What's different on the North Shore
Auckland's leafiest local board
In 2016/18 data, tree canopy covered 30 per cent of Kaipātiki, the highest of Auckland's 16 urban local boards, against 16 per cent in Devonport-Takapuna. Two North Shore streets can have very different neighbours.
Neighbours already at it
Pest Free Kaipātiki is a community group working on pest animals, pest plants and kauri protection across the Kaipātiki Local Board area. If you live nearby, their work is worth knowing about.
Reserves and wasps
Friends of Le Roys Bush, the volunteer group for that reserve, say a wasp nest in a council reserve should be reported to Auckland Council with its exact location. A nest on your own section is yours to sort.
New streets at Long Bay
Auckland Council says urban land in the Vaughan Stream catchment at Long Bay more than doubled, from 6 to 13 per cent, after building started there in 2012. Next door, DOC's Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve covers 980 hectares, with mangroves and saltmarsh along the Okura estuary.
Ant control on the North Shore
Argentine ants are under sustained control across the Auckland region, and DOC says their colonies can link up over hundreds of metres. On a North Shore street that can mean the same honey-brown trail in three or four kitchens. Ask the pest business how they'd deal with the wider colony, and talk to the neighbours.
Bee removal on the North Shore
A swarm of bees hanging off a branch or a fence isn't a pest job. Apiculture New Zealand says to leave it alone and call a beekeeper, and that swarming season runs from as early as August through to January.
Bees that have moved into a wall, a roof or a chimney are different: that's work for a pest business. Our bee swarm guide explains how to tell which you've got.
Rats in the leafy streets
DOC says ship rats are good climbers, and on a section full of mature trees the roof is easy to reach. Scratching in the ceiling at night, droppings along the top plates (the timbers along the top of the walls) and half-eaten fruit in the garden are the usual signs.
Before you call, it helps to know
- Whether it's a swarm out in the open or bees going in and out of the house.
- Which way an ant trail heads once it's outside.
- Where a wasp nest is: your section, a neighbour's, or a reserve.
- When you hear noises in the ceiling, and where they move.
Our take on pests on the North Shore
On the North Shore we'd look up before anything else: branches over the roof, a cluster in the hedge, wasps working a gap under the eaves. A photo from a safe distance and the right tile, whether that's Bees, Ants or Rats or mice, tells a pest business what to bring.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
