Lizard survey of Wellington City Council-Administered Parks &Reserves:

Final Report

Report prepared for the Wellington City Council

June 2014

Dr Sabine Melzer and Trent Bell EcoGecko Consultants Limited

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Quality Assurance Statement Author(s) SIGNED DATE

Sabine Melzer

Trent Bell

02/07/2014

02/07/2014

REVIEWER SIGNED DATE

Sarah Herbert

03/07/2014

APPROVAL FOR RELEASE SIGNED DATE

Sarah Herbert

03/07/2014

Author details Sabine Melzer, PhD Trent Bell, BSc Herpetologist Herpetologist EcoGecko Consultants Limited EcoGecko Consultants Limited 1424 Whangaparaoa Rd 77 Saddleback Grove Auckland 0930 Karori, Wellington 6012 sabine@ecogecko.co.nz trent@ecogecko.co.nz 021 190 1918 027 284 7788

Cover photograph: Skink (Oligosoma polychroma, Red Rocks) Photo credit: Sabine Melzer © EcoGecko Consultants Limited This report has been produced by EcoGecko Consultants Ltd for the Wellington City Council. All copyright in this report is the property of EcoGecko Consultants Ltd and any unauthorized publication, reproduction, or adaptation of this report is prohibited. Citation:Melzer S & Bell, T. (2014).Lizard survey of Wellington City Council-administered parks & reserves: final report. Unpublished EcoGecko Consultants Ltd report prepared for the Wellington Council, June 2014.

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Table of Contents

Executive summary 4 Introduction 5

Objective 6 Methods 9

Selection of study sites 9 Lizard surveys 9 Pitfall trapping and ACOs 10 Volunteer effort 13 Public call for lizard sightings 13

Results 14 Lizard surveys 14 Pitfall trapping 20 Volunteer effort and accounts 21 Predator control and sightings 22 Public call for lizard sightings 24 Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database 29 Summary of lizard findings 29

Discussion 33 Lizard populations and their ecological values 33 Lizard diversity and abundance 33 Predator control and monitoring 35 Citizen science and public calls for sightings 36 Management & monitoring of lizard populations at landscape level 38 Resource Management Act (1991) and the Wildlife Act (1953) 38 Where have all the lizards gone? 39

Recommendations 42 Acknowledgements 43 References 43 Appendix A: Volunteer training documents 46 Appendix B-1: Maps of parks surveyed 46 Appendix B-2: Species distribution maps 46 Appendix C: Example of the press release to report lizard sightings 46

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Executive summary

This report contains a summary of results froma two-year survey for lizards in Wellington City Council Parks and Reserves.

Historically, ten lizard species have been reported as occurring in the Wellington / Poneke

area, with a further four species restricted to offshore islands

We conducted surveys for the presence of lizardsinFebruary/March 2013 and in

January/February 2014in 40 parks across Wellington. Survey efforts consisted of a total of

178.5 person hours of day searching, 84.32 person hours of night spotlighting, and 462

pitfall trap checks.

143 lizards were detected during day searching and spotlighting and 93 lizards were caught

in pitfall traps.

A total of 156 lizard sightings and a minimum of 204 individuals from the entire Wellington

region were reported by the general public

The Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database holds a total of 2,024 records for geckos and skinks in the Greater Wellington region. Out of these, 233 records are from within WCC administered parks and reserves. However, 90% of these are restricted to only two parks, Zealandia and Otari-Wilton’s Bush.

As a result of our survey, we have developed a number of recommendations for lizard management that we think the WCC should consider. These are as follows: (a) pest control programmes should extend to some additional Parks & Reserves with significant lizard populations;(b)a review of the pest management programme should be undertaken by expert herpetologists to determine whether the pest control is of sufficient scope, scale, intensity and duration for the long-term viability of lizard populations in WCC-administered Parks & Reserves; (c) a cat registration bylaw and other socially acceptable forms of animal control for cats should be considered by the Council, (d) lizard monitoring programmes should be initiated as to measure faunal responses to pest management, and help justify the expenditure on pest control; (e) follow-up surveys are recommended for some species that were difficult to detect in some Parks and Reserves during our survey despite ideal habitat being present; (f) a species ID guide and standardized lizard sighting reporting procedure should be developed for council staff and volunteers working in Parks & Reserves; (g) a citizen science programme reporting lizard sightings by members of the public could be developed; (h) the Council could investigate allocation of funds for a translocation of Duvaucel’s gecko to Zealandia; (i) the Council should investigate the feasibility of a lizard rescue & rehabilitation programme for injured lizards bought in by cats at Wellington Zoo’s The Nest, and to re-home lizards to selected Parks & Reserves; (j) the Council should ensure that lizard considerations are included in the Resource Management Act processes; and finally, (k) student research projects could be undertaken for Council by university students.

Please note that higher resolution maps and waypoint locations of lizard records were released to the WCC Contract Manager, and not included in this report. This is because specific location information of lizard populations should not be released for public dissemination due to concerns about wildlife poaching. Specific locations for some species need to be withheld from the public for the security of these species.

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Introduction

There are currently approximately 100 recognized species of lizards in New Zealand, of which only half are formally described (Hitchmough et al. 2013, Nielsen et al. 2011). New species are still being discovered and the taxonomy of several species-complexes with cryptic species is being revised continuously (Chapple et al. 2009, Nielsen et al. 2011, Anderson et al. 2012). Our lizards occupy a wide variety of habitats, ranging from alpine to rocky coastal sites.All lizards, with the exception of the introduced rainbow skink, are endemic to New Zealand. With lizard species richness being approximately equivalent to that of terrestrial birds, skinks and geckos represent a significant component of our living fauna. All native lizards are legally protected under an amendment to the Wildlife Act 1953, and significant native lizard habitats by the Resource Management Act 1991 (Anderson et al. 2012). A significant component of our lizard fauna (around 80-85%) are recognised as ‘Threatened’ or ‘At Risk’ in the latest DOC Threat Ranking Lists (Hitchmough et al. 2013).

Lizard species have undergone severe range contractions and localized extinctions across New Zealand since pre-human times (Towns & Daugherty 1994).Among the proposed causes for declines are the impacts of suites of introduced predatory mammals and birds, habitat destruction and fragmentation, chemical pollution through agriculture and horticulture practices, and wildlife poachers (Anderson et al. 2012).

The Wellington City Council administered Parks &Reserves are within the Sounds-Wellington Ecological Region (McEwen 1987). The Wellington Ecological District (ED 39.01) features strongly faulted greywacke and argilite hills. This district is very windy with frequent NW gales, while warm summers and mild winters prevail. The Wellington ED has undergone extensive urban development; with the originally forested district now containing largely modified farmland, gorse(Ulex europaeus) shrubland, forest remnants and the area is dominated by a major city, Wellington. Native vegetation includes salt marsh communities, podocarp-dominant forests on the hills, rimu-rata forests closer to the coast and miro-rimu/tawa forest at higher altitudes. Native vegetation is interspersed with exotic forest patches and large burnt areas are now dominated by gorse after land clearing.

Wellington has around 500 individual parks, reserves and play areas that range in size from a few square meters to several hundred hectares. They comprise a wide variety of habitat types, such as coastal scrubland, native forest and highly modified urban land dominated by exotic shrubs, such as gorse, exotic broom (Cytisus scoparius), wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and wandering Jew (Tradescantia fluminensis). The variety of habitat is reflected by the diversity of lizard fauna present throught the region. There are a total of 17 lizard species present in the Wellington area (Table 1), with several restricted to offshore islands. These include goldstripe geckos (Woodworthia chrysosiretica),Duvaucel’s geckos (Hoplodactylus duvaucelii), speckled skinks1 (Oligosoma infrapunctatum) and McGregor’s skinks (O. macgregori).A further species, the robust skink (O. alani), appears to have gone locally extinct from the Wellington area; it is now restricted to offshore islands in northern New Zealand.

1Unfortunately, at the timethat these skinks were translocated to Mana Island, it was unknown that the speckled skink consisted of a species-complex with multiple species. As a result, the wrong species was actually introduced to Mana Island.

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Objective

EcoGecko Consultants Limited was commissioned by the Wellington City Council to survey Wellington City Council-administered Parks &Reserves for the presence of lizards and fill knowledge gaps on species distribution across the city. We achieved this by collating prior distribution knowledge (the Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database), making calls for lizard sightings from the public, and using varioustechniques to rapidly survey selected Parks &Reserves across Wellington.

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Table 1.Summary of lizard species known from the mainland in the Greater Wellington region, listed with their current Department of Conservation national threat rankings (Hitchmough et al. 2013), habitat and distribution in the Wellington region. In 2014 the NZ Department of Conservation changed the common names of several skink and gecko species. New common names are denoted with an asterix.

Common name Scientific name Threat ranking Habitat Distribution within WCC region

Raukawa gecko*

Woodworthia maculata

Not Threatened A very wide range of habitats from boulders and bluffs in the littoral zone to inland broadleaf and beech forests; isolated populations sometimes occur on highly modified farm or urban habitats, especially those once forested; often in rocky or scree habitats.

Widespread.

Minimac gecko*

Woodworthia ‘Marlborough mini’

Not Threatened Open rocky environments, including creviced coastal bluffs boulder fields, driftwood and pohuehue vegetation on the coast, bouldery grasslands and scrub, and inland, alpine screes and bluffs.

South-West Wellington coastline.

Duvaucel’s gecko

Hoplodactylus duvaucelii

Relict Found in both arboreal and terrestrial habitat in coastal and lowland areas, utilizing refugias in hollows or crevices under stones or in rock structures, sometimes empty petrel burrows in forest, scrub, coastal vegetation (flax, reeds) and cliffs (McCann 1955, Whitaker 1968). Also utilizes creviced rock outcrops, bluffs and cliffs, including associated vegetation, in open or scrubby areas and along the coastline among scrub, driftwood and rocks, often right down to high water mark. Occur in from forests down to boulder beaches on islands (Towns et al 1985).

Reintroduced to Mana Island.

Goldstripe gecko Woodworthia chrysosiretica

Relict Lowland/Generalist (Hitchmough et al 2010), 25 m up to 357 m above sea level, Coastal forest and scrub, often found in flax bushes.

Mana Island and Kapiti Island.

Pacific gecko Dactylocnemis pacificus

Relict Forest, shrubland, creviced clay banks and rock bluffs, rock outcrops and associated scrubby vegetation including flax.

Upper Hutt.

Ngahere gecko* Mokopirirakau aff. granulatus ‘Southern North Island’

Not Threatened Forest, shrubland, in ferns, and creviced limestone or clay banks. Widespread, translocated to Matiu/Somes Islands.

Barking gecko* Naultinus punctatus

Declining Forest and scrub, including manuka and kanuka shrubland. Widespread, but sparse. Reintroduced to Mana and Matiu/Somes Islands.

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Common name Scientific name Threat ranking Habitat Distribution within WCC region

Northern grass skink

* Oligosoma polychroma Clade 1a

Not Threatened The species occupies a very wide range of generally open habitats up to 1800m including small rocky islets, littoral and supralittoral zones, driftwood on sandy beaches, grasslands, shrublands, rocky sites, wetlands, and subalpine grasslands and herbfields.

Widespread.

Glossy brown skink*

Oligosoma zealandicum

Not Threatened Densely vegetated and typically damp or shady habitats in lowland areas, including forest, scrub, farmland and coastlines, including among pohuehue on boulder banks. Found occasionally on boulder beaches or within dense coastal forest (Whitaker & Lyall 2004).

Widespread west of the Hutt Valley.

Copper skink Oligosoma aeneum

Not Threatened Forest and open or shaded areas with adequate groundcover such as logs, rocks or long grass. Also encountered in urban areas such as compost heaps, rock gardens etc. Occurs close to the high-tide line in coastal situations (Chapple et al. 2008).

Widespread.

McGregor’s skink

Oligosoma macgregori

Recovering This skink forages in leaf-litter under coastal forest and scrub, has been found around seabird burrows and shelters during the day under rocks and logs (Robb 1980). On Mana Island, they occupy a shore platform under driftwood, coastal scrub and boulder banks but are expected to expand into forest (Newman 1987, 1994).

Mana Island.

Ornate skink Oligosoma ornatum

Declining Forest and shrubland, in leaf litter or amongst rocks and logs under canopy cover. Often found amongst Tradescantia.

Widespread but sparse.

Robust skink Oligosoma alani Recovering Low coastal forest. Thought to be primarily forest-dwelling, but current distribution is now confined to scrub and low forest with dense seabird colonies on small rodent free islands.

Regionally extinct, Range Restricted. May be reintroduced to Mana Island.

Kupe skink* Oligosoma aff. infrapunctatum 'Southern North Island'

Nationally vulnerable (data poor, sparse)

Grassland through to scrubland, rocky areas. Wairarapa; sparse, scattered populations. Likely range restricted if extant within WCC region.

Speckled skink Oligosoma infrapunctatum

Declining Grassland through shrubland and forest.

Reintroduced to Mana Island (from Stephens Island).

Spotted skink Oligosoma lineoocellatum

Relict They inhabit open areas including scrub, grasslands, flaxlands and coastlines/boulder beaches/rocky coast and may live among dense vegetation, scree and rock piles.

Sparse, scattered populations.

Whitaker's skink Oligosoma whitakeri

Nationally endangered

Associated with seabird burrows, confined to stable, deep rocky scree, prefers dense vegetation cover.

Pukerua Bay only (outside WCC area). May be reintroduced to Mana Island.

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Methods

Selection of study sites

Due to the extensivenumber of Parks &Reserves in Wellington and the large spatial area that the Parks & Reserve networkcovers within the WCC administrative boundary, it was not possible to thoroughly search all sites. Instead, we focused on (a)sites with potentially suitable lizard habitat, (b) parks where no lizards had been previously recorded and (c) sites that in close proximity to public sightings of certain species (Fig. 1).

A desktop assessment was undertaken in order to assess thepotential suitability of Parks &Reserves for lizard populations. This assessment was conducted using a search in the Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database, along with our expert knowledge of lizard species distribution patterns and using satellite imagery to classify sites according to the habitat quality. This assessment, which is no substitute for a thorough survey effort, attempts to predict species occurrence based on historical records within the vicinity, along with our expert knowledge of lizard habitat requirements relative to the habitat types available within the Wellington Ecological District. Habitat sampled included established native bush, rank grassland, native/exotic scrub and coastal sites.

Lizard surveys

Our efforts included timed day and night searches in February/March 2013 and January/February 2014. We further installed154 pitfall traps/artificial cover objects in a total of 29Parks & Reserves across the city. These survey techniques are necessarily rapid, in nature; other survey techniques may be needed for species that are hard to detect or spatially rare. All work involving lizards and their habitat was completed under a Wildlife Act Authority approved by the Department of Conservation (35283-FAU). All maps were produced using the open source GIS programme Quantum GIS (QGIS version 2.2 Valmiera).

Day searches were conducted in a selection of Parks &Reserves to cover a wide variety of habitats and geographic areas(Fig. 1). We visually searched areas that provide suitable basking sites and foraging habitat for lizards; such as in shrubs for green geckos, and on top of rocks or bare earth for skinks. We alsosearched potential day refugia for lizards by turning logs, rocks, rubbish and other debris; searching through vegetation, loose bark on trunks, tops of ferns, and within hollow trees, rock cracks and crevices. Rubbish, such as discarded tyres, sheets of metal or any other materials that heat up in the sun and/or retain heat, can provide lizard-friendly refuges. The site assessment was completed in favourable weather conditions with no or low rainfall, low cloud cover and winds. Even if no animalswere found during our survey, the presence of shed skin and droppings indicated the presence of lizards.

Detection of lizards during night searches is weather dependent; therefore these were only undertaken on warm evenings (> 14 °C). Using a spotlight-mountedbinoculars, along with bright headlamps and torches(LED Lenser®, P7.2), we searched small trees, shrubs, screes and other rocky areas, for gecko eye reflections or the pale underside of gecko bodies contrasting with the foliage and branches.

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Figure 1: Overview of Wellington City Council-administered Parks &Reserves. Areas that were surveyed in the summers of 2013 and 2014 are denoted in red.Results for lizard monitoring at Zealandia and Wrights Hill (orange) conducted by EcoGecko Consultants,as part of Landcare Research’s Conservation Flagships programme has been included in this report. The remainder of areas administered by the Council (but not surveyed) are denoted in white.

We attempted to catch any lizardsseen during the survey in order to identify the species

and record routine measurements: snout-vent length (SVL), total tail length and the regenerated portion of tail, if any. We recordedthe sex for adult geckos by presence of a hemipenal sac at the animal’s tail base. We did not sex skinks because this is a more invasive process (one needs to look inside the cloaca) andsex ratio data was not required to meet the objectivesof this survey. We photographed animals where species ID was not possible or ambiguous and consulted with other expert herpetologists (Dr. Geoff Patterson and Dr. Rod Hitchmough) in order to confirm species identity. On particularly hot days, where lizards tended to be too active to catch by hand, we attempted to photograph the lizards from a distance, which enabled later identification.

In addition to each lizard sighting, we recorded GPS locations of other indigenous fauna that may be of interest to the Council.

Pitfall trapping and ACOs

We used a combined pitfall trapping/ Onduline Artifical Cover Objects(ACOs) approach surveying for lizard species present in the Parks &Reserves (Fig. 2). We placed 154 pitfall traps, baited with canned pear, in suitable habitat likely to be occupied by lizards across the sites. Traps were installed a minimum of 10 meters apart. Pitfall trapping is a common method used for surveys or monitoring of terrestrial herpetofauna. These traps are most useful for capture of

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terrestrial skinks and the traps can capture any of the skinks known to be resident in Wellington. The pitfall traps used for this survey consisted of a 250 ml plastic container dug into the ground with a double layer of corrugated onduline placed on top. We usedOnduline ACOsinstead of the usual plywood covers for pitfall traps to increase chances of detecting lizard species that may use the Onduline for refuge. Pieces of sticks or small rocks were placed between the layers of Onduline to allow lizards to use the space as a refuge.

Pitfall traps were installed in different habitat types within Parks &Reserves across the city to detect the maximum number of species possible; these included native or mixed native/exotic bush, scrub, bush edge/rank grass, scrub and coastal sites (Fig. 3).

A B

C DA

Figure 2. Pitfall trap placement in different habitat types. Pitfall traps were placed amongst rocks and nearby vegetation in coastal areas (A, B), in forest (C) and in rank grass areas adjoining scrub (D).

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A BA

CA

DA

EA

FA

Figure 3. Different lizard habitat types surveyed. Coastal sites dominated by low, complex vegetation and rocky bluffs (A, B); native forest (C, D), areas of rank grass adjoining exotic scrub (E) and exotic vegetation in forest (F).

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Volunteer effort

We actively attempted to recruit volunteers to help with the survey effort by word of mouth and advertising on the New Zealand Trust for Conservation Volunteers website. Upon finishing the lizard surveys for the season, all volunteers were emailed a brief summary of results (number and species recorded as a result of their help and total hours spent searching) and asked to respond to the following questions:

1. Why did you decide to volunteer for this project? 2. Do you think it was worth your time and what did you get out of it? 3. Based on your experience, would you be interested in helping further with the project

(either (1) help putting out traps over winter, (2) checking traps next summer, (3) submitting any sightings of lizards you come across or (4) coming out for more spotlighting next summer)?

Public call for lizard sightings

A press release was issued by the Wellington City Council, calling for any lizard sightings by the public to be reported to EcoGecko Consultants. This public call was circulated on the following websites:

http://www.voxy.co.nz/

http://wellington.govt.nz/

http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

In addition, we were contacted by Greg Roughan, the editor of Green Ideas magazine, who promoted the story in an email to their database of readers. We also contacted volunteer groups who spend a lot of time working in parks for information about lizard sightings. These included the Trelissick Park working group, Friends of Tawa Bush and Nga Hau e Wha o Papararangi.

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Results

Lizard surveys

A total of 262.82 person hours were spent on timed, direct searches in Parks&Reserves of Wellington (Fig. 1; Table 2). Of these, 84.32person hours were spent spotlighting habitat during night searches and 178.5 hours spent on visual searches during the day. A total of 143 lizards were sighted during those searches and 62% of those were caught and measured (Table 3; Fig.6). In addition to sightings of skinks or geckos, other signs of their presence, such as shed skin and droppings were recorded (Fig. 4; Table 4). The most common species encountered during the surveys were northern grass skinks and Raukawa geckos (Fig. 5).

Day searches were completed in mostly fine weather with temperatures ranging between 11 and 28.8 °C, while night search temperatures varied between 10 and 20.6 °C (Table 7).

The main habitat types that lizards were recorded in during hand searches were coastal land, scrub and broadleaf forest. The vast majority of lizards were found under stones, basking in the open or on foliage. Smaller numbers were found in crevices of rocks and logs.

Lizard research in WCC Reserves

As part of a research contract undertaken by EcoGecko Consultants at Zealandia and Wright’s Hill Reserve on behalf of Landcare Research, thirty (30) Ngahere geckos were recorded under 200 closed-cell foam covers checked 7 times during a two-week period in March 2013 (T. Bell & S. Herbert, unpub. data). Only five (5) were recorded in the reference site, Wright’s Hill, using equal sampling effort. This indicates that Ngahere geckos are responding to exclusion of predatory mammals in Zealandia, but indicate that the species is unlikely to persist in abundance at most locations in the presence of predatory mammals.

In 2011, similar sampling effort involving 120 Onduline ACOs in Zealandia and 86 ACOs in Wrights Hill (5 checks), resulted in 347 and 164 northern grass skinks sightings, respectively (T. Bell & S. Herbert, unpub. data). When corrected for the number of traps, this was 0.58 skinks per ACO check in Zealandia, and 0.40 skinks per check in Wrights Hill. However, 38 ornate skinks were recorded from the same ACOs in Zealandia (0.06 skinks per ACO check) while none were recorded in Wrights Hill (0.00 skinks per ACO check).

Romijn et al. (2013) undertook a timed search and radio-tracking study of Ngahere geckos at

Otari-Wilton’s’s Bush, and found 47 geckos in 30 hours of searching (in 2011 and 2012), at a rate of 1.58 geckos per person hour.

A B C

Figure 4. Indicators for the presence of lizards are shed skin (A), intact droppings (B) or uric acid residuals from droppings (C). Presence of droppings underneath refugia reduces the risk of confusion with bird droppings.

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A B

C

Figure 5. The most common species caught during the two years of surveys were the northern grass skink (Oligosoma polychroma Clade 1a; A) and the Raukawa gecko (Woodworthia maculata; B) in typical habitat of rocky coastline with flax and complex ground vegetation (C).

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Table 2. Summary of search effort in Wellington City Council Parks & Reserves searched in February-March 2013 and January-February 2014.

Location Type of search Person hours Lizards (N) N/hr Area searched (m2)

Houghton Bay and Elsdon Point Day 1.9 5 2.69 6,635

Moa Point/Tarakena Bay/Palmer Head Day 16.6 40 2.46 61,868

Red Rocks/Sinclair Head Day 27.1 42 1.55 128,707

Breaker Bay/Dorset Point Night 16.3 20 1.23 86,459

Breaker Bay/Dorset Point Day 9.0 8 0.89 86,459

Palmer Head Night 9.2 6 0.55 44,192

Eastern Walkway/Rangitutu Reserve Day 3.3 2 0.60 105,129

Polhill Gully Reserve and Panorama Heights Reserve Day 11.8 7 0.60 158,393

Polhill Gully Reserve Night 5 0 0.00 62,440

Dorrie Leslie Park Day 8.7 5 0.58 13,620

Centennial Park Day 7.7 4 0.52 210,543

Scorching Bay Day 2.3 1 0.43 4,194

Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve Day 6.3 1 0.16 17,309

View Road Park Day 8.1 1 0.12 13,898

George Denton Park and Panorama Heights Day 12.0 1 0.08 138,317

George Denton Park and Panorama Heights Night 7.5 0 0.00 138,317

Caribbean Avenue Reserve Day 9.5 0 0.00 147,201

Caribbean Avenue Reserve Night 9 0 0.00 147,201

Centennial Park Night 6.5 0 0.00 210,543

Central Park Day 4.5 0 0.00 49,591

Charles Plimmer Park (Mt Victoria) Day 1 0 0.00 47,538

Hataitai Park Day 8.8 0 0.00 65,834

Kelburn Park and Play Area Day 2.2 0 0.00 16,291

Khandallah Park Day 2.8 0 0.00 138,653

Khandallah Park Night 13.8 0 0.00 138,653

Maupuia Walkway Day 2.3 0 0.00 49,591

Maupuia Walkway Night 1.7 0 0.00 49,591

Mt Albert/Southern Walkway Day 3.3 0 0.00 60,078

Mt Victoria/Vice Regal Play Area Day 4.1 0 0.00 27,318

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Point Jerningham Day 1.2 0 0.00 1,233

Seton-Nositer Park Night 6 0 0.00 114,197

Seton-Nossiter Park Day 5.3 0 0.00 114,197

Tawa Tawa Reserve Day 5.0 0 0.00 110,284

Trelissick Park Day 4.0 0 0.00 90,666

Vice Regal Play Area Day 0.86 0 0.00 27,318

Waihinahina Reserve/Gilberd Bush reserve Day 5.7 0 0.00 114,822

Waihinahina Reserve/Gilberd Bush reserve Night 2.84 0 0.00 114,822

Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve Day 1 0 0.00 17,309

Woodburn Reserve Day 3.2 0 0.00 32,475

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Table 3. Summary of lizards found in the Wellington City CouncilParks &Reserves searched in February and March 2013 using refuge searches and spotlighting. “Unid.” = unidentified.

Location Raukawa gecko Ngahere gecko

Minimac gecko Unid. gecko Northern grass skink Unid. skink Total lizards

Moa Point/Tarakena Bay/Palmer Head 26 2 14 4 46 Red Rocks/Sinclair Head 6 6 30 42

Breaker Bay/Dorset Point 22 1 1 4 28 Polhill Reserve/Panorama Heights 3 4 7

Dorrie Leslie Park 1 4 5 Houghton Bay and Elsdon Point 1 4 5

Centennial Park 4 4 Eastern Walkway/Rangitutu Reserve 2 2

George Denton Park 1 1 Scorching Bay 1 1

View Road Park 1 1 Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve 1 1

Maupuia Walkway 0 Mt Albert/Southern Walkway 0

Waihinahina/Gilberd Bush Reserve 0 Khandallah Park 0

Trelissick Park 0 Central Park 0

Tawa Tawa Reserve 0 Kelburn Park and Play area 0

Point Jerningham 0 Caribbean Avenue Reserve 0

Woodburn Reserve 0 Seton-Nossiter Park 0

Hataitai Park 0 Mt Victoria/Vice Regal Play Area 0

Total lizards 50 1 6 3 26 57 143

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Table 4. Summary of other evidence for the presence of lizards in the Parks &Reserves searched.

Location Sloughed skin Droppings Total lizards seen

Red Rocks/Sinclair Head ✔ ✔ 42 Moa Point/Tarakena Bay/Palmer Head ✔ ✔ 37 Breaker Bay/Dorset Point ✕ ✔ 28 Polhill Gully Reserve and Panorama Heights Reserve ✕ ✕ 7 Dorrie Leslie Park ✕ ✔ 5 Houghton Bay and Elsdon Point ✕ ✔ 5 Centennial Park ✕ ✕ 4 Eastern Walkway/Rangitutu Reserve ✕ ✔ 2 George Denton Park ✕ ✕ 1 Scorching Bay ✔ ✔ 1 View Road Park ✕ ✔ 1 Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve ✔ ✕ 1 Caribbean Avenue Reserve ✕ ✕ 0 Central Park ✕ ✕ 0 Hataitai Park ✕ ✕ 0 Kelburn Park and Play Area ✕ ✕ 0 Khandallah Park ✕ ✕ 0 Maupuia Walkway ✕ ✕ 0 Mt Albert/Southern Walkway ✕ ✔ 0 Mt Victoria/Vice Regal Play Area ✕ ✕ 0 Point Jerningham ✕ ✕ 0 Seton-Nossiter Park ✕ ✕ 0 Tawa Tawa Reserve ✕ ✕ 0 Trelissick Park ✕ ✔ 0 Waihinahina Reserve ✔ ✕ 0 Gilberd Bush Reserve ✕ ✕ 0 Woodburn Reserve ✕ ✕ 0

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Figure 6: Summary of mean snout-vent lengths (SVL; ± standard error; black bars) and percentage of lizards that had regenerated tails (white bars) of captured minimac geckos (n=3), Raukawa geckos (n=22) and northern grass skinks (n=10).

Pitfall trapping

A total of 154 pitfall traps were installed in 29 parks and opened for 3 consecutive days in January and February 2014 in settled weather conditions (Table 5). Over 462 trap days, 93 lizards were caught. We found four different lizard species, including Raukawa geckos (n = 3), northern grass skinks (n = 29), minimac geckos (n = 4) and ornate skinks (n = 1).

Table 5. Weather conditions during time of pitfall trap checks. Weather data was sourced from NIWA (Kelburn station for inland parks; Airport station for coastal parks). Observed conditions in the field were very similar to the data from NIWA.

Check 1 Check 2 Check 3 Check 1 Check 2 Check 3

Southern parks 15/01/14 16/01/14 17/01/14 28/01/14 29/01/14 30/01/14

GustSpd (km/hr) 64.9 77.8 51.9 42.6 42.6 46.3

Rain (mm) 0 3 0 0 0 0

RH (%) 68.5 71.5 73 72.9 75.4 77.7

Tmax (°C) 20.6 21.3 17.3 17.3 22.2 22.5

Tmin (°C) 13.5 15.5 11.7 12.4 10.1 14

Total lizards 25 12 31 1 1 2

Northern Parks 12/02/14 13/02/14 14/02/14 18/02/14 19/02/14 20/02/14

GustSpd (km/hr) 68.6 68.6 51.9 81.5 37.1 16.7

Rain (mm) 0 0 0 0 0 0

RH (%) 95.6 74.8 82.9 16.2 17.6 15.4

Tmax (°C) 20.4 20.8 22.4 20.3 22.7 24.9

Tmin (°C) 14.6 11.8 14.8 17.1 17.5 14.8

Tgmin (°C) 14.4 9 12.2 14.3 16.1 15.6

Total lizards 0 0 3 2 7 6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Minimac gecko Raukawa gecko Northern grass skink

Per

cen

t w

ith

re

gen

erat

ed ta

ils

Sno

ut

-V

en

t Le

nth

(mm

)

21

Volunteer effort and accounts

A total of 12 volunteers contributed 104.01 person hours to the survey effort. Group sizes on a given day usually ranged between two to four persons, with a maximum of six on two survey occasions. Each survey was accompanied by at least two EcoGecko staff members.

We recruited volunteers with varying degrees of lizard experience and diverse backgrounds, ranging from students to conservation professionals from overseas. Reasons for volunteering for this project were (1) the desire to get involved with conservation projects in Wellington, (2) learn more about local wildlife, (3) increase their knowledge about survey techniques and (4) get ‘hands on’ experience. All volunteers agreed that this project was worth their effort and not only increased skills and confidence levels for lizard searches but also contributed to learning about local conservation activities, meeting like-minded people and seeing many different parts of the city. As far as time allows, all volunteers were very interested in helping out further with the project by either putting out and checking traps, submitting any lizard sightings or coming out for more spotlighting next summer. Sightings of other endemic fauna

Observations of other fauna during the surveys included red admiral (Vanessa gonerilla) and neonates of cave weta (unidentified species) from the unnamed reserve above Dorrie Leslie Park on the South Coast, Wellington tree weta (Hemideina crassidens) in Centennial Park, black tunnelweb spiders (Porrhothele antipodiana) at Trelissick Park, velvet worms(Peripatoides novaezealandiae) in Central Park, Kelburn Park and Play Area and Hataitai Park (Fig. 7).P. novaezealandiae is a species complex, which is currently under revision.

Figure 7. Velvet worms (Peripatoides novaezealandidae) found under a rotting log at Hataitai Park.

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Predator control and sightings

In November/December 2013, chew card trials were completed in Central Park, George Denton Park and Play Area, Polhill Gully Recreation Reserve, Panomara Heights Reserve and Holloway Road/Brosnahan Terrace Reserve.The chew card data was collected by volunteers in collaboration with the WCC and was kindly made available to us by Ilona Keenan (Pest Management Officer, WCC). All of these parks, with the exception of Holloway Road/Brosnahan Terrace Reserve, were also surveyed for lizards as part of this report (Fig. 8 and 9).

Overall, the chew cards showed the presence of rats, possums, cats, mice, hedgehogs and mustelids. The largest number of skinks (Northern grass skink,Oligosoma polychroma Clade 1a) was detected in Polhill Gully Recreation Reserve where the chew card trials also indicated the presence of mice and mustelids, although 12 out of 18 chew cards recorded no pests. Out of the 29 cards in Central Park, 62% showed the presence of rats, mice, cats or possums and we did not detect any lizards during day refuge searches or in pitfall traps.

In January 2014, further chew card trials (2 lines per park) were completed by a summer scholar in collaboration with the WCC in Carey’s Gully, Te Ahumairangi Hill, Mt Victoria, Otari-Wilton’s Bush and Prince of Wales Park. Of these parks, we surveyed Mt. Victoria and parts of Prince of Wales Park for lizards but none were detected. The chew card trials showed large numbers of mice, while rat numbers appeared lower It is possible that rats were not attracted to chew cards because they were still detected in traps at Otari-Wilton’s Bush during this period(Illona Keenan, pers. comm.).

We also observed a range of predators in the parks and reservesduring the lizard surveys in the summers of 2013 and 2014. These included rabbits, hedgehogs, a dead stoat and rat, and cats, with the majority observed along the south coast of Wellington.

23

Figure 8. Results for chew card trials (undertaken by volunteers and WCC) and lizard surveys (undertaken by EcoGecko Consultants) in George Denton Park and Play Area, Polhill Gully Recreation Reserve and Panorama Heights Reserve. All data collected between November 2013 and January 2014. L = chew card lost, N = nothing detected, M = mouse, Mu = mustelid, R = rat and P = possum.

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Figure 9. Results for chew card trials (undertaken by volunteers and WCC) and lizard surveys (undertaken by EcoGecko Consultants) in Central Park. Data collected between November 2013 and January 2014. I = chew card interfered with, N = nothing detected, M = mouse, C = cat, R = rat and P = possum.

Public call for lizard sightings

Between February 2013 and March 2014, a total of 156 lizard sightings involvinga minimum of 204 individual lizardsfrom across the greater Wellington region were reported to us by the public in response to the public call (Table 6, Fig. 10). After following up these reports by email and phone, we were able to identify 58.8% of the lizards down to species level (Table 6). Pet cats caught 18.6% of skinks and geckos that were reported, however the true proportion oflizard records resulting from captures by cats remains unknown for 76.4% of the public recordsbecause people were not specifically asked for this information.

Lizards reported by the public were almost exclusively from urban habitats, ranging from inside houses and garden sheds to basking out in the open on grass or stones in gardens.

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Table 6. Summary of lizard species reported by the public with associated identification reliabilities. *Whitaker skink was reported from Haunui Way, Pukerua Bay.

Captured & identified

Identified with lizard guide

Photo examined

unknown No. of lizards

Gec

kos

Raukawa gecko 1 6 47 4 58

Ngahere gecko 2 7 9 Barking gecko 2 6 3 11

Minimac gecko 3 11 14 Unid. gecko 3 25 28

Skin

ks

Glossy brown skink 1 1

Northern grass skink 1 3 18 11 33 Copper skink 1 2 3

Ornate skink 2 1 3 Unid. skink 2 39 41

Whitaker's skink* 1 1

Unid. lizard 2 2

Total 9 18 93 84 204

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A B

C

D

E F

Figure 10. Range of lizard species seen by the general public: Barking gecko (A; photo: Rachelle Frazer), minimac gecko (B; photo: Sandy Winterton), Ngahere gecko (C; photo: Fraser Jackson), Raukawa gecko (D; photo: Sam Eccles), Ornate skink (E; photo: Peter Highton), northern grass skink (F; photo: Janet Richardson).

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Table 7. Weather conditions during the day refuge searches and spotlighting completed in Parks& Reserves.

Date Location Type of search

Weather Wind Temp. (°C)

20/02/13 Breaker Bay/Dorset Point Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 23

20/02/13 Breaker Bay/Dorset Point Night Clear, 0-1/2 Moonlit Light breeze 20.6 21/02/13 Eastern Walkway/Rangitutu Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 27.2

22/02/13 Moa Point/Tarakena Bay/Palmer Head Day Overcast/drizzle Moderate breeze 16 26/02/13 Dorrie Leslie Park Day Fine/Sunny Calm 18.1

26/02/13 View Road Park Day Fine/Sunny Calm 24 26/02/13 Palmer Head Night Clear Calm 19

27/02/13 Houghton Bay and Elsdon Point Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 22 27/02/13 Scorching Bay Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 22

27/02/13 Maupuia Walkway (Carter Park) Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 22 27/02/13 Maupuia Walkway (Carter Park) Night 1/2-1 Moonlit Light breeze 16

28/02/13 Centennial Park Day Fine/Sunny Calm 24.3 28/02/13 Mt Albert/Southern Walkway Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 28.8

29/02/13 Centennial Park Night Clear, 1/2-1 Moonlit Light breeze 17.3 1/03/13 Waihinahina Reserve/Gilberd Bush

Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Moderate breeze 20.7

6/03/13 Khandallah Park Day Overcast Moderate breeze 19.8

6/03/13 Trelissick Park Day Partial Cloud Light breeze 21 8/03/13 Central Park Day Overcast Light breeze 22.5

8/03/13 Tawa Tawa Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 25 12/03/13 Kelburn Park and Play Area Day Fine/Sunny Moderate breeze 21.6

12/03/13 Point Jerningham Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 21.5 14/03/13 Caribbean Avenue Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 21.5

14/03/13 Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 21.5 14/03/13 Woodburn Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 21.5

19/03/13 Seton-Nossiter Park Day Overcast/showers Moderate breeze 13.9 20/03/13 Red Rocks/Sinclair Head Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 17.3

21/03/13 Polhill Gully Recreation Reserve & Town Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 17

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Belt and Panorama Heights Reserve 21/03/13 Panorama Heights Reserve and George

Denton Park Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 17

21/03/13 Khandallah Park Night Clear, 1/2-1 Moonlit Light breeze 10

22/03/13 Hataitai Park Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 20 22/03/13 Mt Vicoria/Vice Regal Play Area Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 21

18/09/13 Vice Regal Play Area Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 11 18/09/13 Charles Plimmer Park (Mt Victoria) Day Fine/Sunny Light breeze 11

4/02/14 Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve Day Fine/Sunny Moderate breeze 19 3/02/14 Caribbean Avenue Reserve Night Clear, 1/2-1 Moonlit Light breeze 14

19/02/14 Seton-Nositer Park Night Clear, 1/2-1 Moonlit Calm 15 20/02/14 Waihinahina Reserve Night Overcast/drizzle/fog Calm 15

20/02/14 Gilberd Bush Reserve Night Overcast/drizzle/fog Calm 15 21/02/14 Polhill Reserve and George Denton Park Night Clear, 1/2-1 Moonlit Calm 17

25/02/14 Dorset Point Night Clear, 1/2-1 Moonlit Calm 14

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Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database

The Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database holds a total of 2,024 records for geckos and skinks across the Greater Wellington region,including records of subfossils, skin sloughs, dead and live specimens reported between 1921 and 2011. There are 233lizard records in BioWeb that are from within 29 WCC administered Parks &Reserves. However, 90% of these are restricted to only two parks, Zealandia (copper skinks, glossy brown skinks, northern grass skinks, ornate skinks, barking geckos, Ngahere geckos, Raukawa geckos) and Otari-Wilton’s Bush (glossy brown skinks, northern grass skinks,ornate skinks and Ngahere geckos).

Summary of lizard findings

When combining the results of the surveys over the past 2 years, public sightings and the records from the Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database, it is possible to get an indication of the distribution of lizards across the WCC-administered Parks &Reserves. Species richness is a count of the number of different species present in an area and it becomes apparent that some parks support more lizard species than others (Fig. 11, 12). Parks with high species richness also had the most sightings of individual lizards.

Accounting for all available sources, lizards were recorded in 32 Parks & Reserves ranging from coastal areas in the South to the northernmost boundary of Parks (Table 8, Fig. 11, 12).

Table 8. Summary of lizard species recorded within WCC administered Parks & Reserves using records from our surveys, public sightings and BioWeb.

Park Species Beacon Hill Reserve Raukawa gecko Breaker Bay Northern grass skink Carter Park (Maupuia Walkway) Northern grass skink Carter Park (Maupuia Walkway) Raukawa gecko Centennial Park & Play Area Northern grass skink Central Park Northern grass skink Dorrie Leslie Park Northern grass skink Raukawa gecko Dorset Point Copper skink Northern grass skink Raukawa gecko Eastern Walkway / Rangitatau Reserve Raukawa gecko Gilberd Bush Reserve Raukawa gecko Holloway Road / Brosnahan Terrace Res. Glossy brown skink Northern grass skink Houghton Bay and Elsdon Point Minimac gecko Northern grass skink Khandallah Park & Playarea/Johnsonville Park Barking gecko Macalister Park Ornate skink Moa Point Northern grass skink Raukawa gecko Mt Albert Park, National Hockey Stadium Northern grass skink

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Newtown Town Belt Northern grass skink Otari Farm Reserve Ngahere gecko Northern grass skink Otari-Wilton's Bush Glossy brown skink Northern grass skink Ornate skink Ngahere gecko Pariwhero/ Red Rocks Northern grass skink Minimac gecko Raukawa gecko Polhill Gully Rec Reserve & Town Belt Ornate skink Railway Land - Duncan Street unidentified gecko Taputeranga Island Minimac gecko Northern grass skink Tarakena Bay and Palmer Head Northern grass skink Raukawa gecko Tawa Tawa Reserve Northern grass skink Te Ahumairangi Northern grass skink Te Rimurapa/ Sinclair Head Minimac gecko Northern grass skink Tyers Stream Reserve/Homebush Park & Play Area Copper skink Ornate skink Unnamed reserve (Eastern Walkway) Barking gecko Waihinahina Reserve (Dennis Duggan) Ngahere gecko Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve Northern grass skink Barking gecko Ngahere gecko Raukawa gecko Wrights Hill Reserve Ngahere gecko Northern grass skink Ornate skink Zealandia Copper skink Glossy brown skink Northern grass skink Ornate skink Barking gecko Ngahere gecko Raukawa gecko

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Figure 11. Species richness in the southern WCC administered Parks &Reserves. Species counts are derived from EcoGecko Consultants survey results, verified public sightings and records or the Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database. The large reserve in the middle (in dark green) is Zealandia.

No of species in parks

0 - 00 - 11 - 22 - 44 - 7

Species richness

0 1 2 3 4 km

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Figure 12. Species richness in the northern WCC administered Parks &Reserves. Species counts are derived from EcoGecko Consultants survey results, verified public sightings and records of the Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofauna records database.

No of species in parks

0 - 00 - 11 - 22 - 44 - 7

Species richness

0 1 2 3 4 km

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Discussion

Lizard populations and their ecological values

The New Zealand native lizard fauna currently comprises 100 recognised species, of which around half are formally described (Hitchmough et al. 2013, Nielsen et al. 2011). All of our native lizards are endemic to New Zealand and constitute a significant component of our extant fauna. All lizards, except for the introduced rainbow skink (Lampropholis delicata), are legally protected under the Wildlife Act 1953, and areas of significant habitat are protected via the Resource Management Act 1991 (Anderson et al. 2012). A significant component of our lizard fauna (around 80-85%) are recognised as ‘Threatened’ or ‘At Risk’ in the latest Threat Ranking Lists (Hitchmough et al. 2013).

Lizard diversity and abundance Our lizard surveys were generally focused on covering a large number of parks across the

entire Parks &Reserve network and those that were not previously surveyed and potentially providedlizard habitat. However, our study was restricted by the large geographical area to be covered and the limited resources available. Weather conditions during the surveys were mostly dry and calm, increasing the probability of detecting any lizards present, and it was of concern that several lizard species were not detected, particularly the Ngahere gecko, barking gecko, ornate skink, speckled skink and spotted skink. Less abundant species or those that exhibit behaviours that make them harder to detect require increased survey efforts over longer time periods. Due to the cryptic nature of many species (particularly geckos), lizard diversity and densities observed in our surveys may underestimate actual numbers. Given the large number of lizard species known from the Wellington region (Table 1), lizard diversity in the majority of parks was comparatively low. Generally, lizard abundance was higher in coastal parks, and this is attributed to the complex habitat provided by rocks, vegetation and creviced cliff faces and associated cover from predators. Based on the lizard species present in the Wellington region and the results of our survey efforts, we briefly summarize distribution and recommendations for each species below (see also species distribution maps in Appendix B-2). Raukawa geckos are the most common gecko species in Wellington, and are abundant in particular Parks & Reserves along the coast. Reserves with abundant populations should have pest control programmes in place. Minimac geckos are restricted to southwestern Wellington coast, and occur in abundance along this coastline.

Duvaucel’s geckos are a locally extinct gecko species, present only on Mana Island by way of translocation. An intensive study on the post-release translocation outcomes has indicated that this gecko has successfully established (T. Bell & S. Herbert, unpub. data). Zealandia is the best candidate for the mainland repatriation of this species in the southern North Island. Goldstripe geckos have not yet been detectedin Wellington, apart from populations on Kapiti and Mana Islands. However, identification of flaxland for targeted goldstripe gecko surveys is recommended. Goldstripe geckos may be surveyed during the day and also at night, using spotlighting methods.

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Pacific geckos are one of the rarest gecko species in Wellington, with individuals recorded in the Hutt Valley area, especially around the Silverstream area. This species is particularly vulnerable to predatory mammals, and local populations are highly significant as the species’ southernmost, if disjunct, limit of their range. This species was not recorded in our survey, which is unsurprising. Targeted surveys using closed-cell foam covers and night spotlighting methods are highly recommended, as there are no populations that are known to be secure in the greater Wellington region. Ngahere geckos are widespread, but sparse, with only two known population strongholds on the Wellington mainland at Zealandia and Otari-Wilton’s Bush, although there is another population known in the Hutt Valley. Ngahere gecko records within Parks & Reserves boundaries are restricted to Otari Farm Reserve, Otari-Wilton's Bush, Waihinahina Reserve (Dennis Duggan), Wilf Mexted Scenic Reserve, Wrights Hill Reserve and Zealandia. There appears to be suitable Ngahere gecko habitat in many Parks & Reserves, particularly those that contain old growth native forest (eg. Huntleigh Park, Khandallah Park). Targeted surveys using closed-cell foam covers and further night spotlighting work are highly recommended.

Barking geckos are highly cryptic and of considerable conservation concern, as records are sparse and there are no known secure populations on the mainland. Although some records exist in BioWeb and were obtained from the public call, this species is still very poorly known in terms of distribution, abundance and conservation security. Translocations to Mana Island and Matiu Somes Island apparently failed, but this may be a case of insufficient survey effort.

Northern grass skinks are widespread and sometimes abundant. This species is well represented across many WCC-administered Parks & Reserves. It is currently not of conservation concern. Glossy brown skinks are relatively sparse, known from patchy records, especially in Zealandia, Wrights Hill and Otari-Wilton’s Bush and Holloway Road / Brosnahan Terrace Reserve. Records are absent from Miramar and the northernmost Parks & Reserves.

Copper skinks are widespread but sparse. This skink may be infrequently recorded more because of its secretive habits than supposed low abundance. It is currently not of conservation concern. McGregor’s skinks are very rare and known only from Mana Island (and the Mercury Islands off the Coromandel coast). The species is not recorded on the mainland, but has potential for discovery along the south-western Wellington coastline. Discoveries of mainland populations would be of national significance. Ornate skinks are widespread but sparse. Predatory mammals may threaten this species, as it is low in abundance in most places except for Zealandia. It has also been recorded inMacalister Park, Otari-Wilton's Bush, Polhill Gully Rec Reserve & Town Belt, Tyers Stream Reserve/Homebush Park & Play Area and Wrights Hill Reserve. Of note is that ornate skinks were reportedly abundant in Kelburn Park in the 1970s (Kelly Bargh, pers. comm.) but we only detected one animal by pitfall trapping during our surveys. Robust skinksare locally extinct but known from subfossil bones on Mana Island. The Department of Conservation is interested in translocating the species to Mana Island, but access to source

35

populations have proven problematic. Zealandia would be an appropriate release location for robust skinks, but Mana Island is ranked higher in priority by DOC. Kupe skinks were not recorded in our survey, and are not known to be in any WCC-administered Park or Reserve. Discovery of any Kupe skink populations in Wellington would be of high significance.

Speckled skinksin the greater Wellington region are only known from a translocated population on Mana Island. Any “speckled skinks” in WCC-administered Parks & Reserves on mainland Wellington are likely to be Kupe skinks. Spotted skinkswere not recorded in our survey, and these skinks are not known to be in any WCC-administered Park or Reserve. Discovery of any spotted skink populations in Wellington would be of high significance. Whitaker's skinks are one of New Zealand’s rarest skinks. This species is known only from a mainland site in Pukerua Bay, and in the Mercury Islands. There is potential for discovery of this species elsewhere in Wellington, particularly along the southwestern coastline. Such discoveries would be of national significance.

Predator control and monitoring

The extinction of countless endemic birds, reptiles and frogs in New Zealand has been linked to the arrival of human settlers and the associated introduction of a wide range of invasive predators (e.g. McLennan et al.1996, Gibbs 2009, Towns 2009).Among the introduced mammalian predators are the stoat (Mustela erminea), weasel (M. nivalis vulgaris) and ferret (M. furo); ship rat (Rattus rattus), Norway rat (R. norvegicus) and kiore (Rattus exulans); the feral cat (Felis catus), hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) and house mouse(Mus musculus).These predators have been shown to impact lizard populations and survival (Jones et al. 2007, Lettink et al. 2010, Wilson et al. 2007). Many larger bodied lizard species are now restricted to offshore islands, including marbled skinks, robust skinks, McGregor’s skinks, and Duvaucel’s geckos.Having evolved in the absence of mammals, New Zealand lizards suffered population declines, range reductions and extinctions in the face of these introduced predators. While the impacts on mice on indigenous fauna are often difficult to assess and quantify, mice have been shown to predate on lizards and can negatively impact skink survival rates and detection probabilities (Norbury et al. 2014).

Although there is a network of Pelifeed bait stations, DOC 200 mustelid traps and possum traps across the Parks & Reserves, the trapping intensity and coverage does not necessarily align with the conservation requirements of lizard populations in these areas. There appears to be a lack of easily accessible records for pest trapping results that would allow estimating predatory mammal abundance in lizard hotspots, and there is also a lack of lizard population monitoring (except for recently completed studies at Zealandia, Wrights Hill and Otari-Wilton’s Bush). Although the Greater Wellington Regional Council regularly conductsrodent and small animal monitoring using tracking tunnels at 16 Biodiversity Management Areas (BMAs), only three are within the Wellington City Council Parks &Reserves network, namely Wright’s Hill Reserve, Otari-Wilton’s Bush and Johnsonville Park. Further, there does not seem to be native lizard monitoring programmes, attempting to measure responses of lizards to this pest control. The rat-tracking index at Johnsonville Park had increased from 0% in Aug 2012 to 5% in the February 2013 monitoring round, while the mouse-tracking index dropped from 30% to 13% in the same

36

timeframe (Moylan &Crisp 2013). However, mouse-tracking indexes show great fluctuations over time. We surveyed parts of Khandallah & Johnsonville Park for lizards, but due to the large size of the park, tracking tunnel lines part of the rodent monitoring at these parks were 1.2 km away from our lizard survey area. We did not detect any skinks and geckos during our lizard surveys of Khandallah & Johnsonville Parks but there is a record of a barking gecko within our survey area from 1994 in the Department of Conservation’s BioWeb Herpetofaunadatabase and a public sighting of a Raukawa gecko on the park border (Appendix B-1).

Rat tracking indices at Otari-Wilton’s Bush increased from 3% to 11% between August 2012 and February 2013, while the mouse-tracking index dropped from 32% to 0% for the first time since monitoring began (Moylan &Crisp 2013).There are four lizard species at Otari-Wilton’s Bush (glossy brown skink, northern grass skink, ornate skink, Ngahere gecko).

The rat-tracking index at Wright’s Hill Reserve has remained below 10% since 2010, while the mouse-tracking index underwent great fluctuations but dropped from 47% to 3% during the February 2013 monitoring (Moylan & Crisp 2013). Lizard records within this reserve include ornate skinks, northern grass skinks and Ngahere geckos.

Further, chew card trials were completed in November/December 2013 in a small number of Parks &Reserves (Illona Keenan, pers. comm.). A number of pest species were detected in the park, namely Central Park (cat, mouse, possum), George Denton Park and Play Area (mouse, mustelid, possum, rat), Polhill Gully Recreation Reserve (mouse, mustelid), Panorama Heights Reserve (hedgehog, mouse, possum, rat, mustelid) and Holloway Road/Brosnahan Terrace Reserve (mouse, possum, rat). Chew card monitoring at Trelissick Park between September 2012 and August 2013 showed the presence of mice, rats and possums (Robertson&Poole 2013). Rat-tracking indices fluctuated between 0% and 7%, while mice-tracking indices where usually higher, ranging from 3% to 13%.

Based on current lizard distribution knowledge, the combined pest management initiatives of the Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Wellington City Council appear to be covering the majority of Parks and Reserves that are important for lizard populations (Fig. 13 and 14). However, there are several parks with both high numbers and species richness of lizards, where pest control measures are either low (Wilf-Mexted Scenic Reserve) or apparently non-existent (Red Rocks and Sinclair Head). In addition, rodent populations are only monitored in a very small number of parks with tracking tunnels. We recommend rodent monitoring and control in parks that are species rich and support large numbers of lizards, in particular Red Rocks/Sinclair Head and the South Coast of Miramar (Moa Point, Tarakena Bay, Point Dorset). However, caution should be exercised when allocating resources since parks with no records of lizards are not necessarily void of skinks and geckos but might merely reflect a lack of survey effort, or have not had sufficient effort required to detect rarer species.

Citizen science and public calls for sightings We found that public calls for lizard sightings were an extremely valuable source of

information. For example, a Whitaker’s skink sighting was reported to us, along with records of lizards that were highly cryptic or sparse, such as the Ngahere gecko, barking gecko, ornate skink. Even though most sightings were not reported from within Parks & Reserves, the records increased our knowledge about distribution pattern of several species (see Appendix B-2).

Citizen science projects, such as the annual garden bird surveys led by Landcare Research, contribute greatly to our knowledge of species distribution and similar projects have been successfully run for many years across Europe, the USA and Australia (Bonardi et al. 2011, Bonney et al. 2009, Cohn 2008, Dickinson et al. 2010). However, when considering a lizard-specific citizen science project, it is important to recognize that in order for substantial and intelligible results,

37

sufficient resourcing need to be allocated to allow for quality control, especially correct species identification. Factors that complicate this process for lizards is their cryptic nature and the level of expertise needed to correctly identify species. Many skinks and geckos species are difficult to distinguish even by professional herpetologists and sometimes involve identification by body scale counts and ratios of body part lengths.However, citizen science can identify range extensions, species occupancy of certain locations, and can provide a starting point for more detailed surveys by an experienced herpetologist. This is especially valuable if rare and threatened species are identified. Further, volunteer groups that spend a lot of time in WCC Parks &Reserves (eg. Friends of Tawa Reserve or Trelissick Park) could be provided with lizard identification tools and training and be encouraged to report any lizard sightings as standard procedure during maintenance work or planting events. The Auckland Council lizard field identification guide (Baling & van Winkel2012) is an excellent example that is being used by volunteers working in the Council’s Parks & Reserves network.

Urban cats and lizards

For lizards sighted by the public, pet cats reportedly caught at least 18.6%. While the majority of cat-caught lizards were Raukawa geckos or northern grass skinks, reports also included a Ngahere gecko, barking gecko and several ornate skinks. In addition, 40% of the cat-caught lizards were unidentified skinks or geckos and could have included declining or threatened species.Feral cats are known to consume large numbers of lizards in New Zealand and on a global scale (Gillies 2001, Lardner et al. 2013).Cats are likely to contribute significantly to the death and injuries of lizards in Wellington. While the public sightings give an indication of the scale of the problem, further research is needed to quantify the damage to lizard populations and consider possible positive effects of cats where they contribute to a decrease in other lizard predators, such as rodents.While it appears feasible to assume that cats will reduce rodent populations, a study in the United States showed that cats have little impact on rat populations in urban environments (Glass et al. 2009). A recent study on free-roaming domestic cats in Wellington using video cameras attached to the cat collars showed that cats predate on native lizards (Gaby 2014).Out of the ten cats followed in the study, at least 7 showed predatory behaviour with invertebrates and lizards making up the majority of prey items. Video evidence shows both native skinks and geckos being pursued and eaten.

As domestic and feral cats are widely recognised to be a significant a threat to native wildlife, it may be timely for the WCC to consider registration and micro-chipping of cats, as dogs are required to be in council-mandated bylaws, and investigate other animal control options that are appropriate, suitable and widely acceptable to the public.

Lizards are absolutely protected wildlife under the Wildlife Act 1953 and are in marked decline across the region.We therefore strongly suggest the Council investigate the feasibility of a lizard rescue programme, where lizards brought in by cats are sent to Wellington Zoo’s The Nest Te Kōhanga for assessment and rehabilitation, along with the utilization of the Parks & Reserve network for re-homing injured lizards. In fact, some lizards brought in by cats were utilized for translocations to Mana Island and Matiu/Somes Island by the Department of Conservation. Developing and implementing a lizard rescue and rehabilitation programme would be a positive conservation action that is practical in nature, make use of council assets and resources for conservation, engages the public, and may be a model for other councils to follow.

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Management & monitoring of lizard populations at landscape level Lizard populations are highly fragmented and in decline across New Zealand. This is because of a number of intrinsic factors, involving life history (low reproductive output, poor dispersal ability, behaviours that put them at risk to predatory mammals) along with habitat losses, habitat fragmentation and predatory pressure from introduced predators. However, management of lizard populations is not considered in environmental management programmes in many Parks & Reserves across New Zealand, with a few notable exceptions. Pest management and monitoring programmes are undertaken as part of environmental management however, little or no information is sought by monitoring lizard responses to this management. Native faunal monitoring provides an important corollary to pest management and monitoring effort, and helps justify the expense of pest control effort.

Auckland Council is one of the notable exceptions, with active lizard monitoring programme involving a mixture of Council staff, lizard experts and volunteers in order to measure responses to control of predatory pests in the following Parks & Reserves: Ark in the Park, Shakespear Regional Park, Tawharanui Regional Park and Whakanewha Regional Park. Lizard responses to the management are becoming apparent (Bell et al. 2012, S. Sinclair and M. Maitland pers. comm.). In fact, Zealandia has a similar monitoring programme for Ngahere geckos that is showing a six-fold difference in numbers of geckos relative to Wrights Hill Reserve (T. Bell & S. Herbert, unpub. data), however this monitoring programme has now finished due to lack of ongoing funding.

The WCC Parks & Reserves network provides opportunities to implement formal lizard management and monitoring programmes, especially for more rare and threatened species. The utilization of the WCC’s Parks & Reserves network to manage local lizard populations, monitor these lizards’ response to pest control, re-homing injured lizards, and even species translocations, are all largely unexplored but could be valuable contributions to lizard conservation and research in the Wellington region.

Resource Management Act (1991) and the Wildlife Act (1953)

Although not directly relevant to our current survey of WCC administered Parks & Reserves, we feel it is crucial to mention lizards and the Resource Management Act (RMA) in this report. The RMA plays an important role in the management and regulation of resource use on land in New Zealand, particularly for land use and development. As part of the RMA process, resource consent applications are required to have an ‘Assessment of Environmental Effects’ report submitted to councils to assist in the decision-making process. Lizards are likely to be affected in many subdivisions, quarries, damming, irrigation projects, motorway developments, roadside verge works and clearing and mowing of rank grasslands, scrub and forest.

However, despite lizards being absolutely protected species under the Wildlife Act (1953), it is rare for resource consent applications to assess and mitigate effects on lizard populations, and it is also rare for council Resource Management Officers to make a Section 92 request for further information, where such information is lacking. Hence, lizard populations continue to be lost and others undergofurther decline despite the intersection between RMA and the Wildlife Act, where it is illegal to disturb or destroy lizards or their habitats. This is due to uninformed RMA practitioners, even if highly experienced, and also council officers.

In our experience, there can be a project size bias in resource management activities and in ensuring compliance or non-compliance with New Zealand legislation. The larger the project is, the more likely an assessment of environmental effects on lizards was carried out by the applicant. Small habitat patches, such as those in subdivision projects, sometimes containing significant

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remnant lizard populations of ‘At Risk’ species, are likely to have been dismissed in the past by applicants, their ecologists or council officers without any specific lizard survey or assessment effort. Even where lizard surveys have been undertaken, in some cases inappropriate survey effort or techniques and even inexperienced technicians have been used to detect lizards on sites, and base an assessment on such effort. Some ecologists are even known to avoid lizard surveys in order to avoid triggering the Wildlife Act, as these would identify the presence of absolutely protected species onsite. The non-notified nature of many resource consent applications is problematic in that issues cannot be identified by experts, unless there was a system for expert consultation through consent processing procedures at councils.

In response to the issues posed by the RMA processes, the Department of Conservation has undertaken an in-house review and guidance of Wildlife Act permit requirements that have arisen as a result of the RMA. These Wildlife Act permit conditions are now more stringent in nature, usually requiring lizards to be considered in environmental management plans. However, DOC’s review is handicapped by the inability of DOC to inform councils and resource consent applications on the requirement to include lizards in impact assessments in the first place. Where lizards are not detected in an Assessment of Environmental Effects for consent applications, either by omission or poor technique, the Wildlife Act is unable to be triggered, and DOC is not consulted.

Based on our current understanding of lizard distributions across Wellington City, many lizard species exists in populations persisting on private land, such as urban gardens, rank grasslands, mixed native and exotic scrub and bush remnants. These habitats appear to provide important refugia from these predatory mammals and landscape change. If there is habitat which appears capable of supporting a lizard population, by definition it is large enough to warrant a baseline survey to assess presence of lizards and determine whether a management plan is needed. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that surveys for the presence of lizards are completed for small urban developments in Wellington, as they may provide pockets of habitat and often contribute to connect patchy habitat in urban environments.

The Auckland Council is highly aware of lizards potentially affected by the RMA, and has informed resource management officers and council ecologists actively considering lizards in resource consent applications, and setting conditions of consent that are relevant to lizards

Where have all the lizards gone? In many Parks & Reserves, Raukawa geckos and northern grass skinks were encountered. However, there were a large number of Parks & Reserves with high lizard habitat values where lizards were not encountered, particularly Ngahere gecko, barking gecko and ornate skinks. Despite the presence of suitable habitat, we were surprised that we did not detect any sign of these species at Centennial Park, Panorama Heights Reserve, George Denton Park and Play Area, Huntleigh Park & Silverstream Road Play Area, Khandallah Park, Seton-Nossiter Park, Caribbean Avenue Reserve, Gilberd Bush Reserve, Takapu Road Reserve and Tawa Tawa Reserve. Although our rapid survey techniques probably led to incomplete detection of certain species, it is still highly concerning that many parks lacked both lizard species richness and abundance. This indicates that some lizards are present at lower abundances, relative to conspecifics elsewhere; probably due to the effects of predatory mammals. In general, accounts from the public reflected a marked decrease of lizard abundance across the city over the past 50 years. Although these perceived declines are highly subjective and may not accurately reflect true changes in lizard populations over time, they are generally an indication that lizards may be undergoing range restrictions and declines within the Wellington Region. We recommend conducting further surveys for ‘At Risk’ species that are of higher concern in Parks & Reserves with good lizard habitat.

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Figure 13. Overview of pest management across northern Parks &Reserves. Lizard species richness is a count of species within park boundaries from verified public sightings, day and night searches (this report), pitfall trapping (this report) and records from the DOC BioWeb Herpetofauna database. Pest management data provided by Illona Keenan (WCC).

Lizard species richness per park

0 - 00 - 11 - 22 - 44 - 7

Pest management and monitoring

Bait stationsMustelid trapsPossum trapsMonitor tunnels

Pest management

0 1 2 3 4 km

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Figure 14. Overview of pest management across southern Parks&Reserves. Lizard species richness is a count of species within park boundaries from verified public sightings, day and night searches (this report), pitfall trapping (this report) and records from the DOC BioWeb Herpetofauna database.Pest management data provided by Illona Keenan (WCC). Note that Zealandia (in green) excludes all predatory pests, except for mice, via a large pest-exclusion fence.

Lizard species richness per park

0 - 00 - 11 - 22 - 44 - 7

Pest management and monitoring

Bait stationsMustelid trapsPossum trapsMonitor tunnels

Pest management

0 1 2 3 4 km

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Recommendations

As a result of our survey of WCC-administered Parks & Reserves, we have provided a number of recommendations that we think the Council should investigate. These recommendations are listed below:

a. In order to obtain information on predator presence, we recommend chew card monitoring for pests in all the parks with high lizard densities and species richness.

b. We recommend a review of pest control for mustelids and rodents after abundance is assessed; particularly in South Coast parks, including Red Rocks, Moa Point, Point Dorset, Tarakena Bay and Palmer Head.

c. The Council’s pest management programme should be reviewed and assessed by expert herpetologists in order to determine whether the size, scope, scale, intensity and duration are likely to sustain the lizard values within the WCC-administered Parks & Reserves network.

d. The Council should consider registering, microchipping and limiting the number of cats per household, and investigate socially acceptable animal control options for cats.

e. Possibilities for long term monitoring of lizard populations in selected parks to detect changes in abundance and/or distribution as a result of pest management (or the lack thereof) using capture-mark recapture or occupancy modelling should be explored. This is because native faunal monitoring provides an important corollary to pest management and monitoring effort, and justifies costs of pest management. Further research into the effects of pest control on lizard abundance is needed to aid with informed pest control recommendations. The lizard monitoring programme of Ngahere geckos at Zealandia and Wrights Hill should be funded, and extended to include Otari-Wilton’s Bush.We recommend the monitoring of ornate skinks in Parks & Reserves as a proxy for terrestrial skinks, as this skink appears to be more threatened by invasive mammals than other skink species.Follow-up surveys should be undertaken for Ngahere geckos, barking geckos, spotted skinks, Kupe skinks and ornate skinks using more intensive methods in surveyed Parks & Reserves with good habitat, including but not limited to: Centennial Park, Panorama Heights Reserve, George Denton Park and Play Area, Huntleigh Park & Silverstream Road Play Area, Khandallah Park, Seton-Nossiter Park, Caribbean Avenue Reserve, Gilberd Bush Reserve, Takapu Road Reserve, Tawa Tawa Reserve, Makara Beach Reserve and Boom Rock. Any additional flaxland habitat in the Parks & Reserves that could not be included in the current surveys should be surveyed for goldstripe geckos.

f. The Council could consider funding translocation of the iconic Duvaucel’s gecko into Zealandia. g. Development of a species identification guide, similar to that produced by Auckland Council, and

standardizing lizard reporting procedures should be implemented for council staff and volunteers working in WCC-administered Parks & Reserves.

h. The Council should implement a formal citizen science programme to encourage the public to report lizard records to the council and the Department of Conservation.

i. The Council should investigate the feasibility of a lizard rescue & rehabilitation programme at Wellington Zoo’s The Nest, and the utilization of the WCC’s Parks & Reserves network for re-homing injured lizards. This may require set-up of a Council hotline for concerned householders to call in with an injured lizards, and to direct them to drop the lizard off at The Nest. A pre-selected range of pest-managed Parks & Reserves containing high-quality habitat should be identified for release of rehabilitated lizards that originated within a certain radius from this Park or Reserve.

j. The Council should develop procedures for ensuring that lizards are considered in resource consent applications and developing a series of lizard-specific conditions of consent, that are required under the Resource Management Act (1991). Such procedures should educate council resource management officers and ecologists and empower them to make Section 92 requests

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for further information, where consent applications do not mention lizards. This will help to avoid further decreases in lizard abundance and species richness in the region; which is a fiscally sensible option since taking pre-emptive conservation action is typically cheaper and easier in the long run than species recovery.

k. Student research projects should be encouraged to further lizard research that can help science-based decision making within the council. Collaboration with Victoria University of Wellington or other suitable institutions is recommended. We suggest some possible project ideas:

a. Barking gecko survey to try to find populations that could be sustainably managed. b. Analysis of stomach content of trapped predators for presence of lizards c. Ecological niche modelling for species within the Wellington Region to assess where lizard

species are less abundant than the habitat would otherwise suggest. This could help inform targeted pest control operations with the goal of increasing lizard abundance.

Acknowledgements Rod Hitchmough (DOC) kindly confirmed the identity of minimac geckos and Illona Keenan provided information about pest control across the Wellington Region. We thank Rachel Innes, our Callaghan Innovation intern student of the summer of 2013/14 for her assistance with fieldworkduring that summer. We sincerely thank all the people who volunteered their time on this project.

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Appendix A: Volunteer training documents

Appendix B-1: Maps of parks surveyed

Appendix B-2: Species distribution maps

Appendix C: Example of the press release to report lizard sightings