NZ conservation success saves the grapes
24 Aug 2009
A programme to save an endangered bird has had a commercial spin-off for New Zealand’s lucrative wine-growing industry.
In a conservation story that takes some beating, what began as a project to save the New Zealand falcon is now benefiting the grapes that go into award-winning wines. And, it’s all about hierarchy in the bird kingdom.
The karearea or New Zealand falcon is one of the fastest birds of prey in the world. It is also one of the most threatened, with only 4000 thought to be alive in the wild.
A mission to protect those that remain and encourage a breeding programme has centred on Marlborough’s Wairau Plains at the top of the South Island - an area responsible for producing close to 75% of New Zealand’s export wines.
What falcons have to do with grape growing may not seem immediately obvious, but a natural chain of action has seen an increasing number of the large birds of prey in the Wairau Valley that, in turn, are set to save local wine growers millions of dollars.
Falcons for Grapes
It all began in 2005 when Dr Nick Fox a director of International Wildlife Consultants UK came up with the ‘Falcons for Grapes’ programme.
Dr Fox had studied the plight of New Zealand’s only bird of prey as part of a thesis in the 1970s. But, when he returned to Marlborough 30 years later, Dr Fox was shocked to discover the dwindling number of falcons on the Wairau Plains.
Agricultural development had pushed the falcons further back into the hill country, and introduced species like cats, stoats and hedgehogs were threatening numbers. As falcons nest on the ground, their eggs and offspring are especially vulnerable.
Dr Fox also noted a symbiotic relationship between the falcon as bird of prey and the burgeoning Marlborough wine industry.
Falcon swoop
Falcons are feared by other species because of their fearless predatory nature. They literally swoop down from above at such a pace their prey is unaware of their presence until it’s too late.
In particular, falcons like to eat smaller birds such as blackbirds and starlings. These are the same birds that cost the wine industry millions of dollars a year as they devour and ravage ripening grapes, leaving them open to disease.
The aim of the ‘Falcons for Grapes’ programme was to relocate wild falcon chicks into vineyards on the Wairau Plains, and create breeding pairs that would remain in the area.
The falcons would have a plentiful food source from the pest birds that lived off the grapes, while the grape grower would have a natural pest deterrent that was much more sustainable and cheaper than a bird banger or gun-toting bird deterrant.
Relocation programme
Although some sectors of the community were initially concerned, the Department of Conservation (DOC) supported the project and has based educational programmes for schools on the Marlborough conservation efforts.
Colin Wynn, one of New Zealand’s leading sea and landscape artists and the official artist for the Royal New Zealand Navy, became general manager of the ‘Falcons for Grapes’ programme.
Over the past four years, Wynn has been responsible for the relocation of the wild falcons, feeding the relocated ones and tracking them.
Wynn, who covers hundreds of kilometres every week, says spending so much time with the falcons means that he’s become close to them, getting to know their personalities and watching their behaviour.
Wild falcons attracted
Wynn says it’s not just the relocated falcons that are becoming part of the Marlborough landscape. As the birds grow, they appear to be attracting wild falcons from the high country and are forming long-term relationships.
There have been a number of successful hatchings, and these chicks have gone on to increase the local populations in the surrounding vineyards, says Wynn. There have also been losses.
"It’s getting easier as the years go on, but after all that effort no one wants to lose a falcon you have helped to preserve," he says.
Success in the vineyard
Although five of the 32 birds identified in the Marlborough programme have died this year, Wynn says the project is still proving a success.
"People said falcons would never breed in nesting barrels in vineyards. Well they have. They said they wouldn’t adapt to humans in the vineyards. They have.
"I won’t say it hasn’t been challenging because it has, but we are achieving what we set out to," Wynn says.
Scientific study
While Wynn runs the day-to-day aspects of the programme, 25-year-old American PhD student Sara Kross is hoping to provide scientific proof of its success by using the falcon programme for her thesis.
Kross and her wine-making partner arrived in Marlborough in 2007. Kross, who had an existing interest in raptors, couldn’t believe the falcon programme was happening in her own backyard.
"I began reading up on the karearea and realised there was a huge amount of work that could be done. It has only ever been studied by a few people and this project is the only one of its kind in the world," says Kross.
With the use of video cameras in and outside the nests, Kross is looking at whether the move from high country to vineyards causes any behavioural changes in the falcons, and their impact on pest bird numbers in the vineyards.
The results won’t be known for some months.
More information:
Marlborough
New Zealand wine industry
These topics may also be of interest to you
|
