Pateke Lagoons is a forty one acre wetland in sand dune country on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand. Its owners, Adrienne and Peter Dale have turned the area into a wildfowl refuge and have planted thousands of native trees to help the re-generation process. The wetland is covenanted with the Queen Elizabeth National Trust as a waterfowl refuge. See History>
Quality grazing for horses, plenty of room to run. Water reticulated to every paddock.
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Bird Life | The area was drained for farmland about 80 years ago. Now the land is returning to its natural state with waterways providing secure roosting and nesting for a wide variety of waterfowl. Shovellers, mallards, grey ducks and teal abound, as do dabchicks, heron, Canada geese, shags, paradise shelducks and pukeko.Also seen at Pateke Lagoons are native falcons (karearea), wood pigeons, tui, bell birds and rosellas. Pateke Lagoons is named after a rare brown teal, the pateke, which may someday take refuge here on our wetland.
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Forest Birds: Bellbirds and tui feed on the flax flowers which are in full bloom and full of nectar. Read More
Kahikatea trees mix with totara and thrive in the wetland conditions.
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Weed Wars
If you are keen enough to try to control your own infestations of blackberry, read on.
Writing
Emperor Penguin at our local beach See pics here
A summer morning splashes yellow on the trees |
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Adrienne Dale Counselling based in Wellington and Kapiti Coast
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LIFE AT PATEKE LAGOONS
Native Bush is returning to Pateke Lagoons, in particular rimu, totara and kahikatea, all very tall swampland trees which were once the dominant forest type. In the swampier areas, native flax (phormium tenax) is prolific with many large bushes reaching well over three metres, their flowers supporting many birds with their sweet nectar in summer. In former times flax was a major industrial crop in this area providing fibre for twine and rope and a coarse linen. The seasons roll on.
Pateke in Spring ReadMore
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Kahikatea and Totara trees benefit from the shelter trees. Given time they will take over and become the dominant canopy trees.
Totara Island at sunset.
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