ULVA'S ISLAND

Named after the island that she runs tours on, Ulva Goodwillie is more of a natural historian than a tour guide. Words and photographs nā kaituhituhi Adrienne Rewi.

Ulva Goodwillie knows just where to find the birds that live on the sanctuary of Te Wharawhara, or Ulva Island. She knows them by the sound of their call alone, whether they are male, female, adults or chicks.

It's a gift born of her intimate knowledge of the tiny southern island that her mother named her after. As she sits in Stewart Island's Wharf Cafe watching gulls loop and twirl above the fishing boats, she says she has found her place. It's a long way from her former life as a music teacher, a Department of Conservation guide and working in accountancy, but Ulva (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe), couldn't be happier.

"I was away from Rakiura for 14 years, but I was drawn back. It's intrinsic in your bones," she says with a wide smile and a flourish of her hands.

When she returned to the island 15 years ago, she wanted a job that would enable her to stay. While she was doing market research for DOC, she identified a need for guided walks on Te Wharawhara.

Given her passion for natural history, it seemed a perfect fit. She started Ulva's Guided Walks in 2000. She has given thousands of visitors an insight into some of our rarest birds and plants.

She talks about "a cloud of muttonbirds" and that kererū (wood pigeons) mate for life and couples are never further than 500 metres apart.

She details the release of 30 tīeke (saddlebacks) released on the island eight years ago that have successfully bred to a much healthier island population of 250.

We've been ashore on Te Wharawhara for 40 minutes and have barely moved five metres, yet we've seen close to a dozen different species.

"I just love it when this happens," says Ulva. "It's so exciting."

While she watches for birds, Ulva points out trees and native plants. She draws attention to a giant 135-year-old Monterey Cypress planted by the island's first postman, and ancient crown ferns – the first plant in the evolutionary cycle – that kiwi like to hide under.

She points out the burrow home of a little blue penguin that waddles 300 metres into the forest from the beach each night.

Ulva revels in the natural history of Ulva Island and Rakiura. "That's something I'm passionate about. That love has always been there – it's what I grew up with. As a child I spent hours and hours exploring when I was here on holiday. We had the freedom to roam the island and we learned basic sea sense and survival skills.

"I see the islands from a Māori perspective, but my tours are about the lifestyles of a bird not the lifestyles of a Māori. I explain what that berry is, how it got there and what eats it. Most people coming on my tours want to know about the wildlife, not me. But of course if anyone asks, I'm only too happy to tell them Māori stories and the indigenous names of things.

"On one of my tours I always point out The Neck (Te Wehi a Te Wera). That's where my ancestors came from. It was one of the first areas settled by Europeans apart from Whenua Hou (Cod Fish Island), so I have strong ties to that stretch of land."

Ulva also plays an active role in the Stewart Island Restoration Progamme, which aims to make Half Moon Bay predator-free.

I always make a point of telling visitors about the miro tree (Prumnopitys ferruginea) because the kereū is the only bird in all of New Zealand with a gape (throat) big enough to swallow the miro berry.

 "If there are no miro in your forest there are no kererū, and vice versa."

Birds, clockwise from centre: tīeke (saddleback), robin, kākāriki and kākā.