Part 1: Islets and Reef Stacks
Survey data generously provided by Ewen K. Cameron & Shelley Heiss-Dunlop.
https://www.rakino.org.nz/rakino_botanical_survey.pdf
Published by Auckland Botanical Society, December 2023, vol. 78 (2) pp. 113-139
Part 1b: West islet group of five islets/stacks
https://www.rakino.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ABSJ-791-June-2024-p43-56-1.pdf
Published by Auckland Botanical Society, June 2024, Vol. 79 (1) pp. 43-56.
If there is one seafood Rakino is particularly abundant in, it’s spiky kina.
The un-charismatic sea urchin has managed to stealthily encroach on sub tidal rocky reef crevices all around our island. This would be bearable if there were vast schools of old granddaddy snapper with blubbery lips thick enough to crack their carapaces open, but the snapper inhabiting the reefs are in the main part juveniles. Likewise, crayfish are functionally extinct in the Hauraki Gulf, which means they exist in insufficient numbers to fulfil their role in the ecosystem as a predator of kina.
As a consequence kina are steadily munching their way through swathes of kelp beds creating kina ‘barrens’, which is pretty much what it says on the tin; areas barren of everything except kina. Healthy kelp beds are our most important and most diverse coastal ecosystems. They are nursery areas for many commercially fished species as well as a food larder of smaller rocky reef fishes for those species. They should teem with life, and in areas of high protection, they do.
They are also a larder for the seabird species we see around Rakino, the shags, little blue penguins, reef herons, gannets, shearwater, and petrels. The seabirds eat fish and their guano feeds nutrients back into the kelp beds so the cycle can continue.
This is the time of year to eat kina because they are supposedly sweeter and plumper. In some regions the collective wisdom is to harvest them when kowhai is in flower, in other areas when pohutukawa is in flower. Generally I would hazard the correct time to collect them is in Spring, at low-tide. If you were to adhere to Mātauranga Māori you would harvest them in the days immediately following a full moon.
The bag limit for kina is 50 per collector per day.
I’ve always been averse to kina; the descriptions of its flavour sounded frankly nasty, but I braved a mouthful after a recent snorkel and was pleasantly surprised. The orange roe is the part to eat, and its texture is quite firm. They were briny, lightly iodine flavoured, and mildly sweet. The immediate sensation was that I had eaten something tremendously healthy. Kina are tremendously healthy! Kina is a good source of Iodine, Selenium, Vitamin B6 and VitaminA; and a source of Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Riboflavin (vitamin B2) and Vitamin E.
I’ve noticed kina gradually creeping onto the menus of good restaurants around Auckland, in the same way they creep into every rock crevice available. I found this recent recipe from Al Brown on RNZ, so I’m sharing it in the hope you’ll all put some kina entrees on your Rakino summer menu this year. I advise a glove to protect your hand as you lever them off the rocks, and a bag to put your catch in. Don’t worry, they don’t move quickly…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/recipes/fried-kina-on-toast
On Labour Weekend of 2022 Experiencing Marine Reserves held a workshop on Rakino Island, the purpose being to train the snorkeling participants on timed swim methodology in order to collect rocky reef species abundance and diversity data, to better understand the state of Rakino’s rocky reefs. Ten Rakino-ites attended, and EMR also brought ten of their volunteers over for training.
The funding for this was provided by the Waiheke Local Board, and Waiheke Resources Trust generously umbrella-ed our grant application for free, in the interests of encouraging an ongoing relationship with the Rakino community. https://wrt.org.nz/
We’re very grateful for this. We were also able to purchase an underwater camera and some dive slates with the funding.
We spent the morning in the Hall learning to identify the rocky reef dwelling species we were likely to see around the Rakino coastline, and schooling up on health and safety. Both of these things are harder than they sound!
After a shared lunch the intrepid snorkelers donned their wet-suits and headed for the Sandy bay transects EMR trainer Sophie had plotted out earlier. One group headed around the rocks in the direction of Maori Garden Bay, and the other headed out towards the variously named island in Sandy Bay. I stayed on the beach with the weighty responsibility of counting snorkelers in and out of the water, and generally keeping an watchful eye.
It was a chilly October day and a couple of snorkelers sensibly heeded the health and safety instructions and headed back to relative comfort of shore when they felt out of their depth. The team that headed in the direction of MGB had a more successful snorkel so we have abandoned the transect around the back of the Sandy Bay island in favour of a couple of less challenging yet more fruitful transects.
Simon has since constructed a species identifying chart, and a form for participating snorkelers to record their fish counts on. https://www.rakino.org.nz/fish-count/
The hope is that over time we’ll accrue enough data that it can be mapped to show trends. Unfortunately this year didn’t start brilliantly weather-wise, so it’s not been easy to coordinate snorkelers, but we have a chat group established on FB messenger, and we may get one more fish count in before winter, at which point we’ll resume again in November. We’ve tried to get one fish count in per month. It requires ongoing practice to get the methodology right, and hopefully next season the weather will be calmer and the water less turbid.
I’ve also since learned to snorkel and identify the commonplace fish species so I can participate too, though I’m still learning how to wrangle the underwater camera!
The project is intended to be ongoing, and driven by volunteers. If anyone who couldn’t attend the workshop is keen to participate in future please let us know.
As our art space is red-stickered this Easter we are hosting an ‘art ramble’. There are four venues as listed on the map, and you are all welcome to ramble around to each of them between 2pm & 4pm on Easter Sunday, or if those hours don’t suit txt or call the host to arrange a more convivial time, possibly when the sun is shining. The Easter forecast is challenging, but don’t let a howling gale stop you. Slap on a rain-slicker and a pair of red-bands, grab yourself a refreshing rambling beverage, and set forth! The exercise in gale force winds will be bracing, and you’ll cross paths with your fellow windswept islanders while seeing what the island artistes have been working on. Start at either end of the map; it’s a very small island and the distances are short.
Here are a few tempting samples of art to view…
The January 27th Auckland flood has me thinking about flood mitigation because storm water run-off has caused a bank to slip into a stream on our Auckland property, but also the culvert running onto our Rakino property has barely stopped running this year, and has consequently dug itself a stream channel which was once ephemeral, but now seems a permanent fixture.
We want to slow the water flow down so as to avoid scouring and flushing out of sediment, and we want to ensure the water is cleaned of any contaminants before it eventually ends up in the Hauraki Gulf. It’s always been the way to pass run off and storm water to the properties downhill, but I think we need to increasingly look at mitigating at the source, water collection, riparian planting, and establishing ‘cleaning’ plants like carex in wetland areas.
Here are a couple of interesting studies from Landcare Research for perusal..
https://icm.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/research.asp?theme_id=1&research_id=13
https://icm.landcareresearch.co.nz/knowledgebase/publications/public/Roots_October08.pdf
The following is a transcript of a very difficult to secure interview with a Spotless Crake. No photographs were taken in accordance with his wishes.
Me – So, Pūweto, you’re an unlikely candidate for a celebrity interview because you’re famously reclusive. I’d consider you the Howard Hughes of the bird world, except of course, you’re not much of a flier…
Pūweto – pit-pit-pit-pit (scuttles into undergrowth)
Me – Okay, this doesn’t have to be face to face. If you’d feel more comfortable hiding in the muehlenbeckia while you tell me a bit about yourself that’s fine.
Pūweto – Pock!
Me – Oka-a-a-ay. You’re renowned for being cryptic, sort of mud-coloured and blue-ish, and you have glowing red eyes. Great stuff! Anything else you’d like the punters to know?
Pūweto – Well, okay, I agree to the interview, but NO pictures. Agreed?
Me – Chance would be a fine thing.
Pūweto – Exact numbers of Spotless Crakes in NZ aren’t known because we’re so secretive, and crepuscular which is an excellent word meaning active at dawn and dusk. There are a few of us on Rakino, and I’ve got cuzzies on Tiritiri Matangi, and Great Barrier as well as around various bits of wetland in the upper North Island and other offshore islands. Basically we like lurking in reeds and raupo in swamps where humans aren’t. You guys know hardly anything about us, and given we’ve gone into serious decline since European arrival you probably won’t find out either. (makes a sound like a pelican gargling frogs)
Me – Wow, touchy. How can I help?
Pūweto – Since you ask, for starters you can stop draining our wetland habitats for human activity. When you’ve stopped doing that you can replant the wetland plants you destroyed so we’ve got some plant-based food to eat, and then you can get rid of all your introduced predators so they won’t kill us, eat our eggs, and eat our protein source of invertebrates. M’kay?
Me – You’re quite sarcastic for a small uncharismatic bird. How did you do in Bird of the Year? I heard that in 2021 you came last….
Pūweto – RU-U-U-U-UDE! Some radio hosts made up a cool song about us in 2022, so we didn’t come last. FYI the Shining Cuckoo came last, quite rightly, the obnoxious little usurper.
Me – (trying to steer interview back to less troublesome territory) Umm, I think we may have got a little off-track. Which particular predators are the biggest threat to you?
Pūweto – As you so pointedly alluded to earlier, we’re not known for our soaring flight, so pretty much all of them, but most especially cats, dogs, mustelids, and rats. You humans have got a lot to rectify. Pock!
Me – Okay, thanks for your time. I’m going to plant a lot of carex in the stream for you next planting season, so hopefully our next encounter won’t be so fraught, though I understand your irritation. Please enjoy the rest of your day unmolested. 🙂
Spotless Crakes are found in a number of damp locations around Rakino.
According to DoC “They are a potential indicator of wetland health because they are dependent on the presence of high quality and ecologically diverse habitats and rich food supplies.”
This makes me feel happy in the knowledge that if you plant it they will come. Definitely time to get those native aquatic plants into the ground though…
We haven’t had a market on Rakino for a few years, so a few enthusiastic people have decided to have a crack at reinstating it on the Rakino events calendar.
It’s going to happen this year on October 23rd, 1pm till 3-ish, down at the Hall, after the RRA meeting. There will be a $10 a market table koha to be donated to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Trust.
If you have bits and bobs to sell, come on down, and if you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket, definitely come on down. Come on down regardless.
There will be a sausage sizzle, so bring some gold coins for that, and Jennie Cruse will be busking, so bring some gold coins for her.
There will be t-shirts, tote-bags, cool pottery mugs, preserves, pearls, and much more. The art rooms will be open also, for painting ceramics, and jewels. Cash transfers are available.
If you need more info, email me, lisa@lisawest.co.nz
We look forward to seeing your lovely faces on Sunday. 🙂
I have good news for the aspiring Rakino fish-counting snorkelers.
Many thanks to the Waiheke Local Board who have approved the grant we applied for to fund the Experiencing Marine Reserves workshop to be held on Rakino this coming Labour Weekend. Part of the grant includes funding for an underwater camera for documentation purposes, so with a bit of practise we’ll be able to show the non-snorkelers what lives in the rocky reefs around Rakino.
Also a big thanks to the excellent people at the Waiheke Resources Trust who supported our application. I’m confident we can build on that relationship in future.
Here is the link for anyone who is interested in Rakino-based citizen science;
https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/rakino-marine-monitoring-workshop-registration-422187924447
It’s free to participants, and we’ll supply your lunch. All the details you need to know are in the link, but don’t hesitate to email me at lisa@lisawest.co.nz if you require anything further.
Lying in bed I can just see the bottom of the kākā nesting box that was installed high up a large old kanuka tree a couple of months ago. It doesn’t have any nesting kākā residing in it, but in future years it may as kākā numbers increase due to successful predator control, and they spread out around Auckland. Kākā from the Aotea Great Barrier flock have been appearing in Kaipātiki during the winter months for a few years now, though still in small numbers.
The Kaipātiki area on Auckland’s North Shore has a significant canopy area of 30%, a number of mature bush reserves, as well as areas of remnant kauri, so it’s little wonder it would be attractive to winter foraging Nestors. They seem attracted to the gully we live in, I think because it contains a number of tall trees, including kauri, and a variety of food options for generalist kākā, who eat seeds, insects, young leaves, and nectar.
The nesting box project was conceived by Pest-Free Kaipātiki, a local ecological umbrella group who provide tools and expert knowledge to volunteer groups who want to remove invasive weeds and introduced predators from the Kaipātiki environment. It’s a bold project, and the notion that we might one day have kākā nesting a short ferry ride from Auckland’s CBD is exciting.
The nesting box design was drafted up by Burgess, Treep + Knight Architects and from my vantage point looks rather palatial. The ‘hollow’ is a length of 400mm diameter pipe lined with untreated wood, and it has a possum proof roof. Volunteers generously gave their time to assemble the nesting boxes, and they were installed by arborists from Tree Tops. There are six of them placed around areas kākā are known to frequent in Kaipātiki.
We didn’t know how many kākā were visiting, or their sex. I have heard reports of four kākā roosting in the old pines behind my neighbours, but the most I have seen at any one time is three.
I obsessively photographed and videoed them throughout August and September this year whenever they visited, and finally managed to establish that there was a solitary male who would call in, and a male and a female who would visit together. All three once visited simultaneously, and the cacophony and maelstrom of kākā activity was overwhelming.
A solo kākā will be harassed by tūī, but two kākā seem more than a match for the local tūī gang.
I set up a project on iNaturalist to diarise and keep track of their appearances. The last entry is September 29th at 7.54am. It reads ‘Saw kaka fly past bedroom window heading towards Fernglen gardens. Very close to house.’ They may turn up a couple more times before heading back to their Hauraki Gulf island homes to breed, but they won’t be roosting here full time again till next June/July. It’s always interesting to note the dates when I get Facebook memories that mention kākā.
The most important thing is knowing that a healthy female was roosting here for a number of months. I also managed to capture a photograph of them in close vicinity to the nesting box, and on one occasion I saw a kākā perched on it’s roof, but my photo is terrible, and just shows a confusion of feathers to the left of the image. I think that bodes well for the future of the nesting box project. :>
Many thanks to Pest-Free Kaipātiki for letting me share this project. 🙂
Featured image is of the apple thief.
Read the latest blog from our neighbours on the Noises here…
I’d like to encourage anyone who is worried about the continuing degradation of the Hauraki Gulf to write to the relevant ministers, David Parker, & James Shaw, d.parker@ministers.govt.nz, j.shaw@ministers.govt.nz
Make a noise for the Noises, and the Hauraki Gulf.
