Birds-eye view for a benefit
Funds raised from this Sunday's Gondola Hill walk will go toward replacing remote, hard-to-reach traps in the area with automated versions, along with other initiatives. Photo: Supplied.
By Evan Tuchinsky
Anna Polson hopes Sunday turns out to be a sunny day. Otherwise, for the second time this year, Picton Dawn Chorus and Kaipupu Sanctuary will need to call off the third annual fundraising walk up Gondola Hill.
The environmental organisation, for which Anna coordinates community outreach, originally scheduled the 2.2km trek for 18 May. Weather preempted that plan. If conditions again appear unsuitable, the 12 October walk faces the same fate.
Anna will keep potential participants updated via the Picton Dawn Chorus page on Facebook.
“It’s quite a magical place to visit,” Anna said of the hill 433m above sea level, also known as Mount Collins. “It’s one of the highest points around Picton; it’s on private land, not normally accessible to anybody. It’s not on the sanctuary, but you get a nice view of the sanctuary.”
Kaipupu Sanctuary, on the peninsula off Shakespeare Bay, is a focal point of “rewilding” Waitohi Picton. The volunteer-driven group traps invasive pests – rats in particular – and plants trees to preserve the area’s cherished bird population.
Picton Dawn Chorus and Kaipupu Sanctuary monitors around 5,000 traps. Many sit beside trails, readily accessed; others are remote and only checked every six months.
Funds raised Sunday (weather willing) will go toward replacing the hard-to-reach traps with automated versions, along with other initiatives, “so we can continue the work that we’re doing,” Anna said. Volunteers with the Ngahere Tree Planting Group tend to 1,000 trees they’ve planted the past three winters. The organisation also operates a native nursery, conducts tours and provides educational outreach on local ecology.
“Picton Dawn Chorus is aiming to restore the Dawn Chorus,” Anna continued. “We have a lot of activities going on. The reason is we have so much beautiful bird life and bush, but it’s under siege, so we’re trying to preserve and maintain what grows here naturally.”
The walk Sunday starts at 10 a.m. from the end of Fantail Heights at Endeavour Park Estate. Register through Eventfinda, then pay on site: $20 for adults and youth 13 and over, $15 for group members, free for youth 12 and under.