DoC photo and comments:

The first known NZ dotterel chick has hatched at the Waikanae Estuary. It’s not new for the birds to visit the estuary but this successful breeding is a first.

Two chicks have been observed, along with two adults.

DOC have placed signs near the nest, asking people to keep well away and keep dogs on a lead. Rangers will be checking on the nest periodically and taking reports from locals on how the birds are doing.

Anyone who disturbs or harms wildlife can be prosecuted under the Wildlife Act [hopefully they will be — Eds].

Northern NZ Dotterel are a species in trouble. They are mainly at risk from disturbance by people, vehicles and dogs, as well as predation from hedgehogs, stoats, cats and rats.

More

And while on the subject of risk to these birds, today is the last day of the whitebait season, so from tomorrow there should no vehicles, except emergency ones, in the Waikanae Estuary Reserve.

Below are photos we took on 3 October which show no less than nine SUVs in the area; one of them drove right over the nesting area and tyre tracks showed that others had done that too.

We were going to report them; but then decided it would be futile as authorities would do nothing.

Mayor Guru, when asked about the problem during the GWRC Waikanae River walk in October, simply trotted out the KCDC excuse that they have no power to issue moving vehicle infringement notices — and that talking nicely to the offenders would make them stop.  We don’t think so. These people only care about their own comfort and if they can disregard the law with impunity, they will.

By Roger Childs

Anthony Dreaver

After having been in recess for a number of years, the local historical society was resuscitated in September. At the first meeting, Waikanae historian John Robinson spoke on local tribes making peace in 1839-40; former U.S. Marines major Larry Keim, now resident in Raumati, was the speaker at the October session.

To complete the short 2018 program, local historian Anthony Dreaver will talk about:
‘The Paraparaumu Problem: does it have a history?’

He observes that compared to Otaki, Waikanae and Paekakariki, Paraparaumu started late, developed slowly and appears to lack interest until the boom years of the late twentieth century.

 Tuesday 4 December at 7.30 pm.
 Kapiti Uniting Church, 10 Weka Road, Raumati Beach
 Access is through the main door of the church
 gold coin koha

In earlier times Anthony taught in Central Hawke’s Bay, Horowhenua and at the
Correspondence School. He has a special interest in the history of the Kapiti/Horowhenua region and has written histories of Horowhenua County and of Levin; also a biography of local scholar, tramper and photographer, Leslie Adkin.

For many years he edited the Otaki Historical Society’s annual Journal and as Chair of the Trust that runs Paekakariki Station Museum he curated the museum’s exhibition about three local Marines camps. He is a foundation member of the Kapiti U.S. Marines Trust. He has also promoted local history through adult education courses, bus tours, talks and contributing to a heritage trail.

The Kapiti Historical Society will hold its first full AGM on Tuesday 12 February in
Waikanae.

click for full view

Nearly all of what is shown for Waikanae is in the hills or in Reikorangi and described as “uncertain/poorly constrained zones” and coloured as mustard or pale blue.

There are very small areas described as “well defined zones” and colored purple.

What that means in practice we know not, and the lesson from Christchurch particularly is that you can’t rely too much on these types of survey anyway.

The crash of Air New Zealand flight TE901 into Mt Erebus on Ross Island in Antarctica on 28 November 1979 was at the time the World’s fourth worst aviation disaster and today still ranks at number 10, if those involving intentional acts (bombs, missiles and 9/11) are excluded.

The cause of the crash of the sightseeing flight was sussed by two in Air NZ’s Auckland Head Office the same night: the airline’s then Chief Navigator for whatever bizarre reason had changed crucial co-ordinates of a waypoint in McMurdo Sound in the early hours of the morning and hadn’t told the pilots.  The change programmed into the aircraft’s computerised AINS navigation system meant that instead of the route they had been briefed on — up the middle of McMurdo Sound over flat ice — the aircraft would collide with Mt Erebus unless it maintained an altitude greater than the 13,000 ft height of the mountain, which is an active volcano, not something you want to fly over.

Combined with the phenomenon of sector whiteout which happens when there is snow/ice below you, cloud above you and sun behind you, the pilots couldn’t see the mountain in this flight. It was both pilots’ first time to Antarctica and they had not been briefed about whiteout either.

All this wasn’t something either the Airline or the government (which then owned all its shares) wanted made public; it was much better to blame the pilots and the then Chief Inspector of Air Accidents, Ron Chippendale, obliged in his accident report.

But the cover-up didn’t remain such for very long. When a legal counsel for Air NZ proposed to then Prime Minister Muldoon that one of his friends, Justice Peter Mahon, head the Royal Commission of Inquiry in the expectation that he would back Ron Chippendale’s report, it backfired: Peter Mahon was astute, scrupulous and had no time for the Airline’s (and Civil Aviation’s) conspiracy.

His famous declaration in 1981 that Chippendale’s findings were nonsensical and the Airline had presented him with “an orchestrated litany of lies” was a big event, not just in NZ but worldwide.  Of the 257 killed, 57 were foreign nationals.

Most importantly of all, the whole affair demonstrated to the public that NZ government departments and agencies aren’t above being involved in conspiracies and cover-ups to stop the public knowing about their incompetence and blunders — if they think they can get away with it, they will try it.  We’ve seen that with DoC’s program of misinformation about 1080 poison, among other things. And it’s superfluous to repeat what we’ve observed on here about the KCDC.

Peter Mahon’s book Verdict on Erebus remains a must-read. The most recent book on the saga, late broadcaster Paul Holmes’ Daughters of Erebus from 2011, is also worth reading.

The KCDC has closed the Waikanae Library and Service Centre as a precaution, following air quality test results showing the presence of toxic mould.

Due to the closure, customer and library services aren’t available from Waikanae Library, and customers are advised to go to the KCDC website or visit the Paraparaumu or Otaki Library.

Group Manager Regulatory Services Natasha Tod says the closure isn’t an ideal situation, “but we take seriously any potential risk to the health of our staff and customers.”

She says council recently carried out air quality testing at the Waikanae Library and the results show that two types of mould are present that are of concern – one is non-toxic but has the potential to cause hay fever-like symptoms, and Stachybotrys which is toxic.

The toxic mould was present in three of the four sites sampled within the building.

Tod says the Waikanae Library was closed this morning, and will remain closed until the council is confident the toxic mould has been addressed.

She says the library is likely to be closed for 1-2 weeks for maintenance and testing;  customers will be advised when a solid timeline is known.

(via Beach FM)

(Not his term: he says he had to look up what Raconteur means. 🙂 )

This is one of the events in the Kapiti Summer School series.  Those who follow social media will know Karl’s strong ancestral ties to and his interest in all things Kapiti. We’ve posted several of his photos on here, particularly of Kapiti Island and sunsets.

The blurb:

Kia Ora. Karl Webber is of the three local Iwi and has lived on the Kapiti coast most of his life. A little over 50 now, Karl has raised two children of his own and hundreds of youngsters and the not so young, who have been passing through, have found a safe-haven in his home.

Karl brings skills and experience from his professional background to Kapiti, where he has spent the past 20 plus years working in the community on a professional and voluntary basis.

Involvements include youth, drug and alcohol, community development, business and social projects and tourism.

He is a well-known educator, ready to inspire and is Kapiti’s unofficial marriage broker for networking. He supports many groups and people under the radar. He is a free range eco warrior and a passionate and intrepid conservationist. He has an ongoing love affair with Kapiti and the surrounding islands.

Karl has been a story teller forever, so join us for a humorous and eye-opening evening as Karl weaves his stories of Kapiti at the Kapiti Boating Club.

More on the KSS webpage

According to “leading research” in the UK, using all-caps in university instructions could “frighten students into failure.”… Course leaders say capitalising a word could emphasise “the difficulty or high-stakes nature of the task”.

we live in a world in which clapping has been banned and replaced with “jazz hands” to avoid the potential of anxiety for students. We live in a world with coloring books, puppies, and safe spaces for college students who require respite from a world with President Trump.  We live in a world where a professor at Harvard Law – HARVARD FREAKING LAW (oh sorry – all caps, are you okay?) is dealing with law students who believe that rape law should not be taught. We live in a world in which practically everything must be prefaced with a trigger warning.

We live in a world in which anything that goes against the official rhetoric of the Big Tech gods is immediately censored out.

All of this coddling comes at a high price for mental health.

Yes folks, the Political Correctness epidemic gets ever worse.

Full article

This one a kauri — taonga o te ngahere (treasure of the forest).