Bush bird battle caught on camera

PREDATOR CONTROL: Pukenui Trust trapper Luke Robertson checking one of the stations in the Western Hills. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

The camera doesn't lie and chilling true stories are being filmed in the bushclad hills forming a crescent around the west side of Whangarei city.

The catcher of these stories caught on "trail-cams" and the keeper of the trails and traps laced through the Western Hills is the Pukenui Trust, a conservation group working hard to restore a now predator-controlled habitat so native wildlife can flourish.

Top of that wildlife list, but one among many native birds, is the kiwi. Trust members expect benefits from the $11.2million set aside in the 2015 Budget for kiwi population protection to result not only in the return of the iconic kiwi but more kereru (wood pigeon) and tui around the city.

Luke Robertson, one of the trust's trappers, said those and other bird species were already benefiting from predator control in the 1600-hectare forest nudging Whangarei.

But his description of what was recently recorded on trail-cams isn't good news.

"A stoat - our number one predator - is seen in one and just 16 minutes later a kereru feeds on the forest floor. It highlights the range of native birds these predators are killing. The sad part is that we believe we may have found encouraging kiwi signs in this part of the forest park, hence the presence of trail-cams.

"This [camera] was watching where we'd found kiwi prints but sadly picked up its arch enemy," Mr Robertson said.

"With cat faeces found just 100 metres away it's a hard road to keep this individual alive. There may be more kiwi in the forest but at the moment we have no credible evidence regarding that."

At least 500ha are now intensively managed within the larger reserve, that area expected to expand over time.

Trust chairman Gerry Brackenbury said Pukenui Estate in Maunu had a no-pets policy, and the trust hoped to work with other land developers to help protect the area. Environment Northland and Department of Conservation were on board to help with further dog-owner education.

Northland can boast a success story when it comes to kiwi repopulation and protection, a point highlighted at the national Kiwi Hui held at One Tree Point last month.

Landcare groups such as at Whangarei Heads and the wide-focus Kiwi Coast are bucking the trend while the rest of Northland has continued a 2 per cent decline in kiwi numbers, Mr Robertson said.

The Pukenui Trust relies on volunteers, grants and sponsorship - and needs more of all.

Further down the track the trust hopes to be able to prove kiwi still inhabit the forest. In the meantime, it continues trying to make the hills a safe place for when reintroduction does occur.