On 18 February 2024 a walk at the south end of Waikawa Beach brought a sad sight: one or more heavy vehicles had been on the beach doing 'donuts'. Round and round they'd gone, creating roughly ploughed up ridges and pits of sand. But wait, what's that white blob over on the left, encircled by the donuts? It's a native, declining Kororā | Little blue penguin, that's what. It looks in great condition, except that it's dead.
The group Wild Cats of Waikawa aims to trap wild and feral cats, neuter those that can be rehomed and then rehome them, mostly elsewhere. The cats are checked to make sure they don’t belong to anyone and their health is assessed too. To help fund their work they've just launched a beautifully produced and written book: The Wild Cats of Waikawa Beach. The book launch was a great success.
The Waikawa Environment Group has pest control as one of its aims. We know that stoats and wild cats are two particular threats to local birds, and that rabbits, rats and mice also cause problems. This item about smart traps that could perhaps be available by 2024 is interesting — Rodents beware: AI device being developed in NZ to kill invasive species | RNZ: An Artificially Intelligent Terminator is in development here in Aotearoa, but it is not quite the same in the movies.
On 14 August 2023 a Subantarctic fur seal spent a while resting on Waikawa Beach. A bit of research led me to discover that in September 2021 DOC asked to be advised of any sightings: Subantarctic fur seals are “cousins” of the native kekeno/New Zealand fur seal. They appear similar but have some obvious differences which make identification easy. “The key signs to look for are a blunter/shorter nose and creamy-coloured fur on the throat and underside,” says Laura Boren, Technical Advisor at DOC.
On Sunday 13 August 2023 there were reports of a seal on the beach not far from the south track off Reay Mackay Grove so I went to take a look. Next day Stephen Betts advised that apparently it wasn't our usual Kekeno | New Zealand fur seal: It appears it was a Subantarctic Fur Seal, and DOC were quite excited as they do not normally come this far north.
The whitebaiting season runs from 01 September to 30 October for those at Waikawa Beach. (Chatham Islands has a different season.) Detailed rules and links to useful leaflets and the relevant Law are available at the link above. What are whitebait? Whitebait are the juveniles of six freshwater fish (īnanga, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, shortjaw kokopu, kōaro and common smelt) which return upstream each spring to find suitable adult habitat.
First seal pup of the season, July 2019. Back in July 2019 I saw what I thought was a dog come down from the dunes and head for the sea. Then I realised it wasn’t a dog but a seal pup! This is the time of year when seal pups turn up on Waikawa Beach looking for all the world like bits of driftwood (or dogs). The Department of Conservation (DOC) wants people to keep an eye out for fur seals around New Zealand’s coastlines: Between May and September young kekeno/seals and male seals of any age can be spotted as they leave their breeding colonies, explore, and rest.
The NZ Garden Bird Survey 2023 is taking place between 24 June and 02 July 2023. One hour of your time will help researchers track trends in bird populations. The information from this survey helps inform conservation decisions and further research. To do your bit: Select a garden, a local park or school grounds. Choose any ONE day between 24 June and 2 July, 2023. Look and listen for birds on that day for ONE hour.
On 13 May 2023 the group Wild Cats of Waikawa held a yard sale on Hank Edwards Reserve that raised several hundred dollars. Everyone knows about the numerous cats that roam the area but don’t have a home to call their own. Many people are concerned about the harm these cats may do to the other wildlife we’re trying to protect, such as rare or declining native birds. Wild Cats of Waikawa aims to trap the cats, neuter those that can be rehomed and then rehome them, mostly elsewhere.
Unknown ginger cat with caught rabbit. Beverley Dowling recently posted some very useful info about trapping problem animals such as cats.
Beverley used to live at Waikawa Beach but is now Cat Education and Bylaw Compliance Officer in Whangarei. She advises:
To folks wanting to trap animals eg cats. Please Plan first Trap second Before trapping please have a plan in place. Consider How will you ascertain cat is truly wild or a cat that's been lost for a while in survival mode?
The Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust is concerned most people do not know about the country's native butterflies. Jacqui Knight said Kiwis loved the monarch butterfly, and grew swan plants to encourage them, but our New Zealand butterflies needed support too. "Every butterfly species has its own family of plants. We have a gorgeous red admiral butterfly and its host plant is stinging nettle," she said. The problem was most people saw stinging nettle and thought: 'Let's get rid of it.
In October 2017 the winds brought a fresh covering to our beach: millions of small dead blue things that I assumed to be baby Bluebottles. Then, a couple of days later, thanks to Blackstone — a Waikawa Friend, I learned that in fact they are Velella vellela, a relative of bluebottles, and a jelly fish. Velella velella carpet the beach. Photo by Miraz. They are also known as By The Wind Sailors, as they use a small sail to drift on the ocean surface.
A long while back I bumped into neighbours on the beach and they showed me an odd piece of plastic rubbish shaped like a molar that they'd picked up. Except it wasn't plastic — I'd come across one of these before and had spent a while researching, to discover it was the gas bladder from a porcupine fish. Porcupine fish swim bladder. What is a gas bladder? Australian Museum says: The gas bladder (also called a swim bladder) is a flexible-walled, gas-filled sac located in the dorsal portion of body cavity.
Seen those funny little narrow double tracks on the beach? It's a Sand scarab beetle larva: Pericoptus truncatus is the largest of the New Zealand native scarab beetles. … The larvae, pupae and adults are common amongst the roots of marram grass and under or within driftwood.
Ferret in a cage. Photo by Tom Renais, a visitor to Waikawa Beach, and used with permission. Fluffy, and kept as pets by some folks in other countries, the Ferret is a pest animal in Aotearoa New Zealand. Ferrets are small predators and are members of the mustelid family, along with stoats, weasels, badgers, mink and otters. Stoats, weasels and ferrets, the only mustelids present in New Zealand, pose a serious threat to our threatened wildlife.
Back in March 2022 we had Dolphins just off Waikawa Beach, now a local reports on Facebook:
Went for a swim about 1/2 hr ago [04 January 2023] and saw a pod of 3 Orca go past Swimming north,awesome to see.
No photos, unfortunately.
Slug next to my hand - it’s much longer than my little finger. When I moved a plank by the quail run one day I found this huge (~9cm) slug. It’s apparently a Limax maximus, or tiger slug:
Limax maximus is the largest slug introduced to New Zealand from Europe. … one of the largest kinds of keeled air-breathing land slug in the world
Like everywhere else in the country we have our share of pests. One to watch out for is the stoat. Some folks have had success trapping them. When I’ve spotted stoats they’ve looked very handsome. Unfortunately they’re killers. I lost several quail to one and neighbours have lost chickens. Who knows what damage they’ve done to native birds! DoC say: Stoats (Mustela erminea) are members of the mustelid family.
Kezna Cameron let me know about something that happens in June — a Gossamer Event: where spiders coat our wet land in cobwebs This is when thousands of young spiderlings climb the stalks of plants to play out silk that is caught by the breeze. This allows a spider to take to the air and disperse to new areas and is known as ballooning. They really don’t need much breeze to get going.
Eleven-Armed Sea Star, with one arm broken and two missing, on sand. We don’t often see starfish on our beach which doesn’t have the rockpools they may more usually be found in. This morning though (10-Apr–22) I saw one (or maybe two — the photos came from different stages of my walk and birds may have eaten a couple more arms). They are the native Eleven-Armed Sea Star, Coscinasterias Calamaria.
A friend was excited to have spotted dolphins just off the Waikawa Beach coast the other day. The dolphins were heading towards the Kāpiti Marine Reserve. Keep your eyes open. And if you’ve seen any dolphins (or other marine species) and especially if you have photos, please let me know at admin@wow-waikawa.nz . See Dolphins: New Zealand marine mammals (DoC)
Nine different species of dolphin are found around the New Zealand coast
Saddened today to discover half a dozen dead eels at the mouth of the Waiorongomai Stream. Each eel was about a metre long. I’ve been researching eels but am unsure if they’re Longfin or Shortfin.
Some information about eels:
Amazing Facts About Longfin Eels | Forest and Bird Eels: New Zealand freshwater fish (DoC) — see quote below Freshwater eels in New Zealand: Eels (DoC) Freshwater Eels PDF How to tell apart the three species of freshwater eels in New Zealand - each species is unique in its own way.
I’m not entirely sure, but I believe this roughly 15 cm pink or red jelly on the beach may have been a Lion’s Mane. I’d be keen to get confirmation or correction.
Update 02-Mar–22: The Wildlife of New Zealand Facebook group confirmed it as a Lion’s Mane.