Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society

Upper Hutt Branch Newsletter

October 2008 PO Box 40 875 Upper Hutt

“MEET THE LOCALS EDITION”

The theme of Conservation Week this year was “Meet the Locals”. In this edition
of the newsletter we travel to Northland to meet Tane Mahuta, white fronted
terns, royal spoonbills and other inhabitants of the forests; go sailing on the
Taranui for an encounter with an albatross - and get advice on how to make our
gardens lizard friendly.

OCTOBER MEETING FOREST & BIRD

Speaker: Nigel Clarke CALENDAR & DIARY 2009
Topic: ‘The Problem with Waste’
Waste Management Institute. October hosts
Yes, it is that time of the year again – 2009
Zero Waste Week and what better way to find
rapidly approaches.
out more about this increasing problem than to
have a talk on it!
As in previous years the F&B calendar & diary
Time: 7.30pm Wed 26 October 2008
are beautiful and will make a great gift for
Place: Heretaunga College Staffroom
relatives & friends, and you could even buy
them for yourself.
To Get There: Heretaunga College, Ward
Street, Wallaceville. The staffroom is opposite
Prices this year are: Calendar $14.00 each,
the main entrance to the college and will be
Diary $24.00 each
sign-posted. There is parking in the college
grounds or on Ward Street.
Contact: Graham Bellamy, Ph 526 3053, email
Bring:
glbellamy@slingshot.co.nz
• A gold coin donation for the hire of the
College Staffroom
16 Morepork Close, Riverglade, Upper Hutt
• $1 for the raffle
• A friend who hasn’t been to one of our
meetings before

NOVEMBER MEETING Editors Note

Topic: Mystery Topic Many thanks to the people who have
The speaker has not been confirmed at the contributed to the newsletter this month. It is
time of going to press – come and be surprised really interesting to hear about the trips
people are doing. Any reports/information etc
Speaker: Mystery Speaker is greatly appreciated. Don’t be shy.
Time: 7.30pm Wed 27th November 2008
Place: Heretaunga College Staffroom

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Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society
Chairperson’s Chat
Occasionally something comes along that simply
hits you in the gut; when you’re so affronted
and appalled that you feel entirely helpless to
do anything about it; when you’re ashamed to
be part of the human race and disgusted with
the way we foul this fragile earth and abuse
and exploit the other living things we share it
with. Have I caught your attention? What on
earth is he rabbiting on about now you ask?
Two things – one was a slap in the face; the
other a good punch that left me completely
winded.
The Hutt Valley was once home to large
populations of NZ’s diverse and unique lizard
population – beautiful and fascinating animals
with intriguing lifestyles and often colourful
appearance. At the September Branch
meeting, Richard Romijn, from Greater
Wellington, told us the story of NZ’s lizards.
Sadly, how many of us have seen them in our
backyards? Habitat loss, through development
and residential expansion, coupled with the
influx of predators, including rats and cats,
have devastated skink and gecko populations.
Cats are supreme lizard hunters – we will never
see significant numbers in the Hutt Valley again
because of cats. The price of progress! What
further prices do we pay?
The good punch came after seeing
“Sharkwater”, Rob Jacksons documentary film
on sharks, their place in marine ecosystems and
the planets life cycle and their wanton
exploitation around the globe. Amazingly, this
film had all the impact, tension and
heartstring-pull of a good Hollywood
blockbuster. I heard sobbing in the back rows
of the theatre, gasps of disgust, horror and
disbelief, eerie periods of silence as people
tried to comprehend what they were seeing and
hearing. And helplessness. Futility. Shame.
During the 95 min of sitting and watching
battles (and I do mean physical battles!) on the
high seas between conservationists and illegal
fishers, Governments bowing to the corruption
of profit and places like the Galapagos being
stripped of millions of sharks simple for their
fins, over 15,000 sharks had been slaughtered
around the globe.
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Upper Hutt Branch October 2008
“Sharkwater” – see it! If you ever doubted
your reason for joining Forest & Bird, this film
will blow all doubts out of the water.
Barry Wards
Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC)
We can always rely on the CCVC to turn up
whatever the weather and in this case it was to
help out the Upper Hutt Kiwi Conservation Club
with transport to the seal colony at Sinclair
Head and Tongue Spit on the 24th of August.
It was rather pleasing to see so many members
of both clubs turn out as it wasn’t the most
stunning winter’s day, but it is winter and at
least it wasn’t pouring.
We trekked up and over the Radar Ball track
across a really rugged bit of farm land, looked
across and saw where the new wind farm is to
be situated before dropping to the sea and a
small seal colony at Sinclair Head.
It was a bit disconcerting to see jumper leads
being used at this stage on one truck but soon
we were off again to see more seals have a
scramble over a few rocks and a zip along the
beach to the driver training area where a flat
tyre was spotted .This was a worthy break as
out of many trucks came all sorts of apparatus
to fix the problem a point that was noted by
lots of the kids as everyone pitched into help.
We returned the same way home and only then
did the heavens opened and it poured.
Our thanks to the CCVC members who came
and John Parfitt who was trip leader.
The children were asked to do some drawings
and reports of the trip and these have been
sent to the KCC magazine and forest and bird
quarterly for publication.
For more information on KCC please phone
Georgie on Ph 526-5119
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society
The Wonder Of Northland.
There were so many highlights during my
days in Northland in July 2008 - the Tasman
waves sweeping on to Ninety Mile beach as we
drove north along the sand of the narrow
Peninsula; the mingling of the waters at Cape
Reinga where Tasman and Pacific blend; the
noisy crashing waves early in the morning at
Waipu Cove when mist hid almost everything;
the still, reflective waters of the Hokianga as
we used the vehicular ferry to reach Rawene;
the silently moving tranquil Wairoa River in
which the reflections of trees, hills, bridge and
boats were as clear as in a mirror; Whangaroa
with its secluded harbour, busy fishing boats,
and nearby canning and smoking factory – and
in my mind memories of the tragic “ Massacre
of the ‘Boyd’ ” in.1809; the golden sand hills of
the Hokianga and of Te Paki where we
tobogganed on the ‘geriatric’ slopes while
younger people careered down past us,
somersaulting on the steeper slopes; Rarawa
beach with its shimmering white silica sand
formerly used in glass making. All these places
and scenes are imprinted on my memory, but
even more exciting and memorable were the
forests and birds of the north.
Our introduction was at the outstanding
Kauri Museum at Matakohe where we marvelled
at the display of kauri gum, entered model huts
of gum diggers, gazed with interest at the
many photos which helped us understand the
challenge it was to the early European settlers
to tame the kauri forests – ‘bleeding’ gum from
the trunks of the great kauri trees, or bringing
the forest giants crashing to the ground to
obtain spars for ships; and needing a team of
bullocks which strained to drag even one tree
through the thick bush until it could be floated
down a river to be milled.
The following day, after driving north
from Dargaville we visited Trounson Kauri park
where piwakawaka fluttered close to us until we
entered the beautiful forest where we walked
among more kauri trees than I had ever seen,
and where we appreciated the deep stillness
and peace as we trod quietly on the board walk,
silenced by the impressive lovely trees around
us.
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Upper Hutt Branch October 2008
Further north we drove 18 km through
the renowned Waipoua Forest approaching with
awe ‘Tanemahuta’ which towered above us, with
a girth of 12.8 metres, and height of 52.6.
Estimated age 1200 years! Again we walked
through countless unnamed kauri trees to visit
‘The Four Sisters’ and another massive giant
whose name I have forgotten.
Our other experience of kauri forests
was on the Northland Peninsula when we visited
Gumdiggers Park where we saw a gum diggers
village with the bare simplicity of the huts
where men lived, and the rough areas where
they worked, digging Giant Gum Holes in which
they found gum from the ancient buried forest.
Those ancient forests, possibly destroyed
47,000 years ago, perhaps by tidal waves,
tsunami or meteorite strikes, are a source of
kauri gum, and of ancient tree trunks,
preserved in almost perfect condition for tens
of thousands of years. Such information was
mind stretching, and amazing. Later at a
visitor centre called ‘The Ancient Kauri
Kingdom’ I was dwarfed by two huge ancient
kauri trunks lying outside. Inside we climbed a
spiral staircase made from one such trunk, and
marvelled at the beauty (and the price -
$37,000) of a two-person seat also made from
ancient swamp kauri. Other smaller items such
as fruit bowls, plates, animals, also showed the
fine finish of crafted swamp kauri.
White fronted tern
Now it’s time to move from FORESTS to
BIRDS! Already I’ve mentioned friendly
piwakawaka darting around us at Trounson Kauri
Forest. They were frequently near us
throughout Northland. It was at Rawene that
less well-known birds appeared. At the wharf
there were 22 white-fronted terns with black
heads sitting on the rails on either side of the
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society
path – as if a guard of honour was waiting for
us! No need to tell you what happened when we
tried to walk between them! Also at Rawene, as
we sat near the Hokianga for a picnic lunch we
saw seven white birds, vigorously swinging their
heads from side to side in the water, their blue
bills mainly submerged as they sought food. It
was my introduction to Royal Spoonbills, and
they were fascinating.
Royal spoonbill
At Kahui Top Ten Motor Camp we were
offered an evening walk looking for kiwi.
Brother-in-law Bruce accepted the offer, paid
$20 and disappeared for about three hours
with a guide and half a dozen other people.
Although no kiwi were seen that night, Bruce
was enthusiastic about the time in the forest
where amongst other things they had seen
giant kauri snails, and had heard ruru, both
mature and juvenile.
Finally, in a motor camp near Russell we
were told we were in weka and kiwi country. As
we wandered from our cabin there was no sign
of the birds, but after we had gone to bed,
suddenly in the stillness I heard a thrilling
sound – repetitive calls with a rising note, one,
two three, four, five. Almost too excited to
sleep, I lay thinking, “That’s my first KIWI”.
Truly it was a holiday full of wonder.
Margaret Mander
Forest and Bird Local Branches
F&B Lower Hutt Branch meeting:
Meets 1st Thursday of the month
F&B Wellington Branch Meeting
Meets 3rd Thursday of the month
Kapiti Branch Meeting
Meets 4th Wednesday of the month
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Upper Hutt Branch October 2008
Other Groups
Wellington Botanical Society
Meets 3rd Monday of the month 7.30 pm
www.wellingtonbotsoc.wellington.net.nz
Encounter with an Albatross
Adam Langford describes his encounter with an
albatross whilst involved in an oceanographic
survey aboard the Taranui in the 1960’s. They
had also been asked by the Dominion Museum
to catch, band and release seabirds…….
Catching an albatross can be relatively easy if
you know how – and for us the know-how came
from the challenger Oceanographic Voyage in
the late 1800’s. I made a catcher up in the
workshop, a 5” ring of No.8 wire, corks fixed
around the perimeter and a space for the bait,
also a small bend in the perimeter of the ring
to attach a line. We were south of Snares
Island and into sub-antarctic waters when the
opportunity cam to try the catcher out. The
ship was drifting: we had a trawl on the
bottom; we were surrounded by sea birds for
whatever the cook or we might put over the
side – hundreds of small petrels, molly mawks,
giant petrel and a few albatross, all wanderers.
We baited our catcher and launched it into the
motley crowd of birds. Our first catch was a
larger molly mawk, the catch method was that
the bird would bite at the bait – and
immediately you pulled in the line, all the large
seabirds have a hook in the top half of its beak.
It isn’t keen on losing the bait and as long as
you keep pulling it in, it snares itself. It was
hilarious to see them push out their front feet
to slow their progress, when we got them
alongside the ship.
A big burly Yorkshire lad, Bill Main, had a very
large dip net to bring them on board with.
They then had a Dominion Museum leg ring put
on, details taken and gently launched back over
the side. Then – wonders – we got an albatross,
a large wanderer. We had him – or her –
alongside the ship – disaster; Bill Main in his
excited efforts to net it gave it a clout on the
head and to all intents and purposes sent it to
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society
albatross heaven. Bill was visibly upset, anyway
it was important to retrieve it, so I did the
‘heave ho’, got it on deck where it lay in a sad
heap. I straddled it and started plucking the
curve feathers from around its neck. These
were prized by my Maori friends for ear
decoration. I had quite a collection together,
when, blow me down, the curved beak had me
by the thigh. I staggered around the deck
trying to release myself. Bill Main who
objected to me plucking a dead albatross,
cheered like mad, and called me a few
unsavoury names, but obviously thrilled that he
didn’t have a dead albatross on his conscience.
When I finally dislodged myself from the very
angry bird, apart from a large bald spot on his
neck, he was very healthy.
A large Fijian seaman was given the task of
launching him over the side, and as a parting
gesture the albatross bit him in the arm. He
left me with two v shaped gashes on my thigh,
much to Bills delight.
Later, admiring my curved feathers – horror –
they were alive with large lice. The feathers
weren’t keen to get rid of them. The advice
from biologist Don McKnight was –‘get them
drunk! Put them in a container, introduce some
pure alcohol on the bottom of the container,
seal it and they will all fall off the feathers
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Upper Hutt Branch October 2008
drunk as skunks!’. It worked a treat and I still
have some feathers.
Adam Langford
Web Watch
Forest and Bird has a great website with heaps
of interesting information. This is currently
being upgraded. Next time you are on line,
check it out:
www.forestandbird.org.nz
Also check out:
Kiwi Conservation Club www.kcc.org.nz
NZ Ecological Restoration Network
www.bush.org.nz
NZ Plant Conservation Network
www.nzpcn.org.nz
Forest and Bird Local Branches
F&B Lower Hutt Branch meeting:
Meets 1st Thursday of the month
F&B Wellington Branch Meeting
Meets 3rd Thursday of the month
Kapiti Branch Meeting
Meets 4th Wednesday of the month
Newsletter Deadline
The deadline for the next newsletter is:
31 January 2008
Please send any items to Penny or Marion,
preferably by email (so we don’t have to wear
our fingers out typing!) Thanks 
The views expressed in this newsletter are not
necessarily those of Forest and Bird as a whole.
Every effort has been made to ensure
accuracy. Any errors or omissions are
regretted. Correspondence should be
addressed to PO Box 40 875 Upper Hutt.
Meet the Locals
The following pages showcase NZ birds
(reprinted with permission from Margaret
Manders brother-in-law Bruce)……..
…..and hints on creating a lizard garden
(reprinted with permission from Richard
Romijn)
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Upper Hutt Branch October 2008

Meet the Locals

Shag

Pukeko

Fantail

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Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Upper Hutt Branch October 2008

Calendar of Events

Month Date Time Event Contact

October Every Tues 9.00 – 11.30 Potting up Sue Millar
Meet at the Shade House, City Council 04 526 7440
depot, Maidstone Park
Wed 22nd 7.30 Upper Hutt Branch Meeting Barry Wards
(see page 1 for details) 04 970 4266
Thurs 30th 5.00 – 7.00 Hulls Creek Working Bee Sue Millar
Now daylight saving has started this 04 526 7440
has moved to Thursday evening
November Wed 26th 7.30 Upper Hutt Branch Meeting Barry Wards
(see page 1 for details) 04 970 4266
Every Tues 9.00 – 11.30 Potting up Sue Millar
Meet at the Shade House, City Council 04 526 7440
depot, Maidstone Park
Thurs 27th 5.00 – 7.00 Hulls Creek working Bee Sue Millar
04 526 7440
December To be 5.00 – 7.00 Hulls Creek working Bee Sue Millar
confirmed 04 526 7440

2008 Branch Committee

Phone Email
Barry Wards 04 970 4266 (hm) Chairperson barry.wards@maf.govt.nz
04 894 0475 (wk)
Graham Bellamy 04 526 3053 Treasurer glbellamy@slingshot.co.nz
Marion Callus 04 527 8692 Newsletter/committee callus@xtra.co.nz
Penny Madsen 04 528 5303 Newsletter penny.madsen@ihug.co.nz
Sue Millar 04 526 7440 Shade House and Planting millark@ihug.co.nz
Ruth Swanson 04 528 8389 Meeting Host
Gill Murgatroyd 04 970 3042 Committee
Richard Northmore 04 526 2572 Committee
Stella Watson 04 971 5076 New Members stellaw@paradise.net.nz
Adam Langford 04 973 7302 Committee
Georgie Dobson 04 526 5119 KCC ralph.georgina@xtra.co.nz