Oystercatchers on empty nests a heartbreaker

If it wasn't so pitifully sad, you'd probably laugh. Ruakaka oystercatchers are dutifully sitting on nests long after their chicks or eggs have died through human interference, or being swept away in the tide.
It's the devoted adult birds - they're the black ones with the orange beaks and a tendency to shriek theatrically when humans come too near - faithfully sitting on empty nests that are breaking Margaret Hicks' heart.
But it's humans who are making her sick.
Ms Hicks, a Department of Conservation volunteer who has dedicated her summer to keeping watch over a flock of threatened variable oystercatchers on the northern side of Ruakaka estuary, says "ignorant" people venturing too close to the birds' nesting area - on quad or trail bikes, on foot or horseback, while fishing or walking dogs - are responsible for the loss of many chicks and eggs this year.
"It has been heart-breaking." she says.
"It's really sad seeing them sit on old nests."
She points to quad bike tracks only a few steps outside a fence designating the birds' nesting areas.
Perhaps the rider had not seen DOC's small signs placed above the high water mark warning no dogs, horses or vehicles are permitted in the area.
Anybody going that close, as happens repeatedly, would have likely caused the birds to leave their nests as they tried to draw attention away from their young.
But any more than 40 minutes off the nest and the chicks die.
Before Christmas six pairs had nests within the fence, now only one remains.
Two fell victim to people going too close, the rest to recent high tides.
Even the last surviving nest looks doubtful, after someone turned up in a four-wheel-drive on Saturday and lit a fire just a metre from the boundary fence.
"The birds probably stayed off the nest too long, so there's a good chance we've lost this one as well ... I'm just in despair."
Fortunately other parts of the estuary are less susceptible to extreme high tides, but human interference is always a problem.
On Christmas Eve she was astounded to pick up her binoculars and see in the distance two youths trying to attack mature oystercatchers with sticks.
The spirited 72-year-old former school teacher is not shy about giving people a good telling off for their behaviour but she also says most people want to help.
"What you say to them is: `I don't know whether you realise or not but being close to these birds will actually disturb them and disturb their nesting."
She says if you're getting "bombarded" by oystercatchers you're definitely too close.
But Ms Hick's willingness to speak her mind on environmental matters is not popular with everybody.
In November her car was badly damaged when someone, who she believes was opposed to her strong opinions, may have deliberately poured paint stripper over it.