Spoonbills feed along the shell bank at Motu Manawa (Pollen Island) with the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the background. Credit: Kent Xie
Motu Manawa (Pollen Island) is one of Auckland’s few large inner city estuarine areas. Situated in the Waterview Bay of Waitemata Harbour, it has been a wetland and shellbank habitat since the last ice age
From 1880s till the 1950s over 90% of Auckland’s wetlands were drained, so this tidal area is prized by wetland birds. It is one of the few significant wetland bird feeding & breeding grounds in the Waitemata Harbour. For over 50 years, Waterview Bay behind Motu Manawa suffered from sewage overflows, but after Forest & Bird got a marine reserve established in 2005, Auckland City Council was forced to clean up this area. Now, we are actively working to ensure the two islands within the marine reserve (Traherne and Pollen Island) are pest-free and weed-free so that native flora and fauna can flourish again.
Motu Manawa: Sewage-free, pest-free, weed-free.
Since 2005, Forest & Bird has undertaken pest-busting and weed-banishing activities to ensure the native plants (harakeke, manuka, karamu, mapou, karo) and animals can thrive. There are information panels along the SH16 bicycle/pedestrian shared path. As it is connected to Orangihina / Harbourview we have an extensive predator programme there, with trapping every Saturday of the month. For more information, see our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/orangihina/
What can you do
In 5 mins
- Contact us (details below) to register your interest in being actively involved in this project.
