paddy234

lol

Kotare

Define wildlife - we counted 16 different bird types in and above our garden in the first week in the house (that excludes the wild peacocks and turkeys on our access drive). I'm also doing a pest removal job on the possums and rabbits I am being overun by.

Peter
Northland

bourbon-biscuit

Oh I love this. I didn't make up about the lack of native wildlife - it's a depressing fact about New Zealand and how it got the title "extinction capital of the world". But sure, you saw birds and the pests that threaten them so now the extent of the wildlife is up for debate

Bo-Jangles

I think the UK has far more variety of common or garden birds - I could easily get to sixteen or more types of birds and wildlife that used to visit our London suburban garden on a regular basis.

The vast majority of birds that visit our garden here in Auckland are imports anyway, so as much as we love having them around there's hardly anything to get excited about the usual blackbirds, thrush sparrows and starlings.

The only different ones we tend to see here are the occasional Tui, Waxeye and Fantails and I do miss a lot of our old UK friends such as Wrens, Robins and Blue Tits.

Kotare

I suspect half the birds you saw in London were 'european imports' as well :-) We have crested quail (with chicks) under our bedroom window, yellow hammer, silver eye/wax eye, swamp harriers, pukeko, fantails, oz magpie (till I shoot them), thrush, swallows, starlings, blackbirds, rosella, kingfishers (attacking my ponds), tui, a resident pheasant, chaffinch, goldfinch, nz pigeon and one transiting kiwi (we are in kiwi conservation area).

All I was trying to say was that NZ is not a green desert , if it had had lots of native mammals we wouldn't have all those interesting native birds.

To firmly nail my colours to the mast - as an ex uk farmer - the sooner the uk adopts the nz attitude to pests/vermin and starts culling badgers/foxes/deer/grey squirrels etc the better :-)

Peter

Bo-Jangles

Just as well the UK doesn't adopt the Kiwi attitude to farming and its environmental impacts; I am glad the UK doesn't have the same will to kill everything in its way and actively seeks to maintain levels of biodiversity in hedgerows and such like.

NZ farmers won't be happy until every spare inch of land is given over to money making from cows and sheep and bugger the long term consequences and environmental costs.

Kotare

Uk farmers are heavily subsidised by the EU/UK taxpayer (I speak from experience) and are still going bankrupt. All those pretty UK hedgerows etc were put in after enclosure by rapacious landowners/farm owners who killed any wildlife that could be treated as game.

Amazing the number of urban dwellers who thinks their food grows in Tescos and view the countryside/farming as some form of theme park for rambling, Sunday drives, picnics instead of a commercial working environment that supports the economy and feeds the populace. Anyone who wants to go subsistence farming for a living is welcome to try it.

Rant endeth.

Peter

BEVS

Oh, I think folk are far better informed about both NZ and UK countryside , farming , conservation & environmental issues than you seem to give them credit for .

Kotare

Actually Bevs I agree. Note many farmers are strong conservationists (both in NZ and UK) and none of them want a 'green desert'. But trying to get a mid view point between my (deliberate) extreme and many urban dwellers with limited, if any, experience of the countryside/farming (or with a 'green' axe to grind) can be impossible. The shame is the polarisation this leads to doesn't help wildlife.

32000 (!) cows were culled last year in the uk for potential tb, yet shoot a tb carrying badger and you are criminalised. If it is your prize herd that goes to the knackers yard, difficult to sympathise with card carrying Greens who believe in the sanctity of all wildlife.

Actually NZ has good conservation record over the past 40 years. If it hadn't exterminated rats/stoats/cats/weasels/ferrets off many of the off shore islands many of the native bird species would now be extinct. The kiwi and the takahe are on the way back as well. (and as a total red herring their fishing conservation policies are seen as 'gold' standard).

So 'Brits' attacking NZ farmers (who keep a relatively poor country afloat) and NZ conservation gets up my nose :-)

Peter (I have led this far enough astray :-)

jmh

I live alongside a very small piece of reserve land in Auckland, near where two seals washed up over the winter. We have fantails, tui, pukeko, heron, chaffinches, goldfinches, Australian parakeets, blue kingfishers, stilts, song thrush and, of course, the usual sparrows, ducks and myna birds.

I have seen several falcon-type birds over farmland a couple of miles from my house.

We also have possums which eat the citrus and feijoa fruit nearby.

There's been a lot of work done by local residents to protect the area and return it to its original condition. Campaigns are underway for funding to provide a walkway and cycle path encompassing the area.

Kotare

Sounds nice, but I recommend Timms traps for the possums :-)
Peter

bourbon-biscuit

Your arrogance is breathtaking: you know nothing about the background, knowledge, and experiences of people who might disagree with your rosy and biased synopsis. Furthermore, I object to your attempt to discredit and silence those on here who disagree with you by characterising them as less knowledgeable on the basis of their first nationality. Your knowledge of sustainable farming and NZ's conservation track record is considerably less impressive than your arrogance, however.

Kotare

Well I have farmed in NZ and UK, belong to several conservation orgs and consider myself middle of the road. One of the advantages of returning to NZ is that the eco fascists like the Animal Liberation Front and several marginally less extreme orgs like PETA, Uncaged etc have never gained a foothold here, I note that the RSPCA is now so extreme/political that their charitable status is in question.

I have no illusions about NZ farming, but I am quite happy with my 'biased and rosy' opinion and my right to disagree with posters like yourself, regardless of nationality or stance. If you feel abusing me will win you 'converts' go for it :-)

Peter

bourbon-biscuit

"regardless of nationality" is MY point; yours was somewhat different. You can disagree with me/ anyone you like but claiming you necessarily win over those who aren't farmers or that those with British first nationality have no right to comment on NZ conservation is going to wind folk up. But I reckon you knew that

Anyway, Yuletide Felicitations and all that - I'm not going to get any further into this.

Kotare

Best wishes for 2016 to you (and our endangered native wildlife)

Peter