Encouraging Tuateawa Birds.

Tiritiri lighthouse

Tuateawa really is quite a remarkable place when it comes to bird life. A recent trip to Tiritiri Matangi with a Tuateawa friend made this very clear. In many ways Tuateawa has the edge. We lack some of the iconic species found there but our bush is so much better and our kaka breed with us. On Tiri they are rare visitors, probably from the Coromandel! The density of Tui, Bellbird and Kereru seemed very similar in both places.

Kokako

Given present technology total eradication of mammalian predators is not a possibility for Tuateawa, unlike on Tiri. We are unlikely to see Saddlebacks and Kokako in our neck of the bush. We could however see a drift down, from further north, of the Robin recently introduced there.

Even so, this year, the conservation activities of Habitat Tuateawa and other agencies have gained massive traction, returning a huge bonus for Tuateawa. Kaka have been seen feeding their young on one well bushed section. Close by, and adjacent to the Forest Park, a mob of thirteen kaka was sighted. In more open country we saw a flock of ten kereru exceeding earlier sightings by a considerable margin. As for the Tui and Bellbird, their numbers are legion!

Tui on flax plant

Bush sections tend to have more native species. Many sections in Tuateawa, though, are reverting pasture and Kanuka scrub. These have a greater variety of birds because they include species introduced from Europe like Yellowhammers, Thrush and Chaffinch. The native bird numbers seem to increase as these sections become more bush like. Nectar feeders are common but Kereru and Kaka are infrequent visitors.
Encouraging native species onto your land is probably a long term game. Scrub doesn't become bush over night. We get Kereru on cabbage trees and a puriri, but these have been decades in the growing. Nectar feeders are an easier proposition. Flax plants take only a couple of years to reach flowering size. Pohutukawa are a longer term option but some will flower for nearly two months. The Kermadec Pohutukawa flowers sparsely for most of the year and is sufficiently small to have quite close to the house.

Tui on Kermadec pohutukawa

What all birds need is water for drinking and for a bath. In terms of an almost instant bird attractor a bird trough has to be the answer. After seeing their popularity on Tiri we installed one just before Xmas. The list of species visiting is growing and we have hopes of maybe attracting Kereru and Kaka. It is a real source of entertainment with birds visiting more frequently just after the trough has been topped up with fresh water.

Tui bathing at Tuateawa

Then of course there is the Non-E.C. route. (Ecologically Correct) My apologies to the acronymophobics for having created one more! Introducing species from other countries can cause problems and even introducing a native species from another region can interfere with the local gene pool. However there are many nectar producing, bird pollinated plant species in both Australia and S. Africa. Quite a few of these exist in Tuateawa. Red Hot Poker plants do seed down quite heavily but they also attract Tui and Bellbird and you can plant them in just the right place for viewing.

Bellbird on Redhot Poker

If you are into bright flashy birds, like the Rosellas, then planting sunflowers in a rabbit protected location works well as they love the seed. This picture is of much duller Greenfinches.

The all time push overs have to be the Californian Quail. It doesn't take too long to get them addicted to a plate of oats. Before long you will be hand feeding them!

SCHEDULE FOUR.

Tuateawa is surrounded by Schedule 4 conservation estate. It is also surrounded by gold bearing areas, like the Tokatea. There is even an old mine site, The Gisborne Mine, in the hills behind Waikawau. Who knows what potential reserves were found by prospectors in the 70's? In that respect it is of interest to examine the statements of a past and present Minister for Conservation, The Hon. Nick Smith. These statements come from a speech that he made during the third reading of the Crown Minerals Act (No. 2) 1997. The Act introduced Schedule 4 protection for high value D.O.C. estate. This effectively precluded all mining and exploratory activity in Schedule 4 areas. These became prohibited activities.

Nick Smith said, " This is landmark legislation for the conservation movement in NZ. I welcome the Bill's progress and, as Minister of Conservation, look forward to not having to consider mining applications in those areas where nature should be able to rule the roost."

He also said, "This Bill at long last puts some pegs in the sand in some very significant areas of NZ. and says to to the mining industries of NZ, "These are no go areas." "

The Bill had broad cross party support and was a blending of a Private Members Bill by Judith Tizzard, on behalf of Watchdog, and also honoured an coalition agreement made between the National Party and New Zealand First. The Act gave protection against mining activity to all high value Conservation Estate in the country. All D.O.C. land, north of a line from Kopu to Hikuai attained Schedule 4 status. In effect it was a widening of an 1990 Act, introduced by National which banned mining in National Parks.

Today Schedule 4 areas are again under the threat of mining activity. Shortly after the present Govt. came into power Gerry Brownlee and Nick Smith directed their specific Ministries. The Ministry of Energy and Resources and the Ministry of Conservation were to investigate facilitating the mining process on Crown Estate, including Schedule 4 land. This was a major policy change that the Govt. had not included in it's pre -election manifesto.

The Crown owns all the mineral rights in New Zealand, even on private land. Since the mid 1990's Watchdog, feeling encouraged by it's Schedule 4 triumph, has also had a role in attempting to protect private land on the Coromandel from mining. The mechanism pursued was to include an anti mining provision in the Thames Coromandel District Council's District Plan. Over that time mining interests opposed this initiative. Recently the impossibility of a legal resolution lead to an arbitrated settlement. Mining interests have conceded to Moehau being a no go area and that coastal areas and areas adjacent to areas of outstanding landscape value should not be surface mined. Rural and industrial areas are also excluded from mining activity.Watchdog did make one concession that could be damaging. They agreed not to include a non mining provision in the T.C.D.C. District Plan, regarding the Conservation Estate. A few days after the mediated settlement was made public the country became aware of just that possibility in Schedule 4 land. One of the parties to this mediation process was aware of the Schedule 4 investigation and did not share this knowledge as required in the mediation process.

As for the future, the Govt's draft proposal will be available for public consultation and input sometime in February. The Watchdog website can be found at, www.watchdog.org.nz. This is obviously a fairly recent site but it has good content and plenty of links, ideal for getting to grips with this issue. The email address is watchdog@pohutakawa.org.nz. There is also a Facebook page.

As for Nick Smith's pegs in the sand. I hope that they are not staking out a mining claim on some Coromandel beach! As the price of gold rises on the world market the pressure on our little corner of the world just has to get greater!