Beach users leaving tyre marks through dotterel breeding grounds

Monday, 31 July 2017

Cars and motorbikes have been driving through the habitat of the endangered New Zealand dotterel on Rahotu beach.

People driving motocross bikes, dune buggies and quads on a Taranaki beach are damaging the habitat of an endangered bird, a conservation group has warned.

Only around 2000 New Zealand dotterels are left and Dotterel Defenders co-ordinator Emily Roberts said she had seen an increase in the number of tyre marks left through the small birds' breeding grounds in places such as Rahotu beach.

The adult dotterel can be very hard to spot, and the chicks and eggs are even better camouflaged.

But she said it was most likely people just didn't realise they were driving through the valuable habitat and encouraged beach users to become more aware of their surroundings.

'I'm down there quite a lot doing conservation work and I quite often see damage in the dunes and through the dotterel breeding area but it seems to have gotten worse recently,' she said.

* Endangered dotterel pair call a Hobsonville Point construction site

* Be careful of dotterel nests on North Piha's beach

The dotterel, a small grey-brown bird that almost went extinct, nests on sandy beaches above the high tide mark where it lays two to three eggs that are the colour of wet sand.

With the breeding season coming up between August and March, Roberts asked beach users to stick below the high tide mark.

'That's the same for people, dogs and cars,' she said.

'The New Zealand dotterel will let you know if you're somewhere near their nesting habitat so best to just move on.'

The damage to the dunes was likely being done by people from outside the Rahotu area, who wouldn't know the significance of the beach and Roberts said they were keen to educate people about it.

'There's also locals that go down there fishing and collecting kaimoana and have been very responsible,' she said.

'The people that are being irresponsible may be unaware.'

She said they had been in contact with both the Taranaki Regional Council and the South Taranaki District Council, who had been keen to help out and the Taranaki Motorcycle club had also been quite responsive.