Pouteria Blog

Wetland 1 was looking good today, 13 September 2026, apart from the pampas that has sprung up! See photo.

Today M and T completed the Upper Pink Loop with new volunteers S and V. This was a bit of a refresher for M and T as well, as JL and F have been baiting this loop for quite some time.

M completely failed  to take a group selfie or even a photo of the new volunteers but we did find this photo of S and V to insert here for now.

Photo?

Conditions were good underfoot. The path was reasonably clear with only a small number of windfall trees needing clearing - one 4m lancewood was rescued from under windfall trees, most of its roit structure was intact and it just needed propping up, hopefully it should survive, it got flagged so it can be checked on during the next pulse.

Photo?

The following photo captures how amazing nature can be when dealing with obstacles inserted into the bush by humans.

Photo?

Like Yellow Loop last week, all bait stations had been cleaned out. Some had quite a lot of mouse poo in them.

Weka, fantails and wood pigeon either seen or heard.

No moth plant vines were spotted.

A privet tree (previously spotted from Orapiu Road in tge upper canopy) was found and double pink flagged for future ringbarking below d1000.

There's still plenty of garden escapees (blue morning glory, mont brevia and agapathus) around d1150 that need controlling.

Quite a field of juvi tobacco had appeared at the top of Te Matuku Ngai Tai Reserve (near f00) which we grubbed.

Patches of asparagas (round d950 through to d1100 and around c1600), gorse and pampas (c1600) persist, mainly to the North of the boundary with Ngai Tai in an area that has had the least amount of work so far but, overall, the Reserve was looking way better than it has previously. 

New volunteers, S and V, indicated, at the end of the Loop, that they are happy to take on Pink Upper Loop going forward. Yay!

We have lived at the Bottom End for around 26 years.

In our first year in Omaru Bay I was on the phone with someone working in conservation who told me there were no weka on Waiheke. I had my NZ illustrated bird book on my lap at the time open at the weka page and the bird on our front lawn, less than 2m away from me through the glass, looked exactly like the weka illustration in the book. Since there "were no weka on Waiheke" it must have been a figment of my immagination!  Not long after, I visited Stoney Batter and saw more weka near the museum / tunnel entrance.

Just recently I was again speaking with someone working in conservation who mentioned that kaka had only recently started to successfully nest on Waiheke (as a result of the successful stoat erradication programme run by Te Korowhi O Waiheke) and kaka numbers on Waiheke are up over 900 percent. I was rather surprised by this information as kaka and kaka fledglings have been sighted in Te Matuku Bay Scenic Reserve (and photographed on 1 January 2020 - see blog post of that date) and in many (most?) years past kaka have nested in Omaru Bay. We used to see big flocks flying together around Omaru Bay (24 on one occasion). In more recent years the most we have seen flying together around Omaru Bay is 14. Potentially, as a result of fewer predators, kaka have dispursed more widely across the island, but, equally, potentially Vector destroyed one of the main kaka nesting sites in Omaru Bay in February 2024.  Vector felled (by cutting off at base) some huge pines in February 2024. For about 10 days after the trees were felled the kaka circled the area where the trees had stood, very stressed and discombobulated. It was a sad sight to see. There does seem to be another kaka nesting site in the bay and there's certainly plenty of evidence of kaka tree destruction - this year the huge Redwood in Omaru Bay has been a favorite feeding spot and it is currently suffering with much bark removed.

At the end of Winter (August in NZ) when the weather, and other things might get one down, nature provides a pick me up in the form of Clematis vines in flower. Right now Omaru Bay and Te Matuku Bay are dotted with white flowers, high in the canopy. When the wind blows petals rain down onto the forest floor.

See images below.

The Culvert Saga - flooding

Just north of 530 Orapiu Road is a large under road culvert, meant to convey storm water from the valley to the East into the sea at the head of Te Matuku bay.

When F and A owned 530 Orapiu Road (according to A) they advised Auckland Council that the culvert was inadequate in severe weather events and on occasions water over-ran the road.  Some time later Auckland Council contractors turned up with two culvert pipes and proceeded to dig up the under road culvert. The existing culvert pipe (42inch diameter) was replaced with another culvert pipe (1m in diameter). A commented that, with Auckland Council contractors turning up with two culvert pipes, they thought that the existing pipe was going to be replaced by two pipes and that would likely have solved the problem, but that did not occur. What actually occurred was a larger diameter (imperial measure) pipe was replaced by a smaller diameter (metric measure) pipe (C took the measurements and photos and if he can find them in his records this post will be annotated with those in due course). Replacing a larger diameter pipe with a smaller diameter pipe only exacerbated the flooding problem. In addition, the replacement of the old pipe destabilished the earth around the pipe and in each of the next two flooding events the tarseal on the East (upper) side of Orapiu Road was damaged and washed away due to the force of the flood waters. This necessitated Auckland Council contractors repairing the road side and surface. On a subsequent occasion, when this happened again, Auckland Council contractors concreted rocks along the road sides around and on either sides of the culvert entry on both the East and West sides of Orapiu Road. 

Around that time M commissioned an engineer (L) to calculate the difference in volume through put of the smaller diameter pipe versus the prior marginally larger diameter pipe - and the volume throughput differential was significant at 217litres per second at full volume.

M presented this information to the Local Board and requested the Board rectify the issue or, at a minimum, the Local Board had a Health and Safety obligation, to install warning signs indicating the road floods periodically, alongside depth indicators showing the depth of flood waters. (M is likely to have records of this presentation in her files in deep filing and if/when she finds that information this post will be annotated in due course).

Nothing happened.

On the occasion of at least one flooding event a person tried to drive through the flood waters and ran into difficulty with their car washed aside by the power of the flood waters.

M subsequently contacted Auckland Transport and was told by an Auckland Transport Officer that the road there was "designed to flood". Clearly this statement was nonsense. Had the road been "designed to flood" the road sides would have been stabilised with rocks and flooding signs and depth indicators would have been installed from the outset.

M persisted. This time writing to the Local Board pointing out the Health and Safety risk posed by a road that floods without warning signs or depth indicators. M made sure the Local Board unsderstood that, having been made aware of the risk, the risk lay with them should any fatality or loss occur. (M is likely to have records of this communication in her files in deep filing and if/when she finds that information this post will be annotated in due course).

Nothing happened.

M persisted. This time writing to DD of AC. (M is likely to have records of this communication in her files in deep filing and if/when she finds that information this post will be annotated in due course).

Amazingly - after around 15 years of trying  (and likely  thanks to action by DD) - in early 2025 flooding signs and depth indicators suddenly appeared.

https://pouteria.org.nz/blog/index.php?post/2025/04/21/Subject-to-Flooding

Since the culvert pipe was changed M estimates there have been at least 8 occasions when the road has flooded.

A Potential Fill Site - a disaster waiting to happen

The Te Matuku Marine Reserve actually spans the area on both the East and West side of the culvert. On the Eastern edge of the Marine Reserve on the East side of the culvert is an area of Esplanade Reserve and wetland.  On a property, immediately adjacent to the Esplanade Reserve, a new fill site is proposed. See map and photos below.

Consenting such a fill site at this location, given the following information, would be reprehensible.

Overall Te Matuku Bay is the highest value ecological asset on Waiheke Island.  It is unmatched locally in its comprehensive structural complexity and ecological health. It is the island's largest and least disturbed estuary, its best complete estuarine to forest vegetation sequence and its most critical wading bird habitat.  The three highest ranked wetlands on the Island are found in the bay (ranked by Bennett for Auckland Council in 2012).  Te Matuku dominates the island ecological hierarchy  because of its uninterrupted environmental continuity.  Other areas on Waiheke are highly fragmented by urban development or farming but Te Matuku provides an intact seamless transition from deep water channels  to intertidal mudflats, saltwater mangroves, freshwater raupo wetlands and mature kauri and tanekaha forest.

Within greater Auckland Te Matuku stands out regionally because its marine catchment remains extraordinarily clean and undisturbed by urban stormwater with the result being a rare example of unpolluted unbroken marine-to-terrestrial ecology which sees the bay being a sanctuary stronghold for resilient spiny tubeworm colonies.

On a national scale, Te Matuku holds elite status due to its Marine Reserve and Area of Significant Conservation Value designation, which it has because it acts as a critical international hub for migratory birds (such as the bar-tailed godwit flying in from Alaska) and an essential breeding ground for the endangered New Zealand dotterel. Te Matuku is on a par with the country's most significant coastal sanctuaries.