Environment – Deluge impacts park

The severe rainfall events of late January certainly had some impacts on Shakespear Regional Park. 

The pest-proof fence has a ‘blow-out’ zone at the rear of the Waterfall Gully dam, where the bottom of the fence lifted off the ground to allow excess water to escape. The fence is designed to allow this to happen and once the flow subsided the Park Rangers quickly restored the mesh to prevent any pest incursions.

The Okoromai wetland area filled up, and access to the amenity area was under water, as was the campground and the access road.

Some of the pest monitoring and trapping equipment was washed away or tipped over and staff and volunteers worked hard to reinstate the hardware.

Post-downpour, the Auckland Council biosecurity team issued advice on the increased risk of pest incursions to islands and sanctuaries. They noted that: ‘There have been several reports of pest animals such as possums, rodents and stoats on the move, displaced in flood-affected areas as they seek higher ground and dry places. In one report, many live rats were observed being washed into the sea from a creek on the North Shore.’ 

As might be expected, one or two rats were detected inside the Open Sanctuary fence, but systems are in place to deal with them. Thankfully, apart from the impacts on infrastructure and increased risk of pest incursions, the landscape, plants and animals of the Open Sanctuary seem to have come through the deluge relatively unharmed. 

The biggest risk to birds is to those that nest in burrows dug into the ground, as these can flood in severe rain events, possibly flushing eggs or chicks out of the burrows. Fortunately, our breeding seabirds had mostly fledged their chicks before the rain came. Little spotted kiwi could have eggs or chicks at this time and so they might have reduced breeding success this year.

Bird feathers are designed to shed rain and, even in heavy downpours, our forest birds can maintain their body temperature and sit out the weather. Survival becomes more difficult if their access to food is restricted by severe wet and windy conditions over extended periods. Of course, there are lots of juvenile birds around at this time of year and they may be less able to survive in tough conditions. Climate scientists are telling us that we may expect both more dry days and more days with heavy rainfall events. Our birds can probably cope with heavy rainfall events provided they don’t extend over many consecutive days. And once some of those drier days arrive we can take the opportunity to get back into the park and enjoy the precious wildlife.