Forest and Bird Dunedin branch is installing a predator-proof fence along a small section of the cliffs to protect a population of fairy prions, breeding 7m below in "nooks and crannies".
Graham Loh, who looks after a small population of the sea birds along the cliffs near Tunnel Beach, said the first challenge was getting the fence posts and concrete down to the site, which was selected after consultation with and approval from Land Information New Zealand, the Department of Conservation and the Dunedin City Council.
The workers devised a flying fox system from the golf course at the top down to the site, to get in most of the materials. The rest had to be carried down steps dug into the hill, one load at a time.
"We only lost one post," he said.
"Fairy prions are vulnerable to everything, so this fence should keep all the baddies out."
It was hoped the fence, funded by a grant from the Marjorie Barclay Trust and the Ornithological Society, would encourage the fairy prions up out of the cliffs on to the land at the top, their historic nesting site.
As the bluff above the fence was home to sooty shearwaters, Mr Loh thought they might also relocate to the safe haven.
The dream was for the area to attract Buller's mollymawks to nest and it was planned to put speakers, funded by the Speight's Environmental Trust, voicing their calls inside the fence to lure them in.
"That would be really fantastic if we could pull it off."
Forest and Bird Dunedin branch secretary Mark Hanger said the fence was the beginning of Forest and Bird's quest to bring back some of the sea bird species lost to Dunedin.
"Fairy prions are hanging on by their toenails ... we want to try and bring back four or five of the species here and at other sites."
It was hoped the fence could be finished by the middle of spring.
