Wetlands
Pateke Lagoons in drought:
Pateke Lagoons in early summer: A very dry winter has rolled into an even drier spring with less than 10mm of rain in ten weeks. as a result the lagoons are drying up much to the chagrin of the waterfowl who are now wading as much as they are swimming. The overall hatch seems to be down on last year with average Canada goose broods being two or three asa gainst four or five last year. Duckling numbers also seem to be down. Early spring was warm so we had good grass and sedge growth but the sun has dried much of this away. We pray for rain but with the south Easterly cycle seeming to have a grip on the country this is unlikely in the near future. Could be a very dry summer indeed. (Dec 05)
Update March 06:We are now in the grip of quite a serious drought. there have been odd patches of rain, enough to get a little green back into the flax and the pasture. However the ponds have virtually dried out with the water table at least 1200mm below normal. Our bore has also dried out causing us to search for water elsewhere. The effects on the ponds have been significant. Very large cracks in the mud have appeared and the ground is dry enough to walk on for the first time ever. The drying effect has encouraged a sudden bursting out of raupo which will try to colonise at any opportunity. If the drought continues this will reduce the open water area needed by the waterfowl for breeding next season. The dabchick families appear to have reduced by two pairs, but they may have flown to other areas. we have discovered one pair on another pond which has deeper water. The dry however will also have made it easier for stoats and weasles to get to the young dabchicks who are defenceless on land. Mallard Marsh continues to hold water luckily and it has pretty much reached its carrying capacity for grey teal for overnight roosting. Unless we get some serious rain I predict that we will have a poor breeding season this year.