More fish, Seal vous-plait? Photo / Jim Birchall / NZME
More fish, Seal vous-plait? Photo / Jim Birchall / NZME
The Hauraki-Coromandel Post is looking back at the stories of 2022. Here’s what made headlines in September:
A dDotterel at Opoutere Beach. Photo DoC / Herb Christophers
Beachgoers ignoring clear signage and traipsing through a key nesting site in the Coromandel are putting vulnerable dotterels at risk.
Dotterel ranger Frouk Miller says the Department of Conservation has been informed many times that people have walked right past clear dotterel protection signs, before clambering through a rope put in place to mark the birds’ nesting site - and then strolling right through the restricted shoreline breeding ground.
“This area is roped off every year at this time to protect these birds and their nests,” Miller says.
“There’s plenty of signage at the site instructing people to stay out of the area - they only have to walk a few extra minutes to get to the beach if they follow our instructions.”
Death Star effect over Thames.
Death Star halo effect stirs Thames’ locals
A strange halo effect around the sun excited people on the Hauraki Plains near Thames on October 25.
An HC Post reporter snapped pictures of the phenomenon, which witnesses have described as looking like the Death Star from the movie Star Wars. Sadly for fans of the science fiction franchise, the explanation for halo is fully grounded in science fact.
MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the optical phenomenon is caused by the refraction of light through ice crystals, and is known as a “22-degree halo”.
A curious juvenile male seal made his spring home at Whangamatā Marina.
More fish, seal vous-plait? Photo / Jim Birchall
The Whangamatā Community pool underwent a number of upgrades in anticipation of a busy summer.
The Whangamatā Pool has been refurbished, ready for the summer.
The pool, which is run by a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers and a pool manager under a service agreement with Thames-Coromandel District Council, now boasts eight lanes, with a shallow end for children, and is heated all year round.
Heat pumps were commissioned in May, and have been operating effectively since - providing a consistent water temperature of 27C. Since May, some 4712 swimmers have enjoyed the pool.
The pool has plans to attain funding of $35,000 for solar panels on the northern and western roofs that provide power to the pool’s heat pumps. Donations came from Whangamatā businesses, and poolside signage highlighted the altruism of these sponsors and contributors.
