KEY POINTS:
An appeal was launched yesterday for funds to create a haven for native bird species at an Auckland regional park on the tip of Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society's Allan Parker said the group hoped to raise two-thirds of the $600,000 needed to help pay for 1.5km of a predator-proof fence. The plan was to expel rats, cats and stoats from a 555ha area made up of the ARC park and land owned by the Rodney District Council and the Defence Force.
Fundraising began with an appeal for people to donate $50 for a fence post. The plan is that the fence and a pest-poisoning programme will create a haven for bird species to return to the mainland from Hauraki Gulf islands, such as the Tiri Tiri Matangi Island sanctuary.
Work on the fence could start in October 2009. A 2.5km fence built in 2004 at Tawharanui Regional Park, north of Warkworth, has enabled the reintroduction of bellbird, brown kiwi, robin and whitehead.
