Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 94
Actively
supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
First up we would just like to send the big bonjour to our French friends, who have
been with us for some time now and to let
you all know that we are keeping a watch on Team Francaise in the Rugby World Cup! Do you all live in Paris? We hope so.
Now back to business…
In a previous post we noted that Forest & Bird
had published an article about the destruction of our local dune lake. It has
stirred public interest including
from national media, and appears to have annoyed the NZTA somewhat because,
having chased us out of the area on one occasion, they have now posted a 24/7
guard. (Apologies to the taxpayer who are picking up the tab).
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| 0800rentaguard 'I've got my eyes on youse' |
As we continue to keep an eye on the destruction it’s
all starting to get somewhat cloak
and dagger, with an NZTA manager called in on a Sunday, to do a reccy about 10
minutes after we left the area.
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| The SHADOW is on our side - they seek them here - They seek them there. |
We’ve been away from Raumati Beach for a while however,
and found the contrast revealing.
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| Swans with cygnets - Spring 2012 |
The full flush of spring nesting would now be
underway, but there are no signs of bird life in the area, leave alone nesting
activity, despite remnant surface water remaining near the excavations.
 |
| Panorama of the same view today |
The small colony of parera-cross birds we noted in
autumn, before the destruction got under way, appear to have left the area,
though town mallards are continuing to do fly pasts, where the dune lake used
to be. They look for a place to land but finding only desolation, veer away. Their
flight path is calculated and deliberate and this continues to increase our understanding of
these animal’s co-ordinated intelligence and cultural life. The waterbirds
migrate during the day which makes it very difficult to build a picture of
their daily life, but it is clear from this activity that they remembered the
lake, and were attempting to return to it - as a fertile feeding ground - as a
place to find compadre’s - then a mate
- and for females, as a reasonably secure nesting area.
Nor can we find any sign of welcome swallow’s down
here. They are usually starting a nest under the wharemauku bridge, and hang
about this area feeding, sitting on the fence at the back of the airport, or
sheltering under the bridge. They appear to have moved further up the creek and
closer to town, away from the construction activity.
Another area we have been monitoring is the NZTA’s monitoring
of their own pollution, that enters the wharemauku from the site and here we
have quite a tale to tell. Let’s begin with how things stand today. A gauze
filter has now been placed across the wharemauku to capture effluent from the
site. All well and good you might think, except that it is
the whitebait season and eels are beginning to reinhabit this waterway. So it
is stopping this marine migration, including of endangered giant kokopu punua, from
venturing further up the creek.
Then there’s the problem of the upstream monitor
pictured here…
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| Up stream monitor intake |
This monitor is an entry gauge, set to record the
clarity of creek water before the excavation, so that any increase due to the
site work can be picked up at the downstream monitor. If it gets above a
prescribed level it can close the work down. But as you can see, there’s little
point in recording downstream pollution if the upstream one is sitting out of
the water like this one has been for a couple of months now.
But there’s a more serious issue raised here, because,
while the creek water at this entry end is relatively clear, further downstream
it has turned this colour.
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| Wharemauku discolouration in lower reaches |
So what’s going on? All will be revealed in our
next post…
Track we were listening to while posting this -Dark Moon.
Dark moon,
What is the cause
Your light withdraws
Is it because, is it because
I've lost my love?
Some tunes never lose their melancholy fizz and this is one - from Bonnie
Guitar, out of 1957. She’s originally from Seattle and is now 92 years old –
still working with her own band… Better not let her out on a Blood Moon like
that of a couple of weeks ago; though look out Saturday night – wherever she is…
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