Mangawhai Nature School: Looking at the impact focused conservation can have

PIROA-BRYNDERWYNS LANDCARE

21 Nov, 2022

In their recent visit to Tara Iti, students from Mangawhai Nature School looked at the impact focused conservation can have. The day trip was extending the existing work the students have been doing around conservation such as pest trapping in the school habitat.

During their visit to Tara Iti (led by the conservation manager Alex Flavell-Johnson, students were able to walk from regenerating native bush to wetlands and see the sand dunes that had been stabilised with planting. It was interesting to learn that the plants used had been grown from locally sourced seed and raised in a nursery close by. Students were also able to see that plants had managed to self-seed from one wetland area to another. When they saw the beehives, they instantly thought that these were being used to produce honey. It didn’t take long for the conversation to move to the role of insects in a habitat and to how different plants use different methods to spread their seeds.

Though they didn’t see a bittern in the wetlands, students found bittern footprints in the sand. One of the things that really drew their interest was the camera that had been set up to monitor hedgehogs. One of the first things they did was look for tracks in the sand. These students have all been trapping in the school environment, so this was a good way to bring the conversation around to pests in a habitat. They diverted to look at traps to see if there was catch in any of them. These traps are different from the rat traps they use at the school and at home. These junior trappers are doing such a great job with their own trap line and with traps at home.

The number of quail moving about and skylarks singing above the group as they walked made it easy to turn the conversation to birds. On their walk along the way to Te Arai stream they encountered oyster catchers in pairs, Northern NZ Dotterel protecting territory, and pipits in the sand around the dune plants. All these birds are endemic. When they reached the fenced-off area on the other side of Te Arai stream, they had a better understanding of why the fence was up and they were able to look at how birds use debris for shelter. Though there were whitefront terns present there were no NZ Fairy Tern. It is not unusual to see fairy tern close to the other the larger terns such as Tara and Taranui.

A big thanks to Alex for making the visit to Tara Iti happen and to their teacher Maree for the organisation behind such a trip.

Piroa-Brynderwyns Landcare Group also continue to appreciate the amazing support of sponsors like Mangawhai Heads Four Square, Northland Reginal Council and Waipu MenzShed who provide the rat trapping kits to the schools in the area.  If you would like to get involved or know more about the school programmes in the area please reach out to Piroa-Brynderwyns Landcare Group.

Mangawhai Nature School students were able to experience a number of different environments, from native bush to wetlands. PHOTO/SUPPLIED