Zero nests this year.
That was the goal for Countdown Oamaru after several years of problem-level numbers of red-billed gulls nesting atop the supermarket, and it has been achieved.
A Countdown spokeswoman said deterrents, including spikes, a laser “cannon”, kites, and removing nesting material, were “clearly working”.
“The birds have decided not to nest on our roof this year, which is welcome news for our customers and our team,” the spokeswoman said.
However, the gulls have not gone far, migrating en masse just a few hundred metres south.
Streeter Concepts owner Lance Streeter said he felt for businesses in the Lower Thames St area, where the birds were now causing havoc.
Katie O Neill/Supplied
Dr Kelli Te Maihāroa (Waitaha, tūturu, Ngāti Rārua Ātiawa Ātiawa) is pleased the issue over the naming of the Waitaha Taoka collection has been resolved.
A stoush over the name of a collection of Waitaha taoka (treasures) has been resolved in time for its exhibition in the new look and newly named museum in Oamaru reopening on Monday. Waitaha iwi were concerned the museum had signalled the collection of ancient artefacts would be named after the Willetts’ family only, who found it on Waitaha ancestral land at the Waitaki River mouth in 1953. The last time the collection was displayed in 1990 it was called the Ancient Waitaha Taoka/Willetts’ Family Collection and the iwi wanted that to be retained.