Pāuatahanui Wildlife Reserve
Greater Wellington
In the Hides. Artist: Amelia Hadfield
Pāuatahanui
By Jane Berney
From the air
the shore would shimmer
with our kin.
White-capped wings
fledgling waves
our nesting place,
an alchemy of sand and salt, mud and brine.
Undergrounds of tiny crustaceans,
constellations of flight lines,
intercepted by Humankind
blind, it would seem
to the murmurations of Papatūānuku.
Now, She is restless
Her rhythm disrupted, her path uncharted
as She unfurls her foamy petticoats across the Bay
the tide seeks refuge beyond filigreed borders,
across mudflats and meadow grass
seeping into the cottage named ‘Stout’.
In the Hides they perch
hoping to sight us,
while we keen and cry
from the air.
Writer Jane Berney
As we are guided by the Chair of the Pāuatahanui Reserve Committee, Robin Chesterfield of Forest & Bird’s Kāpiti-Mana Branch, I am struck by the absence of things.
The absence of an abundance of land; between wars, the Estuary was drained for a cricket pitch, reclaimed by water now.
Into this watery field, volunteers built tiny islands for the birds. We learn that pied stilts prefer vegetation-free surrounds; sitting on top of stone nests, they need to have clear sight of approaching predators.
We learn also that Robin managed to dissuade a subdivision on the boundary of this precious Estuarine Reserve that cats were not welcome. As a cat owner who observes the curfew strategy, I am impressed. Robin deserves to smile like a Cheshire. The absence of felines. Though they join the list of other predators who demand constant vigilance by Robin and his merry band of volunteers.
Our generous guide, who’s given up his lunch hour, explains it’s like looking after a 50-acre farm. Of water and sand and creatures. And volunteers.
After our tour, Robin shows us the cottage that has had water seeping through it, makes us a cup of tea before sharing more of the work, the endless work of the volunteers who are the essence, the understorey of this place.
The devoted volunteers, whose feathers were gently ruffled by our arrival a little later from the airport than they expected. But who can blame them; they are the protectors of this place. They care and tend and nurture, they gift their time to nature.
We need to protect them too.
In the Hides
Artist: Amelia Hadfield
Artist Amelia Hadfield
My artwork depicts early morning at the reserve, tide outgoing, a time when the land is awakening, and its inhabitants are emerging into the quiet stillness. The bird hide at Pāuatahanui with its narrow view window creates its own frame of the landscape.
Here visitors are observers and not inherently part of the delicate ecosystem. Kōtuku, poaka, and kawau pū are wading in the shallows, while a mātātā is perched in the harakeke, with others hidden among raupō.
Medium: Oil paint