Snells Conservation

The recently-flagged dotterel chick, ETN, has a limp but is getting around really well. 💪

Huge thanks to the awesome volunteers who filled and placed sandbags to protect the currently-incubating nest — you’re legends.

The cordon is partly back up, but there’s no signage at the moment, so please keep giving the birds plenty of space. Every bit of care helps. 🐣.

CXR and their mate are currently incubating a full clutch of eggs. This is their third nesting attempt this season, after the first two nests were lost to hedgehog predation — a reminder of how vulnerable ground-nesting birds are to introduced predators. Each new nesting attempt is energetically costly for the adults, making protection and predator control especially important.

The recently flagged chick, ETN, is now entering the fledging stage. Today it was observed making a short, low-altitude flight of around 10 metres in length, with a few touchdowns to regain altitude along the way. These early flights help build strength, coordination, and confidence, and are a critical step toward full flight and independence.

Thank you to everyone doing their part to support these birds — keeping cats at home from before dusk to after dawn, keeping dogs on lead on the path and off the northern end of the beach, and to all those actively trapping predators. These actions directly reduce disturbance and predation pressure, and they genuinely improve the chances of nests hatching and chicks surviving.