Trappers fight to save rarest gulls

RATBUSTERS: Colin Shore and granddaughter Shylo Davis, 17, are trapping rats on the island where the critically endangered blackbilled gulls nest at Henley Lake. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

THE rarest gull species in the world is getting a much-needed assist thanks to stepped up rat-trapping efforts on Henley Island.

The man-made island at Henley Lake is the first urban area in the world where the black-billed gull has nested with a total of 100 there last spring after the island was reshaped by diggers.

A small team of Forest & Bird Society members worked yesterday morning to rebait the traps on the island after discovering that the rare gull eggs and babies were killed by rats last year.

The team included Joanna McVeagh, Colin Shore and his granddaughter Shylo Davis.

"We have to get the island ready prior to nesting which could start as early as September," Mr Shore said.

"We want to concentrate the trapping heavily at the start and then hopefully we will find less and less rats in our traps.

"Zero per cent is preferable.

"There are eight traps altogether, four double-enders.

"DoC (Department of Conservation) provides the traps, we provide the manpower."

Mr Shore's 17-year-old granddaughter, a student at Te Kura, the Correspondence School, said it was a novelty that the black-billed gulls were nesting in an urban area.

She said she was happy to help keep the rats at bay.

"It's good because we get to help the gulls and they're the rarest gull species in the world," she said.

Mr Shore said when they checked the traps yesterday there was a rat in each one. "They hadn't been checked for a few months, but because nesting season is coming up, the checks will be more regular."

Joanna McVeagh, a field officer for Greater Wellington Regional Council, said the black-billed gull population found only in New Zealand has declined more than 75 per cent over the past 30 years.

"Last spring there were about 50 pairs of gulls," she said.

"They tried nesting on Henley Island, but they abandoned the nest.

"They can't fight off the rats by themselves, they're only small birds after all. But we're working to set up the traps, rebait them, and working bees are planned for early August to manually remove weeds on the island because the gulls will only nest in really open, clear spaces like this.

"These gulls really are critically endangered.

"They're the most threatened gull species in the world so we are just doing what we can to keep Henley Island an ideal nesting ground. And what we are doing here will benefit other bird species breeding at the lake too - control of rats is always a good thing"

The Forest & Bird Society, working with the Henley Trust, DoC and Masterton District Council, will resume predator control and removal of weeds to see if the gulls will return to nest there.

The team is rebaiting the traps on Saturday morning.