Riders in wildlife refuge cause outrage

A group of quad and motorbike riders seen recently at the protected Waipu Wildlife Refuge. Photo / Supplied

Conservationists are outraged after a photo was posted on social media showing riders on motorbikes and quad bikes flouting the rules in the Waipu Wildlife Refuge.

Vehicles are not allowed in the reserve which is home to New Zealand's - and the world's - rarest coastal bird, the fairy tern. It is also home to protected oystercatchers and godwits.

Department of Conservation (DoC) spokeswoman Abigail Monteith said fairy terns were nesting at the wildlife refuge at the moment, the season having just started.

There were only about 45 individuals, about 12 breeding pairs among them, of New Zealand fairy tern, or tara-iti. They bred at five locations, only in Northland, and were subject to an intensive protection programme by DoC.

Staff had put up fences and signs warning people it was illegal to take any kind of vehicle on the reserve at the Waipu estuary, Ms Monteith said. Any visitors were asked not to disturb birds in the refuge.

The photo shows seven people and their motorbikes near the dunes opposite the Waipu Cemetery, with oystercatchers and godwits wheeling in the air above them.

Ms Monteith said that while the bikes might be on the very edge of the refuge they would have had to drive across protected areas to get to the site.

"If people see something like this, please try to note their registration numbers or take photos and pass them to us so we can follow it up."

Meanwhile, the Facebook posting of the photo has generated angry comments from locals and others concerned.