HEN ISLAND (TARANGA) SCIENTIFIC CAMP, AUGUST Introduction and Acknowledgements. by Bruce W. Hayward

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1 TANE 24, 1978 HEN ISLAND (TARANGA) SCIENTIFIC CAMP, AUGUST 1977 Introduction and Acknowledgements by Bruce W. Hayward New Zealand Geological Survey, P.O. Box , Lower Hutt A party of ten Field Club "oldies" from Auckland, Matamata and Wellington, assembled at Whangarei Heads on 22 August, 1977, for a planned trip to Hen Island. We were delayed there, staying in a bach at Urquharts Bay, until 24 August, when the heavy easterly swells subsided enough to allow a landing at Dragon's Mouth Cove on the west end of Hen Island. Although scheduled to leave the island on 29 August, our departure was delayed by gale force south-westerly winds and we were finally taken off in rough seas on 1 September. The party, consisting of Dave Court, Dave Francis, Ann and Roger Grace, Glenys and Bruce Hayward, Phil Moore, Mary Newman, Gillian Puch and Anthony Wright, studied the island's archaeology, botany, intertidal and subtidal ecology, geology and lichenology, and the results of most of these studies follow. Hen Island is 19km south-east of Whangarei Heads and is the largest island of the Hen and Chickens Group, which is situated in the outer Hauraki Gulf midway between Little Barrier and the Poor Knights Islands. The island (520 hectares) is 5km long by 2km wide (Fig. 1) and rises to a height of 460m. It consists of an east-west backbone ridge along which there are numerous exposed rocky knolls and pinnacles (Fig. 2). On both sides of this ridge the land slopes steeply away down to the sea. Several more gently sloping valleys occur on the north side of the ridge in the centre of the island around Taranga. These are hanging valleys that plunge almost vertically over the sheer m high cliffs that form the northern coastline (Fig. 3). Most of the island is covered in dense kanuka forest that makes inland navigation difficult and slow. In places patches of mature taraire-tawa forest with a more open understorey make walking easier. Future parties planning to visit the island should read Cochrane's (1954) more detailed description. The following additional notes may also be useful. There are two major campsites on Hen Island at Dragon's Mouth Cove and Wahine Bay (Old Woman Cove). Landing is easiest at Dragon's Mouth Cove and is best negotiated at mid or higher tides when there is a pebble beach. The beach at Wahine Bay is smaller and more rocky. The Wahine Bay campsite is recommended for summer parties as it is located beside the only permanently flowing stream on the island. This site is near the beach but has less flat ground than that at Dragon's Mouth Cove, and much of this is now covered by a thriving grove of young pukas. The Dragon's Mouth Cove campsite is on the flat-topped point, 30m above the south-east end of the beach, and gear must be hauled up to 49

2 Fig. 1. Map of Hen Island (Taranga) showing place names, main ridges, bluffs and streams and other points of interest. Inset shows the location of the island in northern New Zealand. 1= Dragon's Mouth Cove campsite, 2= Wahine Bay campsite, 3= automatic light, 4= solitary kauri ricker tree.

3 it along a steep slippery path. This site has flat ground for numerous small tents. The main disadvantage of this site is the water supply there being none handy in summer. In winter, water can be collected from a small stream running into Pukanui Bay, five minutes walk from the camp, or by digging to bedrock in a small stream bed at the foot of the path in Dragon's Mouth Cove. The shoreline between Wilson Bay and Wahine Bay can be negotiated between mid and low tides, but all other sections of coastline are only negotiable in short sections without difficult cliff ascents. Access from the coast to the central backbone ridge system is steep, being easiest from behind Dragon's Mouth Cove, Lighthouse Bay and Stead Bay, more steep behind Reischek Bay, Wahine Bay and South East Bay, and almost sheer but possible behind Barefoot Bay and Great North Bay. The reef shown off the northern coast on the unpublished map, NZMS1 Sheet N25 Parts 7 and 8 (1:15 840) does not exist. The Hen and Chickens Islands were named by Captain James Cook on 25 November, 1769, because they looked like a brooding hen and her chickens (Wharton 1893). The last Maoris to occupy the island are said to have left in 1821 (Cranwell and Moore 1935). A Mr Polack claimed to have purchased the Hen and Chickens Islands from the local Maori people in the early 1840s but his claims were never substantiated and in 1882 the Crown purchased the islands. They are now part of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park and are strictly administered as a wildlife sanctuary for the protection of fauna and flora. PREVIOUS WORK One of the earliest scientists to visit and write about Hen Island was the Austrian ornithologist and artefact collector Reischek (1881, 1887, 1930). Prominent botanists such as Cheeseman, Kirk and Hutton visited the island in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and reported on the occurrence of several rare plants. They were followed by botanists Cranwell and Moore (1935) and Millener (1947), and ornithologist Falla (1934). The most comprehensive studies to date were carried out by an Auckland University Field Club party that visited Hen Island in August, 1953 (Bieleski and Fairburn 1954) and several small subsequent trips. These parties reported on aspects of the island's archaeology, algae, bryophytes and higher plants, geology, limnology, marine ecology, land molluscs and reptiles and published them in Tane volumes 6, 7 and 8. The 1960s saw a flurry of activity from ornithologists, who came to study the behaviour of the rare North Island saddleback (Atkinson 1964, 1966; Atkinson and Campbell 1966; Blackburn 1964; Merton 1966a, 1966b). Hen Island had become the last refuge of this saddleback, but since then the bird has been successfully transferred and established on several other offshore islands. Continuing studies on the saddleback is still the attraction of most visitors to Hen Island. 51

4 Fig. 2. Looking east over Great North Bay. The rugged, bouldery shoreline backed by high, partly vegetated cliffs is typical of the whole northern coastline of Hen Island. The twin peaks in the distance are of Taranga. i Fig. 3. Looking south-east from Moran's Lookout over kanuka and pohutukawa forest to the main backbone ridge of Hen Island. The exposed rocky knolls and pinnacles are from right: Old Man Rock, Balancing Rock, and The Pinnacles (two on left). 52

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All members of our party would like to thank: the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board for permission to visit the island; Mr Harvey Pranks of Tutukaka for transport to and from die island and for cheerfully providing us with radio contact with the mainland; the Auckland University Field Club and Mr Saies for loan of gear; Mr and Mrs Sands for allowing use of their bach at Urquharts Bay while we waited to leave for the island; and Mrs Court, Mrs Francis, Mrs Moore, Mrs Puch and Mrs Wright for their life sustaining cookies and cakes when rations were low. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HEN ISLAND Atkinson, I.A.E. 1954: Observations on some Leptospermum communities of Little Barrier and Hen Islands. Tane 6: Atkinson, I.A.E. 1964: Feeding stations and food of North Island saddleback in August. Notornis 11: Atkinson, I.A.E. 1966: Feeding stations and food of North Island saddleback in May. Notornis 13: Atkinson, I.A.E., Campbell, D.J. 1966: Habitat factors affecting saddlebacks on Hen Island. Proceedings of the New Zealand Ecological Society 13: Bartrum, J.A. 1936: Notes on the geology of Three Kings and other outlying islands of northern New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 18: Bieleski, R., Fairburn, H. 1954: Camp Account, Hen Island. August Tane 6: Blackburn, A. 1964: Some observations on behaviour of North Island saddlebacks in August. Notornis 11: Chambers, T.C. 1954a: A note on the bryophytes of Little Barrier, Hen and Mayor Islands. Tane 6: 83. Chambers, T.C. 1954b: Discussion held on Hen Island trip, A.U.F.C., August Tane 6: Chambers, S. 1976: More on Hen Island. New Zealand Farmer, April 22: 71. Cochrane, G.R. 1954: Notes on Taranga (Hen Island). Tane 6: Cranwell, L.M., Moore, L.B. 1935: Botanical notes on the Hen and Chickens Islands. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 1(6): Falla, R.A. 1934: The distribution and breeding habits of petrels in northern New Zealand. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 1(5): Hard, G.C. 1954a: Study of the fresh-water macrofauna of Hen Island. Tane 6: Hard, G.C. 1954b: Notes on Reptilia of islands visited by Field Club, Tane 6: King, S.A. 1956: A bird census on Taranga (Hen Island). Tane 7: 65. Loach, K.W. 1954: The myxophyceae of Hen Island. Tane 6: Merton, D.V. 1966a: Transfer of saddlebacks from Hen Island to middle Chicken Island in January Notornis 12: Merton, D.V. 1966b: Some observations of feeding stations, food and behaviour of the North Island saddleback on Hen Island in January. Notornis 13: 3-6. Millener, L.H. 1947: A study of Entelea arborescens R.Br., (whau). Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 76: Milligan, E.N. 1954a: Land molluscs of Hen Island. Tane 6: Milligan, E.N. 1954b: Marine molluscs of Hen Island. Tane 6: Milligan, li.n. 1956: Land molluscs of some offshore islands. Tane 7: Milligan, E.N. I960: A note on the geology of Hen Island. Tane 8: Reischek, A. 1881: Notes on zoological researches made on Chicken Islands, East Coast of North Island. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 14:

6 Reischek, A. 1887: Ornithological notes. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 19: Reischek, A. 1930: "Yesterdays in Maoriland". Whitcombe and Tombs, New Zealand. 312p. Skegg, P.D.G. 1964: Birds of the Hen and Chicken Islands. Notornis 11: Towns, D.R. 1971: The lizards of the islands visited by Field Club A revision with some additions Tane 1 7: Trevarthen, C.B. 1954a: Features of the marine ecology of Little Barrier, Mayor and Hen Islands. Tane 6: Trevarthen, C.B. 1954b: Vegetation transect on south slope of Hen Island. Tane 6: Wharton, W.J.L. (ed.) 1893: "Captain Cook's Journal during his First Voyage round the World, made in H.M. Bark Endeavour, ". London. Wilson, M. 1956: Field archaeological observations on Taranga Island. Tane 7: