02-10-2014

 It's that time of the year again and the Waiau Rivercare group are gearing up for a busy  
 year.

The Black Fronted Terns (BFT) have been arriving for about a month and the traps have all been repositioned and set and are ready to go.

Down on the Mason this morning there were 6 Banded Dotterels visable, 2 Pied
Oystercatchers and some BFT's flying up and down the river.

We are putting traps out on the Waiau for the first time on Sunday. The farmer below the
bridge on the Rotherham side is willing to have and look after the traps for us which is a big bonus. We will also extend the Mason River traps down onto the Waiau on the Township side and later on we will try and get some traps up stream to the area that the Black Fronted Terns nested last year.

Now all we need is the Black billed Gulls.

12-02-2014

Finally 2 of us got down on the river today and found our Black fronted Tern Chicks.

This is one of the groups there is another one down stream from the township.

There were at least 50 chicks in the group we saw today the photograph below has at least 30 chicks in it - so well camoflaged they are very hard to see.

Just down a little were a bunch of Pied Stilts. No chicks visable but each pair had a chick when I saw them from the Jetboat so I guess the chicks were just keeping out of the Nor'wester that was blowing.

This is why we do what we do. Next year we are hoping the river behaves and lets us control some predators for them. Having said that the the birds seem to have done very well without any help. It would be nice to know how many birds actually nested. Next year is definately a much earlier trip in a Jetboat.

02-02-2014

It's been a busy week in Waiau and I am happy to report that I finally got a trip up the river on a Jet boat and found some of our Black-fronted Terns with around 100 fledged chicks in the middle of the river along with 4 Pied Stilt nests and 2 chicks that were visible.

I am thrilled with this find and it only goes to show that the birds will nest as soon as conditions are right. Interestingly the island where they have nested is in the area of the river where the Wrybills have been recorded in the past, so hopefully next year the river conditions will be right to allow us to monitor the river much earlier.

Both sides of the Mason river had the traps checked and on the far bank all the traps had occupants.

Our figures so far for this season are:

16 Hedgehogs
4 Stoats
6 Rats
2 Rabbits

We will continue to monitor the traps right up until winter when we will bring some of them in for maintenance and bait the others and check them at regular intervals.

Depressingly we still have idiots driving or riding through the middle of the birds but without an active Ranger in the area we stand little chance of being able to do anything about it. 3 boys on motorbikes completely ignored us when we were checking the traps and we were reluctant to say anything as it is probably the same boys that threw the traps into the river earlier on. Sometimes it is very frustrating.

No pictures today as the camera did not survive it's dunking in the river and I was reluctant to take my other one out in the Jet boat but hopefully we might be able to walk in this week and try and get some.

11-01-2014

Well Christmas and the New Year are past and it was time to check the traps which had been left for almost a month this time.
4 Hedgehogs and a Rat were a good result but slipping in the Mason and getting the camera wet was not! Fairly serious damage I think but won't know for a few days.

Anyway we re-baited the traps and will leave it another month before we go out again.

We have had trouble with someone throwing the traps into the river but managed to salvage 2 of them but this morning one could not be found - bored kids on School Holidays I think.

We have Banded Dotterel Chicks but I will be very surprised if any manage to grow up as the Black-backed Gulls and Australasian Harriers are busy patrolling the river bed looking for lunch.

Jane and Nick from BRaid went back up to the Conway a couple of times to check on the Black-billed Gull colony there and at the last visit counted 400 full fledged chicks. This sounds like a good result but there were a lot of dead chicks in all stages of growth and no signs of predation. Nick thinks that the main problems were lack of food and the weather.

Hopefully next year the weather settles down and they can come back and nest with us.

Unfortunately the Jet boat ride up the Waiau hasn't happened (mainly because the weather has been so bad) and it is to late now to see the Wrybills but I am still hoping that I can get someone to take me out to try and find the Black-fronted Terns.

18-12-2013

A beautiful day in Waiau and finally some time to go down to the river and just sit.
Nothing caught in the traps last week when they were checked except another young rabbit.

Sitting by the river today made all the trap checking worth while as I spotted a pair of Banded Dotterels with their very young chick. Mum was busy pretending she had a broken wing so I knew something was nearby.

I just hope we have caught enough predators to keep it safe while it grows up! Mind you there were some very interested Black backed Gulls and an Australasian Harrier slowly flying over head all of which were seen off by Mum and Dad.

The Black fronted Terns were sweeping up and down the river fishing but I still haven't found out where they are nesting.

Finally as I was coming home I spotted an area alive with Damselflies. Now I love Damselflies and couldn't resist the opportunity to stop and get a few photos.

 The other really good thing I noticed was the amount of small fish every where. Despite the early heavy flows the rivers are certainly full of life.

04-12-2013

On Monday this week, 2 BRaid members and I took a walk down the Conway River to see what success the Black-billed Gull colony had had there this year. It took us 21/2hours walk and 30 river crossings to get there (and the same back!) but it was worth it. Without any protection and minimal human interference these birds had done really well.

It is a big colony probably 2000 plus birds and it appeared that each pair had a least 1 chick making 3000 plus birds. Now that is what I call success. Click on the picture and see just how many birds were there and this was only half the colony.

This is what we are trying to achieve on the Waiau, the next time they chose to nest with us.

We also saw plenty of Banded Dotterels, Pied Stilts, South Island Oystercatchers as well as some Black winged Gulls (and 4 chicks), Paradise Ducks and Canadian Geese (there were about 10 geese with 5 nests).

The walk down was high cliffs surrounded by a lot of native bush and coming back we were accompanied by the calls of the Bell birds. The Manuka was in flower and a lot of native plants were showing there best colours. A truly memorable day - not least the aching body when we finally got back and the next day. Painful but so worth it.

01-12-2013

Just a quick post to say that one side of the Mason River traps were checked today and we got another Stoat, quite large and badly decomposed but we were pretty sure it was a Stoat not a Ferret.
I am waiting to hear if we got anything from the other side of the river as some of the others were checking that side. Will keep you informed.

The Waiau River is running high again, so I am still waiting to get up there on a Jet Boat.

Tomorrow we are off up the Conway to see how the Black-billed Gulls have made out. The Chicks should be in nursery groups by now. Watch this space.

04-12-2013

The traps on the township side of the Mason river were also checked but nothing caught. The bait was changed out so we now wait and see. I can't believe we have caught everything, so I will go down at the weekend and a try adding some nice smelly fish meal to every other trap ( we are trying this on the other side as well) and see if that makes a difference.

15-11-2013

We have just got back from checking the traps on the far side of the Mason.
We have our first Stoat, as well as a hedgehog and a rat. So we are quite pleased.
We saw a lot of Banded Dotterels and Pied Stilts and one lone Black-fronted Tern fishing.
The Banded Dotterels appeared to be mating!

09-11-2013

We checked the first lot of Mason river traps today and had a very surprising find -  a young rabbit! Not sure what he was doing in there. With the remaining traps we had one which was sprung but nothing in there, 2 where the bait had completely gone and one Hedgehog.
It all helps.

07-11-2013

Well what a hectic time we are having here in Waiau.
We finally got out last Friday and put traps out on the other bank of the Mason River.

This time we had rabbit, which was kindly donated by the Waiau Pig Shoot, to use as bait and as usual I am finding it very difficult to not go and see what if anything we have in the traps. The weather and time constraints have delayed us getting back to check the other traps but some are visible from the track and I know they have occupants. So it is now becoming urgent to get out and check them.

We took time this week and to take a walk down the lower section of the Waiau that we are looking after this year and were very disappointed not to see anything except 2 South Island Oystercatchers. There were a lot of Californian Quails about and a couple of Canada Geese flying over head. I had hoped to find the Black-fronted Terns nesting but apart from 5 fishing nothing. It was however an eyeopening experience seeing just how much of the river bed is silted up and the amount of growth in the form of Broom, Willows and Lupin that is there. The main channel of the Waiau is running along the town side and the rest of the riverbed shows signs of recent running water but nothing much is there now. The silt left behind by the river is so thick in places that it was more like walking on a Cobbled road than a riverbed. I am not sure who is supposed to take care of things that grow in the riverbed but I'm sure it must be someones responsibility. Any suggestions gratefully received.

The good news this week came from a group of BRaid members who took a walk down the Conway river to check out a report of a colony of blackbilled Gulls nesting there. What they found was a strong colony of about 2000 birds nesting with some chicks hatching. Some of the Waiau group will go back in about 3 weeks to check on their success. The good thing was that the local farmer was thrilled to find out that he had endangered birds nesting on his bit of the river and tells me that they come either to the Conway or the Charwell every year but not normally in those sort of numbers.

I was thrilled with this news as the Waiau has been so fulll that the chances of them nesting here this year were remote to say the least. At least they have stayed in North Canterbury and with luck will check us out next year.

So all that remains is for us to find out where the Black-fronted Terns have gone to nest and look after the Banded Dotterels nesting on the Mason.

The other thing I attempted today was to see if it was possible to get down to the area of the Waiau River behind Spotswood/Parnassus where the Wrybill nests were seen in the past. It is certainly possible to get to the river but unfortunately the deep channel was running along the bank there and there is still to much water there to get down to investigate. Roll on the dryer weather.

27-10-2013

I now know that I am certifiably insane! I have just stood and salted 6 ice-cream tubs of rabbit as bait for the predator traps. Luckily someone volunteered to gut, skin and chop them into quarters for me. I think there was probably about 12 rabbits. At least that should keep us going for this season. Where did I get 12 rabbits you may ask? - today was the Waiau Pig Shoot and the kids got a prize for the heaviest rabbit.

19-10-2013

 We are just recovering from some really bad weather with high winds and lots and lots of rain. The Waiau river spilled its stop bank in one place which made for some early morning phone calls and some hard work by our local contractor. The Mason which wasn't quite so full provide some gravel to fix the hole. The poor old birds must be having a very frustrating time as every time the start to mate the rain comes in and disrupts everything.

The rivers are finally dropping and hopefully the good weather we have had for the last 2 days is helping the birds food supply replenish. It is supposed to be settled for the next few days, so I will hopefully get out and see if any of the birds are still around.

We did manage to get out and check the 10 traps we got down before the rain. Despite the weather we had a result of 2 Pacific Rats and 1 Hedgehog for 16 trap nights. We just need to get some more traps out.

06-10-2013

Well it has been a while since I had time to breath let alone time to write up the blog but today I have made time - mainly because the weather is threatening rain.

Since my last post we have had a considerable amount of rain which caused both the Mason and Waiau rivers to run very hard, fast and full. The Terns nesting rituals were interrupted with a bang as the island they had chosen was covered in water - again. Just when it looked like the weather had stabilised, it is threatening rain again but I hope it won't be quite so bad this time.

Two of the group attended a great workshop on Conservation management of native birds in braided rivers run over 3 days by BRaid. We learnt so much and were given so much information we both came back raring to go and get the traps out. Unfortunately we had to wait for the rivers to drop before we could get out and finally managed to get the first 10 out last Thursday. It was all hands to the traps and with the help of a Quad bike to do the heavy carrying we managed to get them out without incident. We issued a public advisory that the traps were going out in the local weekly newsletter and have had great feedback since with people saying someone should have done this years ago. If only they had.

I am hoping to get out this week and see if I can find the Terns. The Banded Dotterels, Pied Stilts and South Island Pied Oystercatchers are all busy on the Mason. If the weather holds I might get a chance to check for nests this week as well.

It is going to be very hard waiting for the time to pass before we can check the traps but patience is a virtue  and I will just have to wait.

19-09-2013

Everyone except the Wrybill and Black-billed Gulls down on the river today.

 Black fronted Terns

 Paradise Ducks (there was a pair of Grey Ducks as well)

 Pied Stilt and Southern Pied Oystercatcher

Spur winged Plovers

The Banded Dotterel's and the Southern Pied Oystercatchers were busy mating - I refrained from photographs during the act!

Southern Pied Oystercatchers

The Waiau is still to high to go looking for the Black-billed Gulls, but the Black-fronted Terns  were all over the island on the Waiau at the confluence of the Mason.

15-09-2013

Another beautiful day in Waiau.
The river is dropping in these pictures but you can still see it has been very high and very mucky.

The Black-fronted Terns have moved but are still in the area. I just hope that they comeback when the water drops a bit.

The rivercare group had a working bee this morning and we finished the 50 traps and so we are now ready to go as soon as the water drops enough.

08-09-2013

Mary and I walked up the south side of the Waiau on Friday towards Rotherham. The aim was to get past the area where I got stopped last time and see how far we could get. The farmer had been back working and he had removed the bank which stopped me and we went into the tree covered area to find it very boggy and wet and thick with vegetation riverside.

We climb through a fence and walked up the back of a couple of fields to try and get past the boggy area and came back down on to the river only to find the water was right up to the bank and we couldn't get any distance, so we came back.

The only evidence of any wildlife we saw was plenty of rabbit droppings and bird and predator tracks in the mud. The Black-fronted Terns seem to have adopted the island between the Waiau and the Mason where I saw them before but the Gulls had moved on. We think we could see them (the gulls),  on the River Road side of the river and we will try and get up there this week - weather and work permitting.

I was down on the Mason today as the weather was perfect and the Black-fronted Terns were definitely taking off and landing in the area they nested last year as well. I didn't go across as I didn't want to disturb them but I think it will be definitely worth putting traps in this area, as there were plenty of Banded Dotterel's around.  The 2 Spur winged Plovers with chicks that I saw last time had gone, I expect that the chicks had been taken by predators - there were a lot of dog prints in the area as well.

28-08-2013

Look what I saw today

It's a Spur winged Plover chick. There were 2 of them with Mum and Dad on the Mason. Mum was still on the nest so I suspect there are more to come.

25-08-2013

A stunning day yesterday saw me on the south side of the river taking a walk.
Apart from some beautiful views nothing much around but I ended up stopped by some earth works that had been carried out probably by a local farmer protecting his fields. I got up level with the first bluff on the Rotherham road. I could have scrambled over the earthworks but thought discretion was the better part of valor as I was on my own. If anyone fancy's a walk in the near future let me know. When I check out the map when I got back the area appears green with a swamp/wetlands marked up, so I guess that I will either have to get through it or walk up the other side of the river.

There were a lot of tracks of various types. Some of which were definitely predators but a range of different bird tracks as well. Unfortunately I don't know enough about tracks to work out which was which. I think it is an area for future study.

When I got back to the area where the Mason enters the Waiau the Black-fronted Terns were still settling on the island in the middle and joining them for the first time this year were the Black-billed Gulls, just 6 at the moment but happily sitting on the end of the island. This would be a great place for them to nest as it normally survives most inundations and is relatively protected by the fast flowing water on both sides. It would also be a relatively easy place to put traps down.

22-08-2013

Well despite rain warnings we have a beautiful day and I took the opportunity to get down on the river to check for new arrivals.

 Banded Dotterel

 Banded Dotterel arriving

South Island Pied Oystercatcher

After walking down from the Mason river bridge I eventually found one Dotterel on the Mason but just up from the Waiau. As I was standing there the one in flight arrived. It's a long way back from the North Island.

The South Island Pied Oystercatchers (there were 2), Were in the same area as last year so hopefully will nest again.

They were extracting gravel on the south side of the Waiau but the terns seemed unperturbed and were busy flying in front of the bulldozer picking up grubs. Others were settled on a gravel island just in front of where they were working.

21-08-2013

Just to let you know the first 24 trap boxes have arrived. Bruce will continue working on the rest. Now all we need is the traps to go in them.The traps are due to arrive Christchurch at the end of the month. I have a warning stencil to go on the lids and I will try that out in the next week and also different ways of numbering them.
We have very kindly been donated an old GPS so we can plot the position for each trap.

The rivers are both dropping again but will no doubt rise with the rain forecast for tomorrow. This makes it a bit difficult to get down on the riverbed and check for birds. I was there last Friday and there was nothing around and as soon as I can I will go back down and have another look - apparently most of them normally arrive mid August.