed envelope to: Accommodation Officer, PO Box 31-194, Lower Hutt. (04) 567-1686.

South Island Ashburton: Chair, Bill Hood; Secretary, Edith Smith, PO Box 460, Ashburton, Tel: (03) 308-4440. Dunedin: Chair, Jane Marshall; Secretary, Mark Hanger, PO Box 5793, Dunedin. Tel: (03) 489-8444. Golden Bay: Chair, Jenny Treloar; Secretary, Jo-Anne Vaughan, Puponga Rd, Ferntown, RD1, Collingwood 7171. Tel: (03) 524-8072. Kaikoura: Chair, Linda Kitchingham; Secretary, Barry Dunnett, Pooles Rd RD1, Kaikoura. Tel: (03) 319-5086. Marlborough: Chair, Andrew John; Secretary, Michael Harvey, PO Box 896, Blenheim. Tel: (03) 577-6086. Nelson/Tasman: Chair, Dr Peter Ballance; Secretary, Gillian Pollock, Dawson Rd, RD1, Upper Moutere 7152. Tel: (03) 540-3495. North Canterbury: Chair, Bruce StuartMenteath; Secretary, Maria StokerFarrell, 12 James Drive, Church Bay, RD1, Lyttelton 8012. Tel: (03) 309-4333. South Canterbury: Chair, John Talbot; Secretary, Thelma Boyce, 30 Birkett St, Temuka, South Canterbury 8752. Tel: (03) 615-8234. Southland: Chair, Craig Carson; Secretary, Barbara Boyde, PO Box 1155, Invercargill. Tel: (03) 216-0353. South Otago: Chair, Carol Botting; Secretary, Verna Gardner, Romahapa Rd, Balclutha. Tel: (03) 418-1819. Upper Clutha: Chair, Barbara Chinn; Secretary, Errol Carr, PO Box 38, Lake Hawea, Central Otago 9192. Tel: (03) 443-8669. Waitaki: Chair, Ross Babington; Secretary, Annette Officer, 21 Arrow Crescent, Oamaru. Tel: (03) 434-6107. West Coast: Secretary/Treasurer, Carolyn Cox, PO Box 415, Westport. Tel: (03) 789-5334.

lodgeaccommodation Arethusa Cottage An ideal place from which to explore the Far North. Near Pukenui in wetland reserve. 6 bunks, fully equipped kitchen, separate bathroom outside. For information and bookings, contact: John Dawn, Doves Bay Road, RD1, Kerikeri. Tel: (09) 407-8658, fax: (09) 407-1401. Tai Haruru Lodge, Piha, West Auckland A seaside haven set in a large sheltered garden on the rugged West Coast, 38km on sealed roads from central Auckland. Close to store, bush reserves and tracks in the beautiful Waitakere Ranges. Double bedroom and 3 singles, plus large lounge with open fireplace, dining area and kitchen. The self-contained unit has 4 single beds. Bring food, linen and fuel for fire and BBQ. Booking officer: Patrticia Thompson, 78 Neil Avenue, Te Atatu Peninsula, Waitakere City. Tel: (09) 834-7745.

Waiheke Island Cottage Located next to our 49ha Wildlife Reserve, 10 mins walk to Onetangi Beach, general stores etc. Sleeps up to 8 in two bedrooms. Lounge, wellequipped kitchen, separate toilet, bathroom, shower, laundry. Pillows, blankets provided. No pets. Ferries 35 minutes from Auckland. Enquiries with stamped addressed envelope to: Robin Griffiths, 125 The Strand, Onetangi, Waiheke Island. Tel: (09) 372-7662. Ruapehu Lodge, Tongariro National Park Situated 600 m from Whakapapa Village, at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, this lodge is available for members and their friends. It may also be hired out to other compatible groups by special arrangement. It is an ideal base for tramping, skiing, botanising or visiting the hotpools at Tokaanu. The lodge holds 32 people in four bunkrooms and provides all facilities except food and bedding. Bookings and inquiries to Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374,

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William Hartree Memorial Lodge, Hawkes Bay Situated 48km from Napier, 8km past Patoka on the Puketitiri Rd (sealed). The lodge is set amid a 14ha scenic reserve and close to many walks, eg: Kaweka Range, Balls Clearing, hot springs and museum. The lodge accommodates up to 15 people. It has a fully equipped kitchen including stove, refrigerator and microwave plus tile fire, hot showers. Supply your own linen, sleeping bags etc. For information and bookings please send a stamped addressed envelope to Pam and John Wuts, 15 Durham Ave, Tamatea, Napier. Tel: (06) 844-4751 Email: wutsie@xtra.co.nz Matiu/Somes Island, Wellington Harbour Joint venture accommodation by Lower Hutt Forest and Bird with DOC. A modern family home with kitchen, 3 bedrooms, large lounge and dining room, just 20 mins sailing by ferry from the centre of Wellington

Tautuku Lodge State Highway 92, Southeast Otago. Situated on Forest and Bird's 550ha Lenz Reserve 32km south of Owaka. A bush setting, and many lovely beaches nearby provide a wonderful base for exploring the Catlins. The lodge, the Coutts cabin and an Aframe sleep 10, 4 and 2 respectively. No Animals. For information and rates please send a stamped addressed envelope to the caretaker: Diana Noonan, Mirren St, Papatowai, Owaka, RD2. Tel: (03) 415-8024, fax (03) 415-8244. Email: diana.n@clear. net.nz

FOREST & BIRD • NOVEMBER 2005

FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;¢ NOVEMBER 2005

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