Reader KV Lay wrote to the Bay of Plenty Times about the Oceanbeach Rd residents complaining about spraying of the exotic plants and weeds in the dunes.
What do you think? Have your say on the issue by posting in the comments below.
I see some Oceanbeach Rd residents are complaining about spraying of the exotic plants and weeds in the dunes, claiming the spray is killing, among other things, birds, namely larks and pheasants.
Be in no doubt, the greatest killer of larks and pheasants (both ground nesting birds) are domestic cats.
These born-to-kill animals take sadistic delight in stalking and killing chicks and will have a go at full-grown hen pheasants.
And also, even when wearing a bell around their necks, they are very good at climbing trees and killing baby birds in their nests, including native birds such as fantails.
Insofar as Janet Peters (News, July 30) and her neighbours forming a human chain to stop council workers removing exotic plants is concerned, perhaps their time would be better spent helping Coast Care with replanting the dunes with plants which are known to be ideal for retaining sand and rebuilding the dunes.
And as for removal of agapanthus (have they been declared a noxious weed yet?) resulting in destabilising the dunes, go and have a look at the areas from where these plants have recently been removed.
The ground looks stable to me.
- KV Lay, Mount Maunganui