Welcome, and thank you for visiting Kereru Keep
2011 TARANAKI REGIONAL COUNCIL - Environmental Awards - AWARD WINNERS - AGRICULTURAL - For Biodiversity and Native Bush Enhancement
We are the landowners of a Dairy Farm (320 ac/ 128 ha) in Tikorangi, Taranaki, New Zealand.
We are fortunate to have 16.11 ha of prime native bush, and we are dedicated to Protect, Maintain and Enhance by
giving our native habitat a chance to survive. You can help us achieve this, or experience this with us, and keep up
with our progress by regularly visiting our website. We would love to share this peaceful haven and its progress with you.
What’s special is that this native bush is situated in a prime intensive dairy farming district and the site has been in the Whitehead Family since 1920.
The three larger bush areas contain three distinct forest types. One is a wetland forest that has Kahikatea and Rimu, this site has not been drained.
The second type is a sheltered basin that has many King Fern present and a large Rimu.
The third area has Puriri and Rata dominant.
All bush blocks have many other native trees present.
Our Native bush is made up of seven small forest fragments …
We have named our seven bush blocks as follows:
Kahikatea 4.24 ha – Wetlands area with many Kahikatea (White Pine)
Kereru 4.1 ha - Miro and Wood Pigeon present
Parareka 3.37 ha – King Ferns in this bush area
Kaihua 1.3 ha - Native Jasmine growing here
Paewhenua 1.2 ha - Strong growing weeds – Woolly Nightshade in this bush
Puratoke 1.12 ha - Glow worms in this area
Matatara .78 ha - Dam – This is where we get some of our water from for the farm
Native Trees that are present in our bush:
Rimu, Miro, Puriri, Nikau Palm, Red & White Rata Vines, Pukatea, Kohekohe, Hourhere, Rangiora, Tawa, Pigeonwood,
Five Finger, Totara, Lancewood, Rewarewa, Mahoe, Titoki, Kahikatea, Mapou, Karaka, Totara, Hinau
Some of the other plants include: Clematis, Kiekie, Mamaku, Ponga, NZ Jasmine (Kaihua), there are also numerous other plants and ferns present.
One of the special Native Plants we have here is the King Fern / Para – this is a large ground fern and grows in forest gullies.
Introduced mammals such as wild pigs and goats enjoy eating king fern and it is now rare in the wild.
Our project started when in October 2008 two Kiwi were sighted grazing in the paddock along side one of the bush areas.
Our first goal was to protect these very special endangered birds.
Kiwis have been sighted here before but that was over 20 years ago.
Please read our Projects Page and Latest News to follow our story……………
One of our goals is to protect what we have here already and to see the increase of Native bird life so that the local community of
Tikorangi and beyond can benefit with birdlife in their own gardens.