A group of volunteers on Auckland's Hibiscus Coast are banding together to protect endangered birds on their beach.
Dotterels are under constant threat from dogs, hedgehogs, and the elements, but will they succumb?
Not if the Big Manly Dotterel Minders can help it.
Reporter Tom Taylor and camera operator Nick Monro have the story.
Pest control impact monitored
Volunteer Derek Kelsey with a tracking tunnel.
In May Forest & Bird’s Pest Free Hibiscus Coast Project carried out a second round of pest animal monitoring in parks and on private land where they manage predator control.
Staff and volunteers used 238 tracking tunnels and wax tags to detect pest animals, with a focus on rats and possums.
The wooden tunnels were specially made by the Hibiscus Men’s Shed.
This year, geography students from Ōrewa College also learned about pest animal monitoring from project manager Jenny Hanwell, and installed two monitoring lines.
In May, only 18 percent of the monitoring devices showed evidence of rats and just one percent indicated possums were present.
Wetland causes stink in Stanmore
BEFORE, 2018, Below, AFTER, 2021
A wetland created by Auckland Council three years ago on D’Oyly Reserve has fallen far short of what was promised, according to neighbours and park users, with some describing it online as “a rat-infested, weedy mess”.
By contrast, Hibiscus Coast Forest & Bird, which first pushed for the creation of the wetland 10 years ago, claims it is “a major environmental success story” – a view that a number of residents agree with, saying it might not be beautiful, but it has more beneficial life in it than mown grass.
The wetland, in Stanmore Bay, is the result of Council turning a piped stream into a more environmentally sustainable wetland. Previously the reserve was mown grass that got boggy in winter when a stormwater pipe frequently overflowed.
Volunteer pest prevention work rewarded
Members of the Forest & Bird team with partners from Restore Hibiscus & Bays, and Auckland Council. Photo, Photo Carnival
Click the image above to view slideshow
Last week, the local Forest and Bird Society held its inaugural awards designed to thank volunteers who contribute to the pest-free Hibiscus Coast programme.
The Pest Free Hibiscus Coast Volunteer Awards event was held on December 12. There are now 80 volunteers involved in the project, putting in over 4000 hours this year alone to helping make the Coast a safer place for native wildlife.
Project manager Jenny Hanwell says the project relies on volunteers.