My Account
The annual planting at Shakespear has finally been completed with some 18000 seedlings now enhancing the large slip below the lookout (apart from those which provided a snack for the sheep who slipped in there briefly). The weather disrupted the planting schedule quite a bit, with a rare cancellation needing to be made up by extra days. The planting has also provided the opportunity to re-route the rather steep track down the hill from the lookout to Te Haruhi Bay. The new route is not complete yet but should make the lookout more accessible.
SOSSI and the Council have also been considering other ways to make Shakespear more user-friendly. We jointly commissioned a so-called ‘interpretation plan’ which provides a framework to help people get the most out of their visits, encouraging them to learn more, to try new things and to better appreciate the values of the sanctuary and park. This plan also has to fit within the Council’s 10-year management plan for Shakespear, which means on the one hand we might not get all that we want but on the other hand makes it easier to access funding.
The plan suggests some 30 projects to be completed within the next five years including improvements and extensions to tracks, guided walks, new and upgraded information hubs, improved signs and displays, new maps and brochures and apps for mobiles. The next step will be working out which projects should take priority, who will carry them out and who will pay for them, so watch this space as these take shape.
One of the things that all this planning has highlighted is the need to better understand who uses the park and what their needs and wishes are. We knew already that some 700,000 people come every year, that most come for picnics and other activities at the beach, and that generally visitors are very happy with what they find. But to understand more, we carried out online and personal surveys. One outcome from that is that the plan suggests considering visitors as belonging to distinct groups – nature seekers, urban escapes, regulars, hunter-gathers and fitness fanatics.
Meanwhile, the breeding season is well underway in the sanctuary. Unfortunately this applies to rabbits as well as, after seven years without them, some rabbit activity was detected inside the fence. While they are not predators, they are voracious eaters of seedlings and capable of destroying large chunks of our plantings.
The first step was to use Abby the rabbit dog to find the hotspots (yes, dogs are prohibited, but Abby is a certified conservation dog). Then the rangers got to work to remove the rabbits and finally night flights of a drone fitted with thermal-imaging cameras were undertaken to see if they’d been successful. Fortunately it seems so – the cameras being sensitive enough to pick up even freshly laid pukeko eggs!
Seabirds have been breeding as well. We currently have a grey-faced petrel chick in a nest box, and we also have a couple of fluttering shearwaters sitting on eggs in nest boxes. If all goes well, the fledglings will live out at sea for a couple of years before returning to breed as adults. We band the chicks so if any come back we’ll know it is one of ours. It is a very slow process re-establishing a seabird colony, so every chick fledged is a milestone.
We also had a recent survey done using a seabird detection dog (another specialist). A couple of new natural petrel burrows were found, along with a few penguin burrows with chicks in them. Penguins are very vulnerable to dog attacks, and so its a timely reminder for dog walkers to ensure they are following the summer dog rules and keeping their dogs under control in areas where penguins are present. This includes Army Bay, where dogs are not permitted at any time on the beach beyond the boat-ramp.
