Nail biting territory

It is now into nail biting territory for the nesting oystercatchers.

Thursday of next week is the first day that eggs could potentially hatch. Friday of next week is when the first of the summer spring tides occurs with 1.8m tides that whole weekend (the highest we've had so far is 1.6m) which could potentially inundate the nest. More of that next week as we will need volunteers that weekend as well.

If you have time to spare this weekend we will need volunteers on the beach as the tides are lowish all day, meaning the potential for people to want to walk creek side rather than beach side. People walking creek side end up tipping the bird off nest because the bird has such a clear view of them approaching. The only time the birds are off nest when people walk beach side is at the high tides, but that is usually only a 2 minute disturbance, but of course they all add up if there is too many. It will be weather dependent, with the peak times requiring coverage being 10.30 am to 3pm. If you wish to volunteer let me know what day and time you would like and I will send a confirmation email and get you to ring me, or give me your phone number and I will ring you, before turning up at your allotted time so we can decide if the weather is good enough to warrant coming.

We will also be filling some sand bags (will be picking up more next week), which we can leave lined up inside the fence at one of the far ends of the nesting site in a configuration similar to what we will place in front of the nest. This is to give the two ravens we still have on beach time to investigate and see that there is nothing of interest to them so that when we move them in front of the nesting site, Thursday of next week, they shouldn't be interested in investigating them further.

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Last weekend on the beach was great. We had a lot of people coming up to ask what was happening, they were asking lots of questions, stayed a long time to chat and thanked us profusely for our efforts. All the boats that had dogs (even though dogs are not permitted on the beach at any time) stayed up the northern end of the Spit and were happy to just throw balls up that end rather than wanting to walk them the full length of the beach. There was only one that tried to land in front of the fence, they had an anti social staffy and were worried what may happen if they had their dog up with the others. Upon hearing what might happen with the birds if they stayed where they were, they moved further away from both the birds and other dogs.

Last weekend was not without incident. On the Saturday night a large group of loudly singing teenagers were running all over the beach with torches. It was 9.30 at night so I was not game enough to go down on my own so I shouted down to them to let them know there were endangered birds nesting that they were disturbing and would they please go home. I was pleasantly surprised to hear them shout back "You want us to go home?". I replied "yes, please" and they just said "OK" and left.

The other biggie was there is a holiday house directly opposite the nest site that rarely sees people using it. When they do use it, it is usually packed with people, sometimes with multiple tents also set up in the yard. When they turn up they usually turn up with dogs. The property does not have a fence and at Xmas the border collie they own spends all day running up and down the beach trying to find someone to play with. I had dreaded them turning up and hoped they wouldn't until Xmas, but unfortunately was not that lucky.

I had to have 3 tries at talking with them, try every story I knew about the plight of the beach nesting shorebirds to find one that resonated with them so they would move their dog out of the yard facing the creek. Obviously started off with "of course you have every right to do what you want in your own backyard" with the upshot being "but if you keep your dog here then the birds will be constantly off nest and may then abandon the nest". They kept trying to tell me they thought they were plovers as they had seen them nesting on the beach before. I had to keep repeating they were endangered pied oystercatchers, showing them the picture and explaining if the dog goes around the other side of the house, the birds will come back to the nest and then they will clearly see that they are large black and white birds, not the spindly brownish ones. The birds had been off nest on 3 separate occasions for 30 minutes at a time because it could see their "old dog, which wouldn't harm a fly and wouldn't step into the water". As the disturbances were spaced out, one on the Friday evening, and two early morning Saturday, when temps were in the goldilocks range, I am hoping the disturbances won't affect the viability of the eggs hatching.

As far as I know, they were the last of the regulars that swim their dog/s in that area that I had to ask. Of the others, the ones that I had to work at more than once and eventually grudgingly agreed to suspend taking their dogs there until Xmas are also not permanents but are here many weekends. The other two permanent locals did not take convincing to co-operate, but again on the condition that it is only while the birds are nesting. When they've been doing it for years without fear of ever getting fined that is the only concession I can hope for. Better than no cooperation at all.

Thanks everyone for your continued support and hope to see you soon.