Prince shows talent for finding rare birds
[Harry] is a very nice young fella and he was very interested in what’s being done here.
For the next week, every step he takes will be seen by thousands but, yesterday, Prince Harry viewed what one Department of Conservation ranger called ‘‘the old New Zealand’’.
Harry was treated to a getaway to one of the country’s most spectacular remote islands, the pestfree Ulva Island open island sanctuary, yesterday afternoon.
The island is home to plants and wildlife that aren’t seen anywhere else on earth, and Harry didn’t have to wait long for his first glimpse of a rare bird.
Barely a minute after stepping onto the island, he was greeted by a weka.
‘‘There are birds here that are unique to this island?’’ he asked DOC rangers. ‘‘Wow, that’s something.’’ While he didn’t come across a kiwi, as he had earlier revealed was the top of his New Zealand bucket list, the unspoilt rainforest turned on a treat for its royal visitor, who was notably impressed by his surroundings.
‘‘It’s really come to life after the rain yesterday,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a beautiful place, it really is.’’
The prince was given a guided tour of part of the 270-hectare, 3.5km-long island, stopping along the way to learn how to set a rat trap and to meet members of the Ulva Island Charitable Trust.
The island has been pest-free since 1997 and is on the leading edge of island conservation management, attracting about 25,000 tourists each year.
DOC leads the world in pest eradication and has cleared mammalian predators from 117 offshore islands in the past decade, with senior ranger Dale Chittenden describing Ulva Island jewel in the crown’’.
The relatively unmodified island ‘‘shows what New Zealand used to be’’, in the midst of an environment that is under threat and continues to decline, he said.
Achieving the best possible conservation results came down to spreading the word, and there was no better way to do that than to show one of the world’s finest examples of conservation to one of the world’s most high-profile people, he said.
‘‘Stewart Island had attracted a
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‘‘the lot of important people, but having Prince Harry here is just really special,’’ Chittenden said.
‘‘It’s not often people get the opportunity to get out into an environment like this, so we’re very fortunate that someone of his profile has come here to help showcase what’s here.’’
The charismatic prince also met members of a family who have owned a portion of the island for almost a century, joking that the two sisters at the end of the family line would have to ‘‘fight it out’’ to claim ownership.
He described them as being ‘‘very lucky’’ to lay claim to a part of the world as picturesque as Ulva Island.
‘‘We’ve owned 7.2 hectares for 93 years,’’ John Hunter said.
‘‘[Harry] is a very nice young fella and he was very interested in what’s being done here.
‘‘We’re just caretakers of this in our lifetime – it’s something we need to preserve for the next generations to inherit and it’s great to have a person in [Harry]’s position understand that and take an interest.’’
John Hunter