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North Canterbury school children have taken a stand for a rare braided river bird.
Year 2 and 3 students from Fernside School, near Rangiora, presented a petition to Environment Canterbury (ECan) on Wednesday, September 23, calling on the council to create a bylaw to protect the wrybill / ngutu pare on the Ashley Rakahuri River from dogs and vehicles during nesting season.
The students had previously presented the petition to Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon in July.
Addressing the ECan councillors online, the students said they have been learning about wrybills and discovered they were endangered “and need our help”.
“We wanted to do something to help and we went to the river and removed weeds to make the river habitable for wrybills,” one student said.
Another student said the classmates were “surprised” to learn that “people can still drive vehicles during nesting season”.
“This made us very sad.”
The students have called for a bylaw to ban dogs and vehicles during nesting season, between September and January.
The wrybill is known for its curved beak, allowing it to probe for insects under river stones.
Their teacher, Anita Ward, said the children became aware of the wrybill after a visit from to the school by Nick Ledgard, from the Ashley-Rakahuri Rivercare Group.
The students also made a film, A Voice For Our Wrybills, to raise awareness of the plight of the birds.
The film recently won second place in the inaugural Waimakairri Young Environmental Film Makers competition.
North Canterbury councillor Claire McKay said she had spent time on the river with the children and was impressed with their efforts.
“Keep going guys, well done.”
Cr Genevieve Robinson said she was impressed with the students’ presentation.
“You are doing amazing work. Keep doing what you are doing.”
A petition was created on the change.org website and has received 896 signatures.
Earlier this month, Mr Gordon asked Waimakariri District Council staff to prepare a report on the feasibility of creating a bylaw to ban dogs and vehicles on the Ashley-Rakahuri River bed during nesting season.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
