Source: Radio New Zealand
Timber on the trails at Matairangi/Mt Victoria. SUPPLIED
A Wellington mountain biker says riders aren’t a threat to nesting kārearea, after vigilante attempts to keep people off the trails.
Tracks on Matairangi/Mt Victoria have been vandalised this week, with logs, holes and makeshift barricades put up across them.
Local rider Rod Bardsley, who helps build and maintain the track, told Morning Report it appeared to be an attempt to protect kārearea, New Zealand’s native falcon, nesting on the ground nearby.
According to the Department of Conservation, kārearea did not build a nest – instead, the bird made a scrape on the ground and laid its eggs in that. A typical clutch consisted of between two and four eggs, which took just over a month to hatch.
The female guarded the nest until the nestlings are close to fledging, which took another month or more after hatching.
Only a month ago, Hutt City Council asked people using the Haywards Track to give the birds some space and avoid using the area, after nesting kārearea began swooping on walkers.
But Barnsley said mountain bikers were not a threat.
“We need to look after native birds,” he said. “But the ridiculous thing is, we’re riding hard-packed, formed trails at a reasonable speed. We’re not of any threat to any nesting birds.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
