Seabirds – Discover a special place

The Okura Walkway between Stillwater village and the Karepiro Bay foreshore has a special character that with goodwill and cooperation can be greatly enhanced over the next few years to be worthy of regional park status.There are several notable aspects. The first is the cheniers – shell spits – that poke out into the Weiti River and are unique. The combination of a small river flowing into a fjord-like cleft and opposed by wind and tide meant there was no one place for a bar to form. So a series came into being, each new one further downstream as silting took place. The latest spit is only 10-15 years old. It is this one that the threatened NZ dotterel chose to breed on, providing the next notable feature of the locality.

The aspect that fascinates me most, is the uncertain boundary between land and sea, which remains untouched by humans. The salt marshes are under water at spring tides. The dotterel breeding spit sees huge shifts in sand and constantly changing channels. Storms and king tides can sweep over it. The dotterels’ nests can be destroyed – but they try again.

Despite its apparent loneliness, it has had a rich human history. Ngati Kahu has mana whenua in the area dating back to the Tainui waka. Access to the rich shark fishing grounds was hotly contested. Bloody battles were fought at Karepiro Bay. There are many archaeological sites. Burials can be exposed by erosion. Four 19th or early 20th century European dwellings were located on or by the cheniers.

The final aspect of note is the vegetation. The riparian edge of the Weiti has a host of native plants and the wet flats that the walkway crosses have tall native grasses and sedges competing with the kikuyu grass. The hill slopes have large coastal forest trees that will revegetate the drier area once the weeds have been controlled – one of them is an ancient small-leaved milk tree. The sheltered cheniers are reverting to coastal forest.

The area has a great peacefulness about it – but issues abound. A weeding report estimates $54,000 is needed over the next 4–5 years. There is an uneasy tension between dog walkers and the guardians of the bird life. (The bylaws prohibit dogs.) Upscaling the Weiti Bay development under the Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan would herald much greater recreational use of the beaches. The walkway is only partially successful in guiding people away from the birds’ breeding sites.

A variety of parties are making a difference. Their efforts need co-ordination. They are the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board (landlord and funding providers), Stillwater Residents & Ratepayers (setting up a nursery from local seed sources), Forest & Bird (pest control, weeding and planting), Friends of Okura Bush (weeding and planting), Department of Conservation (maintaining the walkway) and the Weiti estate (access across their land and fencing for the breeding area). Amateur ornithologists keenly monitor the birdlife.

I invite you as local residents to enjoy the area and also to think about how you can help care for it.

Next month, July 17, Philip is providing a guided talk called Discover the Weiti River Spit, as part of Hibiscus Coast Forest & Bird and Estuary Arts series of talks.