An area similar to the one Ann Graeme was writing about in last week's 'the Sun” was inspected by me this week in the Waikareao Estuary. The tide had partially covered it with several inches of water. What a joy it was to observe the abundant bird life! I counted 15 herons having a good feed, plenty of grey ducks and mallards and uncountable oyster catchers. There were even some pied stilts foraging. I agree the area does not look attractive but to talk about a dead zone, as she did last year, is ludicrous. Give it a few more years and that area will look again the way it used to be: sandy mudflats. The birds might then miss such an abundant feeding ground!
With regard to the antiquated attitude of some members of Forest & Bird, it reminds me of a quote of Max Planck, a famous German physicist and Nobel Prize winner:
'A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it”.

Hans Zuur, Avenues.