“Here goosey goosey!

He’s not calling to a goose – although there are a few at his sanctuary at Riverbridge Conservation Park.

Russell Langdon is calling a weka, a New Zealand native swamp bird, as if it’s a domesticated hen.
Langdon has built the park from the ground up over the past 20 years and it’s been no walk in the park.
A former farmer in Lagmhor, he began the park to re-establish the native bird populations that had once dominated Mid Canterbury.
Blue ducks (whio) are one of those species he’s eager to bring back.
“They were everywhere once, and why wouldn’t they be?”
Langdon said blue ducks used to be so common in the area that hobby shoots of them were organised– and claims pioneers would even cook their eggs up for breakfast.
He said information about the birds being relegated to the high country are false.
“People say ‘they’ve got to [live in] back country and fast running water and all that’, but that’s only because that’s all that’s left.”
Langdon has wanted to set up a breeding colony of blue ducks at the park for a while now, but has struggled to get the permits and support necessary.
“We applied for a permit recently and they said ‘where are you going to get the ducks from?’ Well, we haven’t worked on that.
“When you go to get ducks, ‘Oh, have you got a permit?’ So you’re
back to where you bloody started.”
He knows how to breed the birds – years of caring for Australian geese, native brown teal ducks and more has prepared him – but said he needs community support to make it happen.
“We’d call the breeding centre ‘Bring Back Blue’, but you’ve got to get someone [on board] with you.”
He claimed attempts to talk to Ashburton’s mayors over the decades had resulted in nothing. “They just weren’t interested.”
Whio fiasco aside, Langdon takes time to reflect on what has gone right with his painstakingly- built paradise.The park contains wetlands, flowing streams, forests and patches of shrubbery.
Native birds like weka, spoonbills and white herons have made temporary homes of the place, as well as exotics like swans, geese and pheasants.

Langdon has introduced freshwater crayfish to some of the waterways, has spotted the rare Canterbury mudfish on occasion, and has seen native lizards scuffle through the bushes on the drier parts of the land.

Him, his brother and grandsons have planted an array of native trees and bushes, from kahikatea to “kakabeak” Clianthus, and continue to do so most weekends.
And on top of all that, the flat paddocks that remain are used to look after some cows as an extra source of income.
Bringing all of these creatures together in 20 years has been hugely rewarding.
“It’s been good. The thing is to stop and enjoy things like that, isn’t it?”
It keeps Langdon busy and it doesn’t seem like he’ll slow down any time soon.

By Anisha
Satya