ROD AND GUN Dabbling Duck Ponds

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30975, 3 February 1966, Page 7

ROD AND GUN Dabbling Duck Ponds

[Specially written fur “The Press” by JAMES SIERS]

New machinery, the greater demand for land and the inability of engineers in general to see a swamp as an asset, is putting paid to a large number of our remaining wetlands previously thought uneconomic for production. “Making Duck Ponds for Wild Ducks” is a small booklet published by the Wildlife Branch of the Internal Affairs Department and it offers precise and expert advice to those who have long felt they should do something but never quite knew how to go about it.

The booklet provides detailed instructions on how to build a pond, from a modest pick and shovel effort to a bulldozer job. You can spend £lO or a £lOO.

The problem is; 40,000 shotgunners (increasing at a healthy rate annually) each year have less birds to shoot at. Restricting the length of season may help the population, but the crux of the matter is the availability of suitable environment For ducks, this means the type of water where they can breed in.

Sudsidies

The authors of the booklet, Messrs R. W. S. Cavanagh and A. S. Hall, recommend prospective pond-builders to first check with their acclimatisation society to see if it offers subsidies.

They say that if present waterfowl populations are even to be maintained we must keep some wetlands. We must also create new water areas.

“Farmers can convert swampy places into attractive waterfowl areas; ponds constructed primarily as watering places for stock can be designed so that they will attract waterfowl,” say the booklet’s authors. “Sportsmen who realise that their sport will be improved by the creation of new water can construct a shooting pond on property they own or on which they have permission to shoot.

“Groups of sportsmen can develop an overgrown swamp which could be made to produce waterfowl and provide good shooting places.” Low Cost

The cost of this enterprise can be as low as £lB for a four-acre pond. The grey, mallard, paradise, New Zealand shoveler, grey teal, New Zealand scaup (black teal), dabchick, white heron and pied stilt are among the visitors you can expect, once you have built a suitable pond.

Except for the scaup, New Zealand ducks are dabbling ducks and require shallow water, usually found around the margin of a pond, in which to feed. An irregular edge provides a larger feeding area. Ducks prefer to walk out and the provision of a gently sloping open margin, or a low-lying mudbank or island, provides this facility, as well as an area where the ducks can leaf and take the sun. Some cover is also essential, particularly for the rearing of young. A pond site should be considered so that the depth will not be more than 12in to 18in. An ideal site is a swamp with a growth of vegetation which is not too thick. The dam is drawn where one or more ridges form a natural narrow.

Details Given ffhe booklet goes on to describe in detail how to choose a swamp with particular

regard to the catchment; the construction of the dam; the formula for how thick the wall should be and how it should slope; how it should be compacted; and, the provision of correct low and high water spillways. It also discusses the question of food. It is a worthwhile and timely effort, but if New Zealand waterfowl numbers are to be maintained and increased, there is need for a, more imaginative and stirring appeal. Something in the nature of the ducks unlimited scheme in the United States.

Special stamps were issued for this scheme and it was left to the individual shooter to make the decision whether he would purchase when he went to buy his licence. The money is used to buy wetlands and to renew water. If, in New Zealand, similar stamps were sold at 10s each and these were bought by the 40,000 shooters, there would be a yearly fund of £20,000 to be spent either on subsidy for pond-building or for the

purchase of threatened wetlands. Insufficient Staff At the moment, acclimatisation societies are paying a levy to the Internal Affairs Department for “research.” The Wellington society’s share is nearly £lOOO toward this fund. Last year, the department refunded money to the North Island Council of Acclimatisation Societies because it has insufficient staff to engage in research work. The fundamental problem seems to be the provision of suitable new habitat and the retention of wetlands. The department recognises the urgent need, but it seems to me it could do a lot more to encourage the construction of farm ponds. Shooters, who profess more than a passing interest in their sport, must also play their part. Building ponds not only gives you better shooting but beautifies the countryside with aesthetically pleasing assets.