The Miranda Naturalists' Trust is a charitable trust, that established and maintains the Pūkorokoro Shorebird Centre, located at Pūkorokoro / Miranda on the western shore of the Firth of Thames on the North Island of New Zealand. The Pūkorokoro Miranda Naturalists' Trust (PMNT) was formed in 1975 to encourage people to visit the coastline and appreciate its wide range of flora and fauna. The trust promotes education and public awareness of coastal ecology, shorebird research and conservation. Work done by the trust, to increase knowledge of shorebird migration, includes bird banding, research and data exchange.Leaflet Pūkorokoro Shorebird Centre. Published by the Pūkorokoro Miranda Naturalists' Trust, June 2008 The Shorebird Centre has information displays on waders and a library and helps raise funds for the trust's work through their shop sales and visitor accommodation.
Miranda Pūkorokoro Miranda is on the western shore of Tīkapa Moana the Firth of Thames where the Hauraki Plains drains into the Hauraki Gulf. The wetlands of the Firth of Thames consist of extensive intertidal mudflats (about 8500 hectares), which are the feeding grounds for flocks of migratory wading birds. Along the Pūkorokoro Miranda coast, a chenier plain with large shell banks formed over the past 4500 years, and provides roosting areas for the waders at high tide. It is one of the most significant Holocene coastal strand plains in the world.
In 1990 the area was listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.Chambers 2000, p. 163
History The Pūkorokoro Miranda Naturalists' Trust was established in 1975 by a group of Auckland-based birdwatchers. One of them was Richard B. Sibson. He had arrived in Auckland from England in 1939 to take up a position as a classics' master with King's College at Middlemore. He was a keen birdwatcher, making bicycle tours to the Firth of Thames in the 1940s, e.g. in 1942 with a group of students from King's College. At Pūkorokoro Miranda, at the site of a then operating limeworks, he discovered a bird high-tide roost with bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica), wrybills (Anarhynchus frontalis) and South Island pied oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus). Other founders of the MNT were author and naturalist Ronald Lockley and Beth Brown. Beth was later to become the South Auckland representative and the first woman president of the Ornithological Society.Chambers 2000, p. 7
In 1973 Beth Brown had the first serious thoughts about the building of a birders' lodge near a wading bird roost. Pūkorokoro Miranda provided a good spot as here birds could always be seen within walking distance. The plan was put to a meeting of Auckland members of the Ornithological Society in March 1974. Here a committee was set up to bring the idea to practice. Later in the year the idea developed into establishing a "wildlife trust".
1975: registration of the trust In 1975 the Miranda Naturalists' Trust (original name) was registered as a charitable trust and the first president of the trust was John Brown.
The Trust's constitution lists as its main objects: To establish and maintain an observatory for the study of natural history, especially birds, in the Firth of Thames and adjacent areas. To collect information on the ecology of the Miranda Coast with a view to its conservation. To encourage and promote education for the greater knowledge and enjoyment of the natural life heritage of New Zealand.Chambers 2000, p. 15
The first donations were acquired, and a fund-raising campaign was started. An "Inaugural Appeal" letter was circulated, stating that "an Observatory should be set up at Miranda to maintain and amplify the study of birds in the Firth". This letter also spoke of the hope that "the lodge could be an established fact by mid-winter 1975".Miranda Naturalists' Trust Inaugural Appeal Elaine Power painted a New Zealand dotterel (Charadrius obscurus) for the Trust, which was sold in print in a limited edition, signed by the artist, and Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, made a fundraising speech, when he visited Auckland.
In 1976 Dick Sibson was elected chairman of the Trust. Important donations were received from Mobil Oil NZ, the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, the J.R. McKenzie Trust and the Recreation and Sport Fund.Chambers 2000, p. 18/9 In that same year "the first of the problems arose".Chambers 2000, p.19 An application for permission to build an observatory and lodge on the site of the old lime-works was turned down.
Finally, the problems would not be solved until the end of the 1980s. In 1986 the Trust, still looking for a place to erect a building, changed focus to the west side of the Miranda to Kaiaua Road. Then the process got into a higher speed, and within a couple of years the building actually starts.
1990: opening of the centre Mid January 1990 the builders arrive and on 29 September 1990 the Miranda Naturalists' Trust Centre on the road from Miranda to Kaiaua was officially opened with a dedication ceremony with Ngati Paoa, the tāngata whenua of Pukorokoro, Taramaire and Kaiaua. About 110 members and visitors assembled outside the gates of the centre at daybreak at 6 am. They were called on to the site by a karanga and the blessing (te karakia) and the greetings (te mihi) took place. Once in the building speeches of welcome from both sides, following marae etiquette were held. These speeches were followed by waiata (singing).
One of the waiata had the following text:
Ka haere mai ano nga kuaka Ka kite ano – te iwi pakeha Ka kite ano – te tangata whenua Na tatou katoa – Pukorokoro nei
Welcome again the godwits For the Pakeha to see For the first people to see For Miranda is for all
Then the Miranda Trust executive council members welcomed the tāngata whenua to the opening ceremony. The early start and the procedures at this day were chosen, to show that the trust was conscious to be in fact guests on the ancestral lands of Te Tangata Whenua. Following breakfast the tangata whenua left and Rev. Richard Fenton conducted a small dedication ceremony. Following this ceremony a number of speakers performed, among whom Sir Peter Elworthy, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust and Professor Max Maddock, from the University of Newcastle (NSW), chairman of the Shortland Wetlands Centre.Newsletter of the Miranda Naturalists' Trust, September 1990, and November 1990
In the same year a $50,000 grant from the N.Z. Lottery Grants Board was received, which allowed the building of new rooms at the centre.
Recent developments In 1992 John Gale, a recently retired Auckland businessman, became honorary full-time manager of the centre. From then on the centre could be open permanently for all hours. This only lasted for sixteen weeks however, when John left for a visit to England. It then became clear that a full-time centre manager was a prime necessity for the future.Chambers 2000, p. 117 The next year a full-time manager was appointed, paid with funding from "Task Force Green", a government agency involved with subsidising employment of people.
John Gale would then become member of the executive council of the trust and subsequently chairman (until 1998).
In 1993 the land surrounding the former lime-works were brought under the protection of a QE II National Trust Covenant. The area was called the "Robert Findlay Wildlife Area", to commemorate that the Findlay and Lane family (subsequent generations) have allowed birdwatchers unimpeded access over the land ever since arriving and first purchasing the land in 1869.
In 1994 Adrian Riegen formed the New Zealand Wader Study Group, supported by the trust. The group consisted of bird banders, and had developed from a local Miranda group within the trust, to being a nationwide group recording and reporting on bird banding results to do with waders from all over New Zealand.Chambers 2000, p. 129 A group of bird banders called "the Miranda Banders" had been active from 1979 to 1982, but was fired up again in late 1986, when four wrybills were caught by Adrian Riegen. The next catch in February 1987 consisted of more than 800 birds on the Kaipara Harbour. Catching was done with the use of a cannon net. Since then the catching and banding of birds have become and still are an important part of the work at the Shorebird Centre. Cannon netting is one of the highlights of the annual field courses.See the logs of the field courses since 1999 that are held in the Shorebird Centre The banding and flagging of birds brought answers to many questions concerning the migration routes of godwits and knots.Riegen, Adrian (2010) – 'Mangroves and Koalas : 25 Years at Miranda'. In: MNT News, issue 76 (February 2010), p. 3 – 6 Results of the banding are published in The New Zealand Wader Study Group News, which is an occasional newsletter, published through the MNT.All Newsletters are available online at the website of the trust.: New Zealand Wader Study Group News
In 1998 the site of the centre was enlarged with the selling of an extra 3,000 m2 of land, on which the manager's house stood.
Flyway liaison A key objective of Miranda Naturalists' Trust being to promote the awareness of migratory shorebirds and their habitat requirements, involvement in activities along the East Asian – Australasian Flyway – often shortly called the "Flyway" – have become increasingly important. Any opportunity to foster links between countries and sites where shorebirds stay during their migratory movements over the year is taken. Especially the shorebird habitat in the Yellow Sea region gets much attention. These habitats are under severe pressures. In 2009 a delegation from Busan (South Korea) visited the centre and agreements were then made to facilitate links between schools in New Zealand and Korea. Commencing 25 February 2011 a group of 23 students, teachers and support staff from Korea visited the centre for 6 days as part of the International Shorebird Students Education Program (ISEP).Woodley, Keith (2011) – 'Visit to Miranda by an Education Group from Busan, South Korea'. In: Miranda Naturalists' Trust News, issue 81 (May 2011), p. 7-8 In October 2010 Keith Woodley, manager of the Shorebird Centre, visited Mokpo, South Korea, to address a symposium on migratory shorebirds hosted by the Korea National Park Service and Sinan county.
The Miranda Naturalists' Trust has developed a "sister-site" relationship with the Yalu Jiang National Nature Reserve (YJNNR). This area houses large numbers of bar-tailed godwits during migration. – acquired 2012-01-15
Also much attention is given to the area of Bohai Bay, China. The mudflats in this bay are a very important part of the "Flyway" of red knots and are rapidly destroyed to develop new land for the Caofeidian New Area Project.MNT News, issue 82, p. 3 – 5
Newsletter Four times a year the trust publishes a newsletter to keep members in touch, and to bring news of events at the Miranda Shorebird Centre and along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.