December 18, 2019
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What’s inside Welcome Home insert
Summer fun
pages 24-32
localmatters.co.nz
Michele has nicknamed a breeding pair of dotterels at Snells Beach, Donald and Miss Dott.
Dotterels defy developers at Snells Beach A pair of nesting dotterels has survived hell and high water, thanks to a new perch built by a group of Snells Beach residents, led by seabird photographer Michele MacKenzie. Michele says the dotterels were stuck between a rock and a hard place when developers built a retaining wall ahead of a king tide, blocking the birds’
access to higher ground. “We measured where the tide was going to reach and the nest would have been completely underwater,” she says. She hatched a plan to build a box to raise the nest by half-a-metre and called on the Warkworth Men’s Shed, which helped her build it in a day.
Michele says dotterels decorate their nests with shells and sticks, and the nest had to be meticulously recreated to prevent the birds from abandoning it. “People think dotterel nests are just a scrape in the ground, but this first-time mum is very houseproud,” she says. Assisted by biodiversity advisor Chris Bindon, and residents Matthew and
RD Construction Master Tradesmen
Kathy Toon and Mark Dinnis wielding wheelbarrows of sand, Michele rebuilt the nest to the millimetre. “I was so stressed the night before at the thought of them abandoning the nest that I became ill, but as it turned out, the dotterel mum was straight back on the nest, which was a massive relief.” continued page 2 WWW.RDCONSTRUCTION.CO.NZ
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