John Darby is one of those locals whom many associate with one activity. He’s one of us because we see him regularly doing his thing - even though we might not know his name.

In John’s case, he’s “the grebe man”. The chap who appears to have single-handedly revitalised the local population of grebes. In 2014, a count of grebes on Lake Wanaka revealed a maximum of six breeding pairs, John said. Four years later, another survey discovered 52 birds on Stevensons Arm alone.

Grebes, which John describes as “a very elegant and beautiful bird but also very complicated”, are considered a rare and threatened species, found only in small populations in the South Island.

Until he moved to Wanaka, John had only ever seen one grebe. “When I came here I heard about a pair of grebes, which had tried to breed at the marina, and I thought wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could get these birds to breed successfully,” he said.

Grebes can barely walk so they design and build their nests to float on the water. A recreational whitewater kayaker for many decades, John discovered he could observe the birds more closely from the water and began to encourage the birds to breed by building floating nesting platforms which could rise and fall with the change in lake levels.

“I put the first nesting platform out at 9pm at night because I didn’t want anyone to see me towing this pile of what looked like compost behind my kayak, and tied it under the marina. I got up at 6am the next morning and I couldn’t believe it - there were a pair of grebes going absolutely flat slats improving on what I’d done. It’s just worked.”

John approaches nesting platforms in the Wanaka marina by kayak. PHOTO: Supplied

In the six years since, John and fellow grebe supporters have fledged almost 260 chicks in the Wanaka marina area. There are six nesting platforms anchored to the lake bottom and the rest are attached to the marina.

The proximity of the nesting platforms to the shore and nearby public walking path in Wanaka also allows locals and visitors “to connect more closely with the lake, to own it, which is so important for the healthy future of the lake”, John said. The subsequent public interest in the grebes on a national and international scale is quite amazing, he said.

Since childhood, John has held a fascination with the natural world. Born in England before World War II, John survived “turbulent years” in the church system of orphanages, discovering peace only by running away and exploring the natural history of the English countryside.

A failed attempt to emigrate to Australia at 16 led to his sponsored emigration to New Zealand by Lincoln College as a 17-year-old farmhand.

John undertook study at Lincoln and went onto work at Ruakura Animal Research Station.

It was while he was at Ruakura in 1959 that he and a friend hitch hiked to Wanaka via the newly built West Coast Road.

“Wanaka was just a village in those days but I fell in love with it.”

John resigned from Ruakura to enrol as a student in Zoology at Canterbury University and was employed as a technician during his holidays. The job morphed into a full time position as a photographer - skills which he then used to support the University’s Antarctic Research Programme, where he carried out the first aerial photo survey of the wildlife of the Ross Dependency.

He spent two more summers in the Antarctic before he completed his degree at Otago University.

An engineer wishing to help with the grebe breeding programme built a splendid nesting platform which immediately sank. It now resides in John’s garden. PHOTO: Wanaka App

In 1969, John was appointed scientific officer in Zoology at Otago Museum and two years later became the museum’s assistant director when he started a science based holiday programme for some 400 primary school children. Science workshops were added for secondary school students, and science fairs, and eventually he established the first interactive science centre (Discovery World) in the country.

As a former board member of the Otago Peninsula Trust, John was one of the group that negotiated the opening of the Royal Albatross Colony to the public. He is also known for his groundbreaking conservation studies, conducted over more than 20 years, of Otago’s yellow-eyed penguins (“My kids grew up with penguins in the bath”).

While based in Dunedin, Wanaka became his family’s preferred playground for skiing and climbing and eventually he settled here permanently in 2004.

A former Guardian of Lake Wanaka, John has a passion for the conservation and uniqueness of the natural history of New Zealand and strongly believes in the need for effective and continuing communication to achieve this.

He also mentors 15 Wanaka children who are interested in natural history and science, encouraging them to take an active role in the conservation of the grebes.

This interaction with the children of the “grebies group” is a privilege, he said. “They’re a pretty amazing bunch actually.” He recognises in this group that, in a way, he is passing on the torch to the next generation.