Letter to the Editor, Thursday June 4, 2015

All gone

We acquired our land out of Whangarei in 1982, directly adjoining the DOC reserve at Kauri Mountain. In those times the reserve and our block enjoyed a prolific kiwi and other bird population. Possums were a problem, but we maintained traps with some success.

Every night we had a chorus of the morepork and the high-pitched kiwi calls. Although very well camouflaged and hard to see, kiwi used to track across the front lawn. To our regret, our dog of that time killed one and had to be tied up at night thereafter.

Unfortunately our neighbour started to breed goats. Their fences weren't adequate and young ones escaped to the reserve. Regrettably we also learned that a pig hunter in the district was seeding young piglets loose into the reserve. Eventually the flora and fauna were adversely affected.

Around the mid to late '90s DOC decided to have a 1080 poison drop. Within three weeks there was no life left. Possums, goats, pigs and kiwi, even a neighbour's dog, all gone.

Of course DOC firmly denies 1080 affects kiwi, but I can vouch for the fact that their departure was directly connected. Whether by eating carcasses or whatever, they were gone. Ever since that time the department has tried hard to re-establish the kiwi, but without success.

I have no direct answer to this, for the bush itself has recovered. What I do know as fact is that our native birdlife, including tui, morepork and smaller white-eyes, are under attack from the expanding numbers of mynahs, magpies and hawks. The larger tui is no match for marauding mynahs that attack their nest in numbers. Magpies are much bigger, intelligent and very aggressive.

And let's not be over-protective of the hawk. While they are good to watch and graceful in flight, they are predators. Recently I watched two hawks attacking nests on a neighbouring farm shelter belt of trees.

The direct consequence of this is that our once prolific native bird life is no more. The nearby tui nests have gone. The morepork call is now distant and infrequent.

DOC is demonstrating very human shortcomings in seeing that 1080 will fix the problems.

My own direct experience is that rats and stoats are only a small part of a bigger deterrent to our native bird decline, and that mynah, magpie and hawk numbers have expanded to threaten the existence of our native birdlife.

BOB SYRON

RD1 Onerahi