Huge boost for wildlife project

The first native gecko ever recorded on the islands of the Bay of Islands.

An ambitious project to restore native wildlife in the Bay of Islands has received a huge boost with the first sighting of a native gecko.

The 15cm Pacific gecko was spotted on the wall of a building by a caretaker on Moturua Island, one of the Ipipiri islands between Russell and Cape Brett. He sent the photo to the Project Island Song team, where it caused considerable excitement.

While the nocturnal, tree-dwelling Pacific gecko is not endangered, it is mostly confined to offshore islands, where it is safe from rats and other pests. However, like other native geckos, it has never been recorded on the Ipipiri islands.

Project co-ordinator Richard Robbins said the caretaker's find proved that geckos had managed to hang on when the islands were overrun by pests. A small population may have been able to survive on cliffs or a rock face where rats and mice couldn't reach them.

It generally took 10 years after pest removal before native reptiles started to reappear, he said. It was now eight years since pests were eradicated from the islands, by a combination of poison drops and trapping.

"To see evidence that these species are hanging on is fantastic. We hope to see other species turn up in future. The fact that they have persisted is also an indication that the restoration is going in the right direction," Mr Robbins said.

The group was planning to re-introduce Duvaucel's gecko to Okahu Island at the end of this year. Growing up to 30cm, Duvaucel's gecko is New Zealand's largest lizard and largest reptile after the tuatara.

Mr Robbins said Okahu had been chosen because it was furthest from the mainland, and there were no plans to relocate any forest birds, which could eat young geckos, there.
Because of its size there was little chance that Duvaucel's gecko had survived while pests were still on the islands.

A recent reptile survey on Okahu had found only shore skinks, but what appeared to be gecko footprints had been seen on Urupukapuka, the largest island in the group.

A reptile survey would be carried out on Moturua, where the Pacific gecko was seen, to see what else had clung on.

Moturua was the scene of a predator scare earlier this year when a Burmese cat jumped off a yacht and swam ashore. It took three weeks to catch the cat, using a cage trap baited with tinned tuna.

Project Island Song is a community-led initiative to restore native flora and fauna to the Ipipiri islands. It brings together conservation group Guardians of the Bay of Islands, the Department of Conservation, Rawhiti hapu and island land owners.

Species re-introduced so far include the tieke (saddleback), popokotea (whitehead) and toutouwai (North Island robin).