Atuanui Restoration Project  Volunteer Working Bee

This month we will have volunteers moving new DOC250 traps onto the boundary and setting them, as well as others checking, and resetting existing DOC250 traps.  You can help us one day or both days, whichever suits you.

Meet at 9am, at the top of the hill above the carpark on Kaipara Hills Road.  Walk through the gate by the DOC sign and up the metalled track to meet us at the Red Barn at the top.  The working bee involves about 4-5 hours tramping and requires a minimum of medium fitness.

Please come prepared with warm clothing, sturdy tramping boots, wet weather gear, lunch/drink, and personal first-aid kit.  Atuanui is a "back-country experience" tramping track. 

If it's too wet, the working bee will be postponed until the following weekend of Saturday/Sunday 8th/9th August, meeting same time, same place.

Please RSVP if you intend coming to; kaiparaforestandbird@gmail.com
or text/phone 021-271-2527. New volunteers need to read Health and Safety briefing available by email.  Hope to see you there.

Saturday/Sunday 1st and 2nd August 

Monday 31st August 2009

Committee meeting

6.30pm - Kaipara Branch of Forest and Bird Committee Meeting

Enquiries re attendance welcome, to kaiparaforestandbird@gmail.com

Tuesday 15th September 2009

‘Restoring biodiversity to our coastal dunelands’

7.30pm at Waimauku Hall on Waimauku Station Road. All welcome.

Dr Mark Bellingham (F&B North Island Conservation Manager) is a coastal planner and ecologist who established the Te Henga/Bethells Beachcare group in 1993 and is the current coordinator. Come and hear our local expert talk about how they manage dune vegetation, shore and seabirds, and people and dogs at the beach.  Members, family and friends welcome.  Supper follows. 

Enquiries email kaiparaforestandbird@gmail.com

Sunday 4th October 2009

Riverboat trip on the Kaukapakapa River

9.15am from Parakai Wharf.  Four hour trip – bring refreshments.

Kaipara Forest and Bird has booked the Kewpie Too for members and friends to enjoy a spring trip up the Kaukapakapa River.  Leaving from Parakai, we will spend a relaxing three to four hours on the Kewpie Too exploring this tranquil river and other highlights of the Kaipara River Valley. You will view the sites of early kauri mills and bush camps now long gone while listening to the informative commentary on local history and ecology, and also visit the beautiful bush reserve on the Kaukapakapa River where young kauri, kowhai and totara, among others, grow sheer from the waters edge along with a shag colony and other wildlife nesting on the river.

The cost is a special discount rate of $15 per person for adults and $7.50 per child.   Don’t miss out on this wonderful trip.  You can book by emailing kaiparaforestandbird@gmail.com with names and numbers, and will be sent instructions on how to book and pay.  Bookings will need to be secured by a cheque for the full fare. 

For enquiries about this trip, email above or phone Suzi on 021-271-2527.  Look forward to hearing from you.  This trip will fill fast so book asap.

October 2009

Talk on Fairy Terns – date and details to be confirmed

“Sand Dunes and Seabirds”, a KCC trip to see the waders at Manukapua on the Kaipara Harbour.  (Joint trip with other KCC local groups).

Come and join us for an all-day ramble to Manukapua Island on the Kaipara Harbour to see lots of different seabirds and the big flocks of thousands of wading birds that migrate from the northern hemisphere each summer to feed in our harbours. Bring binoculars!  Manukapua is a big sand-dune island that we reach by crossing a sand causeway at low tide, so punctuality is important.

This trip is limited to children 8 years and older, as this is a long day for the kids (and adults!) that involves four hours walking on the sand.  Definitely no preschoolers. 

We make our way to Tapora on the Okahukura Peninsula and walk across at low tide to this big sand island, where a reserve protects beautiful dune island and seabird habitat.  We cross the island on a sandy track, (might see fernbirds) and then northeast up the seaward side to the largest bird roost.  There we should see thousands of godwits, knots, oystercatchers and hundreds of terns, wrybill, and turnstones with smaller numbers of NZ dotterels, banded dotts, sandpipers, and whimbrel and curlew are also possible.  On a sunny day it's a stunning location and feels like you are on a boat in the middle of the Kaipara Harbour. We meet at Tapora by 11.15am at the Tapora Hall, to rendezvous with our guide,  Suzi Phillips.

To book, phone Kaipara KCC co-ordinator, Vivienne Wilson on 09-411-5100 or email her at the.wilsons@paradise.net.nz , giving names and ages of children coming and names of accompanying adults, and your contact details.  (Or if unable to contact Viv, email or phone Felicity Smith on felicity@chfs.co.nz  or 094207834).

Please let us know if you are interested in carpooling from Kaukapakapa Hall at 10am. (You will be sent more detailed instructions of how to Tapora  when you book.) If weather is unsuitable on 7th November, we will postpone until Saturday 21st November and contact you, (please re-book).

Saturday 7th November

On-going

Colin Kerr-Taylor Memorial Reserve Volunteers

9.15am from Parakai Wharf.  Four hour trip – bring refreshments.

The Colin Kerr-Taylor Memorial Reserve at Taylor Road, Waimauku was gifted to the Society by Yvonne Hollier and Vivienne Wilson in 1993 in memory of their father Colin Vivian Kerr-Taylor QSM JP (1906-1984) who along with his father Vincent Frederick Kerr-Taylor (1866-1920) and grandfather Allan Frederick Kerr-Taylor (1832-1890) sought its preservation.

The Branch currently has a pest control programme underway, and volunteers are always needed to undertake a range of maintenance tasks suitable for all abilities.

For more information, contact: Viv or Barry Wilson at the.wilsons@paradise.co.nz or kaiparaforestandbird@gmail.com or phone on (9)-411- 5100