Spoonbill visits Tawatawa

Tawatawa Reserve was graced with a very special regal visitor earlier in the year: a Royal Spoonbill.

The spoonbill took up residence in the wetland for a few days, enjoying a feast of frogs. The visitor caused quite a stir on Facebook.

Spoonbills flew to New Zealand from Australia of their own accord, with the first sighting in Castlepoint in 1861.

The species is now widespread across New Zealand, inhabiting mainly coastal estuaries.

It is one of a few bird species doing well in recent years, with the population increasing from 52 in 1977 to over 2,300 at present.

Thank you to our volunteers!

We’ve hosted two working bees in recent weeks: Wellington College and BNZ. 

The hard mahi from the groups focused on releasing recent years’ plantings from the rampant weeds! 

Giving the new plantings some breathing space to get sun and rain and prevent them from being smothered from faster growing species for the first few years after being planted makes a big difference to their survival rates.