Ducks Unlimited NZ
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Issue 162

Issue 162

January 2015

 

  • Wetlands under scrutiny
  • Dan Steele Nuffield Scholar
  • Heaps of photos
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From the President

John Cheyne, DUNZ President
Well, spring has passed with good numbers of ducklings observed on local wetlands in Central Hawke’s Bay. The problem now is, will the weather gods give us enough rain to top the wetlands up before a projected dry summer? Fingers crossed. DU NZ has supported a number of wetland enhancement projects over many years but we have…
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Birds in peril World Over

Red=Billed Gull
Bird species the world over are victims of human activities and thoughtlessness. Who would have thought our local New Zealand sea birds (red beaked gulls in particular), could ever reach a point when their numbers would dwindle and the possibility of their extinction could be just a matter of years away? In Britain too, there…
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Co-patron Diane Pritt interview

Co-patron Diane Pritt interview Country Life, National Radio Radio New Zealand’s Country Life presenter Susan Murray took the time to travel to Ohakune and meet Ducks Unlimited Co-Patron Diane Pritt at her home farm Mitredale.  So if any of you are listeners to National Radio’s Country Life programme on Friday nights or  Saturday mornings, you…
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Takahē take to new home

All in: A group of Takahe at a feeder used to help them settle and to enable future management requiring capture.
  In October last year we released 10 takahē intoTāwharanui Open Sanctuary, North Auckland.This nationally critical species has come to Tāwharanui as a secure site that may enable  breeding to improve the population and its conservation status.    Despite being released 2km in a straight line from the Mangatawhiri wetland  and further as the takahē trundles, six of the…
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Dan (the Blue Duck man) Steele

Ducks Unlimited director Dan Steele, is one of this year’s five Nuffield New Zealand Scholarship winners. In the past 60 years this award has provided the opportunity for a select group of young rural New Zealanders to have a life changing experience. Overseas travel, study the latest developments in agricultural countries, along with the opportunity…
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‘Ghost’ whio returns to Whakapapanui Stream

Paired up: No colour bar here.
A ‘ghost’ whio that hatched on the Whakapapanui Stream in Tongariro National Park two seasons ago appears to have returned to the stream near Whakapapa Village - with a mate this time. Nicknamed the ghost whio due to its very pale light blue grey colouring the duck was part of a clutch that hatched on…
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Wairio under scrutiny

Ecological restoration of Wairio Wetland, Lake Wairarapa The response of native wetland vegetation to eutrophication and re-vegitation management strategies. Abstract: Aprille Gillon. Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that support abundant native fauna and flora and provide many essential functions and services, for example, water purification, erosion stabilisation, floodwater storage, groundwater recharge, peat accumulation and biogeochemical cycling. …
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Hydrological and chemical characteristics of Matthews Lagoon and Boggy Pond, Wairarapa

Research students: Aprille Gillon and Cheng Shi find there is more to wetland research than just checking vegetation.
Essential information for the decision making process of wetland restoration. Abstract: Cheng Shi. Wetlands are areas where lands transition  to water bodies. Because of this special geomorphological setting, wetlands play important roles in flood control, nutrient retention, and water storage. In New Zealand, less than 10 percent of the original wetlands have survived since human…
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