AUTUMN NEWSLETTER
- tutukakalandcare
- Apr 1
- 8 min read
What’s been happening at TLC since December? Check these news:
Seat of the Pants Kiwi Rescue
When Geoff and Henry went for a walk to Sandy Bay they never expected to arrive back at Matapouri with a tiny live kiwi named Gerry a bit dehydrated and wrapped in one of their tee shirts.
Geoff Hanham and Henry Norcross spotted the little North Island Brown Kiwi baking in the sun on the hot tar sealed road above the south end of Woolley's Bay. At first they walked past but soon changed their minds thinking something should be done to make sure the little bird did not get run over.
Gerry may have been a bit dehydrated but was sprightly enough to give the walkers the slip and scurry off into a pampas bush perched on a cliff edge just outside a safety railing.
With Geoff holding the railing in one hand and grasping Henry's belt with the other, hoping no motorists came past to witness their unusual behaviour, Henry was able to lean out just far enough to snatch Gerry from the pampas bush.
Unsure of what to do next with their rescued baby they headed for Tawapou Native Plant Nursery where they knew kiwi release events had been held. From there, with some guidance from Tutukaka Landcare Coalition volunteers, Gerry was delivered to Robert Webb at the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre.
Robert estimated the 250 gram bird was about three weeks old and suffering no more than severe dehydration. An overnight stay at the recovery centre had the little chick back to its feisty ways and ready for release at a more appropriate location than a summer baked coastal road.
Northland Regional Council biodiversity officer and experienced kiwi handler Pete Graham took over and delivered the youngster back to Tawapou for release into an area of QEII covenanted bush that is under intensive predator control.
Pete said time had been ticking for the little kiwi: "Another half hour in the sun could have been fatal. The quick actions of the impromptu bird rescuers definitely saved it."
Geoff and Henry were on hand to see little Gerry released, explaining that after their seat of the pants safety railing rescue it had seemed appropriate to link the first and last syllables of their names to identify the young bird.
Tutukaka Landcare spokesman Mike Camm said that while the episode was a bit touch and go for the young kiwi it was also encouraging: "It shows that our landscape scale predator control work in the Tutukaka Coast hinterland is allowing wild kiwi populations to re-establish."
Malcolm Pullman
Kiwi among us.
On April 29th at 4 pm there will be a kiwi release kindly hosted at te hapū Rangiwhakaau marae, Matapouri. Everyone in the community is invited for the viewing of the birds and for the kai kindly offered to the community by TLC and te whanau a Rangiwhakaahu hapū.
Ferret Alert
At the beginning of March we had a very troubling image sent through to us, it was a picture of a dead ferret on the side of the road. What was troubling about it was, that apparently the photo was taken on Tutukaka Block Rd.
In the early days of Tutukaka Landcare when we first started trapping, several ferrets were caught, however we have not caught, nor even seen a ferret, in the Tutukaka Coast area for 20 years; so this is a very serious issue for us.
Ferrets are the largest of the three introduced mustelid species we have in New Zealand (the other two being stoats and weasels) and although they have established populations further south in areas like Central Otago, Northland has a very low density of them.
That's not to say that they don't show up and cause havoc with our native birds every now and again. Last year a ferret managed to get onto our Kiwi creche Matakohe/Limestone Island in the Whangarei harbour and was only detected because it killed one of our long time monitored Kiwi - Sir Ed, (named after the great man himself after he visited Whangarei Heads the previous year). Sir Ed (the kiwi) had been moved onto the island in 2005 as a chick and was an excellent dad, hatching many chicks over the last 15 years which is why he had a transmitter on.
After his transmitter started sending a mortality signal, the rangers went to check on him and found him dead and his egg cold. A fast response by the rangers, NRC, Backyard Kiwi and Kiwi Coast saw the ferret caught in a live catch cage the following day, however it is not known how many un-monitored Kiwi were killed before it was caught.
Because they are so much bigger than a stoat, ferrets are capable of killing adult kiwi and can decimate breeding populations (stoats will kill kiwi chicks until they are about 1 kg, but once larger, kiwi can fight off a stoat).
The standard DOC 200 trap will not catch a ferret as they are too strong and can pull themselves out, because of this the network of TLC traps is approximately 50% Fenn traps which will catch a ferret.
We Need Your Help!
We really do not want ferrets on the Tutukaka Coast, please familiarise yourself with these pictures and let us know if you have seen a ferret, so that we can attempt to intercept it.
Ferrets are mostly nocturnal, will scavenge roadkill and have a very bright eye-reflection when a light is shone at them, so please pay extra attention when driving around the coast at night.
By Cam McInnes
Please Contact Cam on 021 2648620
A hot autumn for predator catches.
Autumn of this year has been quite unusual having a prolonged period of high stoat, weasel and feral cat catches (CSW). Normally, a sharp spike in stoat catches occurs around December, and then declines steadily through to March. This year has been different, with catches of all three predators remaining high, and stoat and weasel catches declining only during March. Compared to the past two years, the total CSW catches so far are about 12% higher for the same period, meaning we could be in for a record annual catch by June.
Why is this happening? This is hard to answer, but the usual “run” of young stoats and weasels that normally occurs in December, seems to be late, with a peak occurring in February. This late “flush” of juveniles is possibly weather-related. Whatever the reason, we can thank our undaunted trappers for their fantastic efforts in removing these predators from our precious habitats.
By Nick Davies
Weeding and chasing invasive plants all over the Coast
Except for a few interrupted attempts of weeding at the beginning of summer, S.W.A.T. has been particularly active in the months since the end of November through to March, both with weeding actions on Wednesday – and sometimes Saturday - mornings, as well as promptly answering calls for help from various community members. Being it for dispensing herbicide gel bottles to landowners who are particularly active in fighting weeds in their own or their neighbours’ property, or for intervening directly when reaching the weeds is too hard; SWAT volunteers are there! Properties between Ngunguru to Sandy Bay are supported. S.W.A.T. gets there with their tools, long grabbing poles for catching vines and vine fruits, big bags for collecting plant pests, drills to poison invasive trees, booklets to inform on the target plants, and more.
We have visited public reserves and private properties in many locations: Ngunguru Library path Reserve, Te Maika Reserve, Shoebridge Reserve, Snell Point Reserve, Ngunguru Marae, Waiotoi Rd in Ngunguru; Lawson Drive, Pacific Ridge, Pacific Bay, Dolphin Place in Tutukaka; Parangara’ahu restoration project and Te Wairoa reserve in Matapouri; Woolley’s Bay Beach reserve; and, Sandy Bay. The most frequent attacks were done on moth plants and their pods. Moth plant is, after all, the weed of the month, as our signs along the road indicate!
We felled or poisoned many cotoneasters, both in the middle of the back-dunes in Woolley’s Bay,- where there should only be native plants like five fingers or pohutukawa or kowhai! - and at the Shoebridge Reserve. This reserve has been a S.W.A.T. location for several years where native plants have found space after several major weeding actions. After the cotoneaster clean up, this beautiful bush at the back of the community gardens is reviving. Another battle has been fought against the abundant invasive plant Chinese privet.
Te Maika was invaded, but after S.W.A.T.’s repetitive attacks with the drill and fill method, the natives of the understory will have more chance to sprout up! More weeds were cleared like Brazilian peppertree, Blue morning Glory, wilding pines, woolly nightshades, climbing asparagus, cape ivy…
At the end of December S.W.A.T. was joined by a large group of Huanui College students willing to give back to the community through environmental service. Together they helped pulling hundreds of Cape Ivy stems, leaves and roots under the summer sun! And they want to come back!
At the beginning of March S.W.A.T. was approached by a group of young, and not so young, men from the Mahi Hapori team at Tokotoko Solutions offering free help to S.W.A.T. for few months! We jumped on the opportunity and invited them to help with one of our projects in Matapouri. What an amazing team!, so eager to use tools and fell invasive trees like pines and tobacco weeds! We had a glorious weeding event with more than 20 people, cheered by the community and refreshed by wonderful kai at the end of the morning prepared by knowledgeable hands of a volunteering professional chef!
Would it not be great if every event were followed by a feast?? But yet, it happened again, when S.W.A.T. went to assist the Ngunguru Marae in clearing the grounds around the community buildings of the invasive pests there: mothplant, of course, but also Asparagus, privets, cotoneasters, palm grass….And yes, at the end we were also invited to the whare kai for a feed after the efforts! Thank you!
By Silvia Pinca
Advocacy, Workshops, training for dogs and people!
Interaction with the community: S.W.A.T. and TLC are always present on the social media for updating actions or alerting on pests or inviting the community to workshops or the like. However, in this last quarter we also engaged with several wahine for a Women only trapping Workshop, led by professional trapper and conservationists Ngaire Sullivan and Lesley Baigent from Kiwi Coast and kindly hosted on the gorgeous ocean overlooking Tawapou grounds. More than 20 keen women took part of this event with interest, stories, skills, and strong dedication to kill animal pest predators! Two of these girls are now part of the TLC community of engaged volunteers and added 2 traps to the 903 already existing in the larger TLC trapping network of the High (ecological) Value Area we belong!
The fun and informative workshop Know Your Dog workshop was held at the Ngungru hall so we had another flock of community members who learned how to talk to their pet dog, understand their needs and how to achieve from them a good behaviour when out and about in this highly biodiverse and special environment.
Working dogs also had their time at Tawapou for the Kiwi Aversion Training, a teaching exercise designed and recommended for hunting and working dogs especially, since they are already used to received rules and trainings from their owner and might not be effective for pet dogs. Several pet dog owners also participated but the trainers recommend to have the owner also attend the more appropriate Know Your Dog workshop.
The presence of TLC at the Matapouri Gala in January and at the Tutukaka twilight markets has provided excellent opportunities for the community to approach us with questions regarding trapping or weeding, upcoming workshops, enrolment into the mail list and more. Now that the season for night market is over, you can reach us at:
By Silvia Pinca
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