280 Beach Road, Burwood, Parklands, Christchurch City

Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park

Christchurch City Community Halls

Christchurch was built on a swamp. Travis Wetland is the largest freshwater wetland remnant on the Canterbury Plains. The wetland is inhabited by increasing numbers of wildlife including pukeko, scaup, pied stilt and paradise duck. There is a walking track around the wetland perimeter including boardwalks and a viewing tower and bird hide to watch wading birds. The distance around the Travis Wetland loop walk is approximately 3.5km including visiting the bird-hide. Allow about 1.25hrs. Not strictly a mainland island the Travis Wetland is important as annually tens of thousands of birds migrate through Christchurch from as far away as Asia and the Arctic. Christchurch has become the best monitored bird life area in Australasia. Related to this is the possibility, following the earthquakes, that Christchurch's red-zone could become a nature park. The Information Kiosk (designer: Peter Kent), and the Bird Hide (Crispin Schurr) are not without architectural merit. TRANSPORT You can get here on the no 60 (Parklands) bus. The main car park and access is located at the end of Beach Road. There is also a car park on Mairehau Road.

Take a stroll along an easy, circular, 3.5-kilometre walkway in Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park, where you’ll experience the sand-dune–swampland landscape that once dominated the coastline of eastern Christchurch. Under the auspices of a Trust and the City Council, volunteers are busy restoring this fresh-water wetland to its pre-European condition. The tranquil walk is alive with birdsong, the hum of insects, the rustle of leaves, and the quiet lapping of water. Glimpses of the tawny Port Hills and the distant Southern Alps add to the illusion that the city is hours away, not a mere 15-minute drive. Although much modified by drainage and years of dairy farming, Travis Wetland retains a surprising 60-70% of Christchurch’s former wetland biodiversity. Almost 80% of the native plant varieties originally growing here are still present. Several of these are now rare on the Canterbury Plains. Major planting efforts are re-creating the habitats that enable such plants and equally rare birds and animals to flourish. Ranging from grazing marshes and shrub peatlands to tall swamp forests and coastal dry-margin forests, these wetland habitats reflect the underlying gradient of wetland soils, landforms, and water levels. Travis wetland is the largest fresh-water swamp on the natural flyway used by birds travelling between the Avon-Heathcote Estuary, the Avon River, and the Canterbury mountains. The mosaic of waterways and diverse habitats already attracts 77% of the birds typical of Canterbury’s fresh-water wetlands. When the 30- year restoration programme is complete, the numbers of native birds breeding here is expected to increase substantially. Flocks of pukeko, or swamp hen, pied stilts, white-faced herons, spur-winged plovers and Canada geese are making use of the swamp. Paradise shelducks, New Zealand shovelers, New Zealand scaup, and pied stilts breed here. Less common visitors include bitterns, white herons, and grey duck. Willow woodland brings the bonus of kingfishers, grey warblers and fantails, and many introduced birds like Californian quail, dunnocks, or hedge sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes. You might catch a rare glimpse of a bellbird or a shining cuckoo. Before taking a walk at Travis Wetland, be sure to pick up a copy of the field guide designed to add interest to your experience. This full-colour guide is very modestly priced at the City Information Centre and the various City Council Service Centres. It tells the story of the restoration of the wetland and gives a fully interpretative description and historical background for each of fifteen points along the walkway. It also provides information on a range of related topics, such as the area’s Maori history, habitats and ecology, birds and other wildlife, and the role of the wetland restoration programme in the wider goal of greening Christchurch City.

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  • Lake
  • River
  • Bridge

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