Guided walks for photographers
Date posted: 21-Jun-2017
For a wonderful day of wildlife photography please join us on Tiritiri Matangi Island for a Ph..
Ferry discounts for Supporters
Date posted: 18-May-2017
Tiritiri Matangi Island, the perfect winter's day trip. The birds are at their best, warm up w..
More kiwi for the Island
Date posted: 04-Apr-2017
In 1993 and 1995, sixteen little spotted kiwi were released on Tiritiri Matangi Island. The ma..
2017 Photo Competition
Date posted: 22-Mar-2017
It is that time of year again when we are looking for entries for our photo competition (and phot..
The 2017 concert
Date posted: 05-Feb-2017
This year's concert promises to be another wonderful and unique experience. Click here (/concert-..
Shorebird Film Festival at Devonport
Date posted: 26-Oct-2016
Click here (/miscellaneous documents/DevWaderFilms.jpg) for details of a forthcoming film festival c..
Extra Dawn Chorus Trip
Date posted: 20-Oct-2016
Stop Press: Extra Dawn Chorus trip now scheduled for Thursday 27th October 2016.
..
2016 AGM
Date posted: 06-Sep-2016
The 2016 AGM was held at the Kohia Centre at 7:30 pm on Monday 19th September.
Click here (/..
New hihi film
Date posted: 30-Jul-2016
A wonderful new film describing the hihi story on Tiritiri Matangi has now been added to the hih..
New Wildside video
Date posted: 29-Jul-2016
Click here (https://blog.doc.govt.nz/2016/06/21/tiritiri-matangi-volunteers/) to view a wo..
Learn
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Island sanctuaries help to ensure the survival of many rare and endangered plant and animal species. They are especially valuable because they are easier to keep free of predators than mainland islands.Tiritiri Matangi was gazetted as an open Scientific Reserve in 1980. The island was then under the control of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board and the Lands and Survey Dept.
A proposal was put to the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Board by a number of interested people including the University of Auckland, planners within the Lands and Survey Dept. and various birding groups.
The idea was to re-vegetate Tiritiri Matangi with plants grown on the island from seed sourced from the island and to release rare and endangered species of birds on the island so that visitors could see them in their natural habitat. There were a number of reasons for this proposal. By establishing an open sanctuary as opposed to a closed sanctuary like Little Barrier, it would take the pressure of Little Barrier by visitors wanting to go there to see birds. As Tiritiri was easily accessible from Auckland by ferry larger numbers of people could visit. The island could be used to educate visitors on the ways to establish new forest, give volunteers an opportunity to participate in conservation programmes. By building an extensive network of tracks and asking visitors to keep to them it was in fact the reverse to seeing birds in a zoo or in an aviary situation, the visitors were in the aviary and the birds were allowed free run of the island to breed and interact with each other.
Photography by Kathryn Jones © (whitehead)