A Tauranga beach groomer took matters into his own hands when trying to save an oystercatchers' nest from busy New Year's Eve celebrations in the middle of Mount Maunganui Main Beach.

Martin Craig was grooming the beach on December 26 when he found an egg about 20 metres from the toilet block opposite Commons Ave – and two days later, he found a second.

Tauranga beach groomer Martin Craig at the beach where the oystercatcher nest he found disappeared around New Year's Eve. Photo by: Tracy Hardy.

Concerned for the safety of the birds and their eggs, Martin put up a barricade around the eggs to protect them from beach-goers.

Martin says the eggs' incubation period is 25-32 days, which means the eggs were to hatch between January 20 and February 1. But Martin says the barricade was knocked down on New Year's Eve.

'The eggs are gone but the oystercatchers are still there. [But] it wouldn't have lasted that long if I didn't put the barricade up.”

Martin reported the eggs and nest to Mauao park rangers, who told him they would get back to him, but Martin says he hasn't had a reply.

'I thought I told the right people. But nothing happened. It costs you nothing to actually put up a barricade,” says Martin, who didn't want to move the birds from their nest due to risk of causing more danger.

The oystercatcher by its nest on Mount Main Beach. Photos: supplied.

'I think you just have to leave them where they are. They were quite happy to just sit there. I just wanted to make the barricade a little bigger.”

Martin says they're the same oystercatchers that are always on the beach and he'd have liked to see their eggs hatch.

'As much as it's our beach, it's their beach as well. It would have been nice to have them hatch right here in Mount Maunganui.

'It would have been one of those things when nature's happening right in the middle of everything.”

Martin is hoping the birds' will nest again – and if they do, he'll be putting up a bigger barricade with signs so people are more aware it is an enclosure.

TCC Mauao park ranger Mark Ray knows of two birds nesting at Mauao's base track but he is not aware of the nest where Martin found his eggs.

'Maybe it is a different pair. I think there's also another set that has taken a liking to where the seals are. So I wouldn't be surprised if there was another nest.”

Mark says he's been keeping an eye out for oystercatchers and their nests, and says the pair and their two chicks he found at the bottom of Mauao usually lay their eggs in the sand dunes.

'For the last three years they have been nesting in the actual sand dunes, and then all of a sudden we found the chicks at the bottom of the Mount.”

Despite not being aware of Martin's nest, Mark says he did the right thing by putting up a barricade.

Mark's advice to beach-goers if they spot any more nests is to simply 'leave them alone”.

Beach-goers admire the oystercatchers' nest.

Volleyballers play near the nest.