Purpose

We call our group Te Henga Tuturiwhatu (because Tuturiwhatu is the Māori name for dotterel). Dotterels are rarer than some kiwi species yet we can see them most days here on our local beach which is pretty special! 

We have two aims - we’d like people to know they’re there and that they rely on community support to thrive. We also aim to minimise the risks to these beautiful little manu (birds) that make Te Henga Bethells Beach their home.

New Zealand Dotterels are endemic to Aotearoa. They face many threats: loss of eggs, chicks and adult birds to both mammalian and avian predators (hedgehogs, ferrets, stoats, weasels, rats, cats, dogs, black backed gulls, harrier hawks), as well as from disturbance by human activities on beaches, and loss of nests to big tides.

Our group has also worked to discourage the removal of kelp from local beaches as the sand hoppers which live and breed under the kelp are a vital part of dotterel and other shorebird diets.  You can see them jumping wildly around when you pick up pieces of kelp (see video).

  Te Henga Tuturiwhatu Facebook page

 

Thankyou to...

...all those wonderful people who have been open and receptive to learning about dotterels and have supported us over the years in a variety of ways - walking their dogs on leash over summer, talking to people on the beach, trapping, picking up rubbish, helping erect the dotterel enclosures around or near nests, and dotterel minding when movies are being shot on the beach.

How can you participate?

We're always happy to meet new volunteers, especially locals who are willing to assist with dotterel minding on the beach eg talking to people, monitoring nests, setting up dotterel enclosures, photographing the dotterels, dotterel minding for the occasional day of filming on the beach, and so on.

You can email us on [email protected]

Learn more

FAQs

    • We’re aiding a taonga which faces extinction if it doesn’t get human help.
    • We have learnt the hard way that although we can’t eliminate all risks to this little taonga, we can minimise the risks.
    • Citizen science is fun and rewarding.
    • Dotterel minding helps keep us sane in a crazy world.
    • It ensures we walk on this beautiful beach regularly.

  • Dotterels around New Zealand are thriving in areas where communities watch out for them, and are in decline otherwise. No dotterel chicks were seen to survive here at Te Henga since 2011 but a steady regime of trapping around the area by Greg Hoskins and others helped lower the numbers of predators in the area. Since the community began to watch out for them in 2018 we have seen seven dotterel chicks survive right through to fledging. (**See numbers below.)

    Six of the chicks which have fledged have been tagged and sightings of them have given us valuable information. We now know that many of our dotterels gather in the Manukau Harbour around March and April to feed on the rich pickings of the mudflats and to find a mate if they are young or have lost their previous mate. JAL, JAM and JAN have all been spotted on west coast beaches south of Te Henga Bethells.

    We also heard recently that one of the dotterels from Te Henga Bethells (JAM) was seen with a mate and 3 chicks all the way down in New Plymouth - a distance of around 350 km which is much further than dotterels were thought to venture. Emily Roberts from Wild for Taranaki photographed JAM at Pungaereere Stream near Rahotu (on the coast south of New Plymouth).

  • Observations by Greg Hoskins, 2002 - 2018

    2002-2003 No dotterels observed at Te Henga


    2004-2006 Dotterels returned to Te Henga after a long absence (due to pest control on the dunes?). No chicks seen to fledge
    2007-2010 5 chicks fledged
    2011-2018 0 checks fledged

     

    Te Henga Tuturiwhatu formed late 2018

    2018-2019 1 chick fledged (not flagged - Bethells)
    2019-2020 0 chicks fledged (Bethells)
    2020-2021 2 chicks (flagged CNW and CNY - Bethells)
    2021-2022 1 chick (flagged JAL - Wigmore’s)
    2022-2023 3 chicks (flagged JAM, JAN Bethells, JAP - Wigmore’s)
    2023-2024 1 chick (flagged JBB - Wigmore’s)
    2024-2025 0 chicks survived from 4 pairs nesting - 9 nests (probably around 27 eggs)

     

    • Seven dotterel chicks have survived to fledging since the community started to look out for them.

    • Many more people now understand why it’s important to keep their dogs on lead on the main beach during the dotterel breading season.

    • Our “Need a Lead?  Borrow One Here…” sign has been very successful with people borrowing and returning leads regularly and lots of positive feedback from those borrowing them.

    • Our signs eg “Meet a Local Family” and those talking about dotterels and penguins have been well received.

    • Growing numbers of shorebirds eg flocks of terns and variable oyster catchers, have been spotted on the beach in recent years.

    • More dotterels now nest at Te Henga Bethells - just one pair for the first few years after the project began, four pairs this year (2024-25 breeding season).

    • Te Henga Bethells dotterels have a higher profile these days having been featured in a variety of media:  articles, a Paula Green poem on the information sign kiosk at the beach entranceway (see photo), regular articles about their progress in Windows on Swanson Road (bi-monthly free local magazine available in many locations around Swanson and Ranui), Simon Runting’s winning Te Henga dotterel photo in the New Zealand Geographic photographer of the year competition 2023, and on the well regarded local facebook page. (See links below)

  • Te Henga Tuturiwhatu was originally started by long-time locals Lesley and Richard Gardner after they attended a dotterel minding course at Pukorokoro/Miranda run by dotterel expert John Dowding. We have support from a wide variety of locals, as well as from other dotterel minders around Auckland and New Zealand. We also receive support from Auckland Council and their Biodiversity team, who run a yearly dotterel forum in April where groups exchange successes and failures,  and give each other encouragement to continue the mahi.

  • Auckland Council requires movie companies filming on the beach here at Te Henga Bethells Beach to have a dotterel minder present. The filmos generally give us a generous donation for our services which is helpful for our work.

    We are very grateful for these donations, and use the movie money for dotterel minding equipment such as signs. We have eye-catching and effective local signs made by Lynx, and commercially made signs by local sign makers Chase Graphics.

    We also use the money to buy other essential gear such as ropes, chicken wire, pigtails, cameras, binoculars, paint etc, and material for trapping like peanut butter, cat biscuits, mayonnaise, chocolate paste and other delicacies that attract rats!

    We use any extra money for a wide variety of local endeavours.  For example, for several years we have supported a local knitter who makes merino vests for premature babies. We’ve  donated to the Bethells Boardriders (a local group teaching local kids to surf safely). We’ve helped buy radios and high-vis vests for the Te Henga Emergency Resiliency Group, helped finance the beautiful sign kiosk at the beach entranceway informing visitors about special features of our beaches, and also bought materials for seed “bombs” to assist slip revegetation after Cyclone Gabrielle. We paid all the vet fees required to rehome a kitten that was abandoned down at the reserve. A future project is helping finance a public defibrillator at the new BBSLSC gear shed, and giving a donation towards rebuilding the club.