No shore thing

With its crooked beak, the small, fast and vulnerable wrybill holds a special place in the hearts of birders.

- STEVE BRAUNIAS

Everything was going so well at the Ashley River until I turned up. I happened to be in Christchurch for business and had arranged to fit in a few hours of birdwatching at one of the smaller of the fabulous braided rivers trickling through beds of gravel towards the Canterbury coast. An invitation had come from the Ashley-Rakahuri Rivercare Group (ARRG), an award-winning team of conservation volunteers who manage an 18km section of the river. They wanted support for their nomination in this year's Bird of the Year contest: the small but perfectly deformed wrybill, the ngutu pare.

The weather that week had been gorgeous, hard-blue skies capturing the outline of the Southern Alps and shining brightly on the wide braided rivers of blue water and round rock. But I brought Auckland weather with me - dark, cold, unforgiveable, within 30 minutes of arriving at Christchurch Airport. It was a morning flight. I had been up at dawn drying out my gumboots with my daughter's hairdryer. By the time I got to the Ashley riverbed north of Christchurch, the temperature had dropped and a mean wind moved in wanting a fight. I got to the river from the north bank, opposite the Rangiora Airfield on the south bank, and met ARRG operations manager Grant Davey. His greeting was cold. He was in shock. His face was set in an expression that matched the acronym ARRG.