Visiting Tiritiri Matangi Island

So if you're not following me on Instagram you might not know that I'm in New Zealand at the moment being a bit of a tourist.  I have a few months here and I am, as you would expect, will be attempting to visit as many of their beautiful nature reserves and parks as I possibly can.  One of the first ones was the Tiritiri Matangi Island just 30km north east of Auckland.  

Tiritiri Matangi Island is a wildlife sanctuary which is managed by New Zealand's Department of Conservation with Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated, and, as with most good conservation projects, works mostly because of the amount of work and time volunteers have put into it.  They replanted the trees (more on that later), run the shop, offer the free tea and coffee (always good), and run the tours you can take around the island.

The island is roughly 220 hectares and had been lived on by the Maori until western settlers turned it into farmland that they worked for 120 years.  This had led to most of the forest being chopped down and, by the time it was being turned into a sanctuary, only 6% of the native bush was left.  Then in 1984 and 1994 volunteers planted native trees until 60% of the island had been reforested, with the remaining being left for species that prefer grasslands.  Mammalian predators, and other invasive species, where removed and native species were reintroduced.

The only way to the island is by boats and we took the ferry from Auckland, after checking that all our food was in sealed containers, we didn't have any stowaways like mice and rats in our bag, and that our shoes had been scrubbed and didn't have any seeds trapped in the grooves.  We had decided to not take tour that was offered and instead wandered around the island on our own with the map you could buy on the ferry (all proceeds going towards the conservation work being done on the island).  

We started with the Wattle Track which meandered up from the wharf and through the replanted forest.  This offered amazing views of birds very up close and personal.  Most really didn't appear to have much fear of humans (though there was still a healthy wariness) and were happy to get pretty close to us, giving us time to take photos and watch them sing. 

The North Island Robin was particularly friendly, bouncing hopefully around our feet.  But I guess this is to be expected from a robin.  I had, out of habit, taken out my binoculars, but then felt like a bit of a wolly because they really weren't needed at all.  

Dotted around the island are feeding stations and water troughs, with conveniently placed seats near by, which allow you to sit and watch the birds as they feed, drink and preen, and generally interact with each other.  It was actually quite relaxing just sitting there whilst they did their own thing around us.  

There were also Weta houses on the Wattle Track which we could open to have a look at these little beasties, the Tree Weta.  Unfortunately I didn't see any actually on the trees or the wooden fences that were on part of the trail, but it was still interesting to get to have a look at them through the Perspex cover.  I couldn't get any photos that weren't full of glare, but I'm expecting to see many more of these on my travels.

Then, after lunch and a quick nosy around the shop, we carried on up to the lighthouse to have a look at the amazing sea views back over to the mainland before heading north up the island along Ridge Track. 

After our Wattle Track wandering we didn't really have a lot of time left before the one ferry back to Auckland set off at 3pm.  This meant we couldn't go all the way to the northern tip of the island, so instead we cut off west along Hobbs Track to Hobbs Beach.  We didn't actually see as many birds along this track as the Wattle Track, which is much more densely forested, but I still managed to increase the number of new birds I had seen that day. 

After doing a bit of rock pool searching at the beach we realised that we still had quite a bit of time before we had to be at the wharf for the ferry.  

So we decided to do a loop on the Kawerau Track where we got a nice little treat of seeing a couple of North Island Kokakos on the ground, before heading back to Hobbs Beach and then across to the wharf.  Perhaps the most amazing part of the trip was being able to see some Little Blue Penguins in the artificial nesting boxes that had been built for them and were designed so that we could lift a lid to see them through a peak hole.  Amazing little creatures!

So, the birds I got to see on this trip were Bellbirds, Brown Teal, Red-crowned Parakeets, Whiteheads, North Island Robins, Stitchbirds (the Maori name is hihi which is a much better name), Pukeko, North Island Saddlebacks, New Zealand Pigeons, Tuis, Quail (non-native), North Island Kokakos, Little Blue Penguins, Variable Oystercatchers (such a terrible name - variable), Southern Black Backed Gulls, and Red Billed Gulls.

In wildlife terms this reserve is pretty new, and you can see how young the trees are when you wonder around, but the amount of regrowth is pretty incredible and the birds definitely seem to be flourishing there.  It was a really enjoyable visit and I would actually like to return to have a wonder around the tracks I haven't done yet.  Maybe even stay the night so I can try and see some kiwis as well.  But that will be a future trip, maybe just before I head back to the UK.   Definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in the Auckland area, you won't regret it.