Dream of kiwi in Eastbourne
Sally Bain likes the smell of bird poo.
It is a sign that pest control projects are paying dividends and gives her hope that rats and other pests will one day be eradicated from the Wellington suburb of Eastbourne.
Bain is part of an ambitious programme called Educating Residents About Trapping (ERAT).
ERAT hopes to expand on the work done by Mainland Island Restoration Operation, which had trapped the hills above Eastbourne for about 20 years.
That operation had concentrated on the ridge line but the aim now is to target the urban area and create a large pest-free zone.
The programme is based on a highly successful scheme in Crofton Downs, started by Kelvin Hastie.
Crofton Downs is now free of rats, possums and stoats, and serves as a blueprint for a project to make Wellington City pest free, with Hastie at the helm as community champion.
Initial success in Crofton Downs was based on getting every fifth house trapping for rats, mice and stoats. Eastbourne is hilly and bush clad, so Bain is instead trying to have traps laid out every 80 metres and is knocking on doors, asking people to become trappers.
Trapping the ridge line above her home in York Bay had already paid dividends for Bain. In three months she caught 60 rats and is also targeting mice, stoats and hedgehogs.
‘‘The numbers caught have fallen dramatically. It might be my imagination but I am noticing an increase in fantails and I can smell the bird poo under trees.’’
That smell was more noticeable now that bird numbers had increased and there were fewer rats to eat the poo under the trees.
Community support for pest control had many advantages beyond boosting bird numbers. Bain got to know her neighbours better and said the information collected on where people lived would be invaluable in a civil defence emergency.
The project had received a positive response from one unexpected sector of the community. ‘‘There a lot of cat owners who feel they would like to do their part and prove that cats are not the sole problem.’’
The Hutt City Council subsidises the cost of traps, and the programme had received a $35,000 grant from Conservation Minister Maggie Barry.
Resident bird species included white head, rifleman, tui, fantails, bell birds, kereru, kakariki, shining cuckoo, karearea and tom tits. Pest control would boost their numbers and attract new species like kaka, she said.
Having a large area of bush on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour would create a ‘‘stepping stone’’ for birds linking in with Zealandia, Matiu/Somes Island and the Rimutaka Forest Park.
The kiwi population in the nearby Rimutaka Forest Park was expanding and, if Eastbourne could become predator free, Bain hoped to have kiwi one day return to the bush around her house.