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12 May, 2021
Targeting possums to bring back the birds
Milford resident Warrick Smith caught a dozen possums in two-and-a-half weeks using just one trap.
It underlines how many of the furry pests are out there, he says.
Living close to Sylvan and Kitchener Parks over the last few years, he has heard possums grunting in the evenings. He has also noticed relatively little birdsong. With fruiting natives trees, including puriri in the parks, he says: “There should be lots of wood pigeons and native bird life – but it’s pretty quiet.”
Put that limited bird-song partly down to possums, explaining why Smith agreed to volunteer his time to try to keep the population in check. “I’d trapped possums as a kid, so I was used to setting the traps and checking them,” he explains. But he admits the aftermath “can be confronting”.
This is a reason why urban environmental groups can struggle to find people willing to deal with the larger pests.
Pupuke Birdsong Project co-ordinator Fiona Martin, says rat-trapping volunteers are easier to come by, with few people feeling squeamish about getting rid of them, whereas some see possums as nice furry animals.
“They eat baby birds alive out of their nests,” she points out. Possums can also attack pet cats and they eat new shoots of trees, making them an all-round pest.
While it is hard to get a firm fix on total numbers, there are plenty out there. Seven were caught late last month over a week in Patuone Reserve, Takapuna, by another volunteer, said Martin. At least one had been snared in Henderson Park recently. Over six weeks in summer, several dozen possums were caught at Wairau Creek.
Another worrisome predator, a stoat, had been spotted on the western edges of Lake Pupuke, where wild rabbits would have been a drawcard, said Martin.
Her counterpart for the Devonport peninsula, Lance Cablk, co-ordinator of the Restoring Takarunga Hauraki environmental group, spoke out recently after six possums were caught in five days in Jutland Reserve, Hauraki. A volunteer there agreed to set two traps after tree damage indicated their presence. Cablk is concerned the catch at Hauraki indicates possums are reinvading the peninsula from the more forested areas of the North Shore.
Historic efforts had helped keep them at bay, but he is now working on creating a “line of defence” to keep them from coming south in numbers towards Devonport. Rat trapping was still the peninsula pest priority, said Cablk, but awareness was growing of the possum threat.
Martin says possums are also present in Lyford Reserve, Sunnynook. Water sources were a drawcard, which explained the clusters around Lake Pupuke.
Meanwhile, for trapper Smith, a welcome sound in Kitchener Park last week was the call of a morepork. He hopes his dealing to the possums might ensure it and other species have a better chance of finding a mate and raising chicks.
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