10th to 14th October – A whole lot of Hunua time

Wednesday 10^th October – Hunua Ranges

A babbling brook not many get to see....

The Ranges are still closed to the public following the 1080 operation. So, I am one of the lucky ones to get to go in and work. I was a little nervous. What if the forests were silent like people had warned? What if the fantails and tomtits that used to visit us had been wiped out by the poison?  I’m delighted to say that it was entirely the opposite situation. I have not heard and seen so many birds in the Hunuas since I started volunteering in April.  I can’t be sure, it may be just down to time of year. Being spring now the birds are more active and feeling ‘sexy’! Or maybe it’s a combination of that added to the fact that most if not all their local predator population have been wiped out?  Apparently, the monitoring is going well with hardly any sign of rats at all. 

The fantails and tomtits are still there. In addition to this, I saw my first kaka. Especially important because being an intelligent parrot species they could potentially be more prone to trying out new foods, putting them at risk from the baits. But no, I heard them and then I saw one for the first time. Along with loads of Tui and even rosella parakeets.

Our job today was to add juicy bits of rabbit meat into the DOC200 traps to entice the stoats to their deaths. Now that one of their main food groups, rats, is unavailable, they will be looking for alternatives – like eggs and birds – so we need to put a stop to as many as possible.  I was given three lines to walk today and probably because I kept stopping to look for birds and take photos of pretty streams. I was last back to the hut for the first time. I was just enjoying myself far too much!

Thursday 11^th October

The kokako four-year census results are in - there are now 106 pairs in the Hunuas! 

See how the number of pairs has increased in proportion with the area of the ranges being controlled for pests? I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to be involved in the census but it sounds like they haven’t searched some areas of the ranges as the breeding season has started early. So, there may be a chance for me to get some experience in spring. An amazing result though, what will the numbers look like in 2022?! #pestcontrolworks.

Saturday 13^th to Sunday 14^th October – Hunua Habitat 10-year reunion

So, this had been planned for months. I may have only been involved for a mere six months but the group is celebrating ten years of the project at Hunua Habitat.  Many old faces, including the original ranger who arranged it all, Scott, were invited.  The locked gate was manned between 230-3pm so that we could all drive in and once initial introductions had been made we set off on the Cossey/Massey loop walk. The pace was quite demanding, especially on the uphill sections! But we did stop as a group for the river crossing (below) and to look at the view and some interesting flora.

This is a Kiekie flower

View of the reservoir

Beautiful colours on a kereru

Greenhood orchids

Returning to Cossey house about 530pm the drinking and the BBQing started with a pair of kereru watching from above:

Time for drinks

Not a bad BBQ set-up!

Auckland Council had agreed to pay for catering the event in return for everyone’s hard work and it was clear that we were not going to go hungry.










Following dinner there was a slide show of photographs throughout the years as well as some videos and a poetry reading (!).

I had been told not to bother with baking anything. The gauntlet had been laid down to the whole group and there was an entire table full of cakes and desserts for us to try to make a dent in (below). What a good thing we had been for a long walk.....

I was excited about the opportunity to stay overnight and wake up in the middle of the ranges for the first time. Only five of us had seized that opportunity so we called it a night after everyone else escaped through the locked gate about 11pm.  It seemed that everyone had a really good evening.

It was a cold night but thankfully we had access to an electric heater which I used to pre-warm the bedroom that Kath and I shared. I didn’t sleep too badly but most of the dawn chorus had passed us by, by the time we’d had a cup of tea. We went out to check out the peace and tranquillity of the reservoir.

A pair of paradise shelducks

Pied shags keeping a watch over the reservoir

Pretty grey teal

Then it was time to finish the cleaning up in the house, which essentially meant divvying out the left-over food of which there was a lot!

Many of the group were heading to Clevedon for brunch but I left them to it, choosing instead to head back home to spend a relaxing Sunday with Simon.