The Chathams lie 870 kilometres east of New Zealand, and run 45 minutes ahead of the rest of the country.
From Wikipedia: "The archipelago consists of about ten islands within an approximate 60-kilometre (37 mi) radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Some of these islands, formerly cleared for farming, are now preserved as nature reserves to conserve some of the unique flora and fauna. As of 2013 the islands had a resident population of 600. The local economy depends largely on conservation, tourism, farming, and fishing.
The archipelago is called Rēkohu ("Misty Sun") in the indigenous Moriori language. The Moriori people, indigenous to the Chatham Islands, arrived around 1500 and developed a peaceful way of life. In 1835 members of the Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama Māori iwi from the North Island of New Zealand invaded the islands and nearly exterminated the Moriori, enslaving the survivors.
The Chatham Islands officially became part of the Colony of New Zealand in 1842; in 1863 the resident magistrate declared the Moriori released from slavery.
Waitangi is the main port and settlement. The Chatham Islands Council provides local administration – its powers resemble those of New Zealand's other unitary authorities. The islands constitutionally make up part of the New Zealand Outlying Islands, meaning they are an immediate part of New Zealand, but do not belong to any region or district. Instead, they form an Area Outside Territorial Authority, like all other outlying islands apart from the Solander Islands.
Chatham and Pitt are the only inhabited islands, with the remaining smaller islands being conservation reserves with restricted or prohibited access. The livelihoods of the inhabitants depend on agriculture, with the island being an exporter of coldwater crayfish, and increasing tourism.
Below are carvings found from Moriori, though they lived very sustainably and did not leave much.
This carving found on a tree.
We zodiac'ed into Waitangi.
We then bussed to a private reserve (Tuku Nature Reserve). The first bird we saw was the Chatham Island kereru (parea). It is 30% bigger than the kereru.
We heard from members of the Chatham Island Taiko Trust, a private conservation trust who do some amazing work with not only the taiko but also other species. The Trust work tirelessly to maintain and enhance the area and share it with expeditioners to get the word out. Below are Bruce and Liz Tuanui, who own the land which they turned into Tuku (a private bush reserve.) Tuku means to let go, release or grant.
In a hugely ambitious project the Taiko Trust teamed up with Bruce and Liz to restore over 40ha of coast to pre-human condition. Before people arrived the Chathams was entirely covered in forest, and had huge numbers of breeding seabirds – with some estimates of over 100 million pairs nesting on the Main Island alone! These seabirds brought tonnes of nutrients ashore each year, and were a major influence on the entire islands ecology. Many of these seabirds preferred to breed under forest cover, and as such Bruce and Liz are aiming to revegetate over 40ha back into coastal forest.
Before the project, the site didn’t have a single tree. It was part of Bruce's farm. Five years ago he fenced off over 5km of coastal slopes and cliffs. He gifted further land when the predator fence was built to make an easier line for this fence, and to greatly reduce the fence's length, and hence cost. With the increased area inside the fence, the solution was to revert this area into forest, with the longer term aim to restore the area as a seabird driven eco-system. The forest will enable a large range of seabirds to recolonise, these will pump in more nutrients, which will increase plant growth, helping to support populations of land birds, lizards and invertebrates. At present the key is restoring the forest. In a massive effort, volunteers have so far planted 25,000 trees! This is part of a ten year planting programme in which they hope to see the entire site in regenerated forest.
The Chatham Island taiko is one of the world's rarest seabirds. Formerly breeding in hundreds of thousands, if not millions on Chatham Island, taiko were an important food for Moriori. Nearly fully-grown young were collected from burrows in dense forest in April/May, the same time of year that the chicks of sooty shearwaters are still collected as mutton birds near Stewart Island. Like all petrels, taiko lay only a single egg each year, and so are very susceptible to predators taking the egg or chick. The adults are also vulnerable to cat predation when they visit their breeding grounds, but have very high survival rates during the non breeding season, when they stay out at sea in the South Pacific.
Predation by rats and cats led to the taiko becoming very rare by the early 1900's. Although local people were aware of their existence until at least the 1950's, the identity of the taiko remained a mystery to science until the 1970's. A single petrel seen in 1868 in the South Pacific from the Italian research vessel Magenta was given the name Aestrelata magentae (now Pterodroma magentae). The specimen remains in the Turin Regional Natural Science Museum in Italy.
In 1964 Bill Bourne (a British ornithologist) suggested that the Magenta petrel could be the same as the mysterious taiko. This was confirmed in 1978, when the first two taiko were caught at night in south-west Chatham Island. It took another nine years for the first active nesting burrows to be found. Radio-telemetry was used to aid location of the first two nests in 1987-88, and is still used along with specially-trained dogs to find further burrows. About 17 breeding burrows are known, with about 13 chicks fledging each year from 2008-2010. This photo from the Chatham Island Taiko Trust.
After Bruce and Liz's introduction, we walked through the reserve to the sea.
This great young man was spending the summer working on Bruce and Liz's farm, and led us around the reserve walk. He was from the Taranaki and I can't remember his name sorry. He had spent two days making sure we had a path to follow . He had weed eaten the long grass on both sides of the track.
It might look sunny, but it was very windy.
Rubbish find at the bottom.
Better is a kororā.
Dad and son combo on the trip with Bill. Alastair is the Dad from England, a keen birder. Ollie just likes to be with his Dad, he lives in Christchurch.
We walk back, assisting Jane along the way.
Buses took us back to Waitangi. Note the spelling of Mollymawk. The bus owner had been in the job a month and had renamed the buses. No-one had told her there was a mistake in the spelling. Now she knows.
This was the other bus. Bill thought Alastair (the English Dad) had the funniest line of the day. When he saw this one, he just said "White-capped."
Bill and I go to the museum, which we are told we would learn about the black robin and the Moriori. On the way I see horses training on the beach. I say to Bill they must be into trotting here, Bill doesn't think so.
We had two very good pacers called Blossom Lady and her son Mister D G, with Bill's parents, and both of us now have antennae for trotters and pacers. (If you have read an earlier blog, in Bornholm we went to the smallest trotting track in the world, because Bill had spotted it in the local paper.)
Now at the museum - a Moriori chief.
I love the sustainability in this. Tangaroa is god of the sea and fishes. Pou is to the elderly/leaders.
And this about a sacred chief called Hirawanu. It showed me how smart the Moriori were. I have been learning Maori for two years. It has been so challenging. What a pity we don't know more about the Moriori.
And a record of what happened when Maori took over the island from Moriori.
And then we found horse racing was indeed 'a thing' on the Chathams. Look how long it has been around. They have three meetings every year around New Year.
And then to the black robin, the bird that recovered from all but extinction.
From this book, a description of what happened.
This is how. Old Blue kept reproducing in the crisis, and was crucial to the robin not becoming extinct. Human ingenuity was also critical.
Chatham Island oyster Catcher.
We have some time in the Waitangi pub.
Devon had told Bill to look out for the Harley Davidsons on Chatham Island. He found them in the pub.
We are told the ship has had to move as it is too rough. We are bussed to another bay. Bill and I went for a walk along the beach with Alan while we waited for the zodiacs.
Unfortunately also saw a bit of rubbish.
Zodiacs will come.
Then back to the ship for dinner and then the bird list.
My attempt at capturing birds. There is room for improvement I know.
