Birdlings Flat, originally named Te Mata Hapuku, is a settlement in Canterbury, New Zealand, at the eastern end of

Kaitorete Spit Kaitorete Spit is a long finger of land which extends along the coast of Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. It runs west from Banks Peninsula for 25 kilometres, and separates the shallow Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora from the Pacific O ...

and the southern end of Lake Forsyth, where the lake discharges to the sea. It is not far from eastern end of

Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora is a broad, shallow coastal lake or waituna, in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is directly to the west of Banks Peninsula, separated from the Pacific Ocean by the long, narrow, sandy K ...

. The name ''Birdlings Flat'' is also commonly used for the nearby pebble beach on the ocean side of Kaitorete Spit. The beach is well known as a place to find small agates and a variety of other attractive rounded pebbles. Due to strong ocean currents, swimming and surfing is not advised. Hector's dolphins live along the beach in notable numbers, and

fur seals Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family '' Otariidae''. They are much more closely related to sea lions than true seals, and share with them external ears ( pinnae), relatively ...

, whales such as

southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...

s, and much more rarely elephant seals cavort and rest there.

History

Birdlings Flat is named after the Birdling family, who were the first European settlers to farm the area. William Birdling was the first member of the Birdling family to arrive in New Zealand. He was employed by George Rhodes in 1843 to come to

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest cit ...

and work as his overseer. William built a house, Waikoko, in the area that was later to bear his name. On 16 May 1882, a branch line railway was opened to Birdlings Flat from a junction with the Southbridge Branch in Lincoln. This line became known as the Little River Branch, with the extension to Little River opened on 11 March 1886. The railway served Birdlings Flat until its closure on 30 June 1962. The railway's old

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

remained well preserved and has now been revitalised into a public walking and cycling track, the Little River Rail Trail. Birdlings Flat has been used as a launch site for

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

s. The

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

used to have a meteorological research station there.

Demographics

Birdlings Flat is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers . It is part of the Banks Peninsula South SA2 statistical area. Birdlings Flat had a population of 195 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 45 people (30.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 42 people (27.5%) since the 2006 census. There were 96 households. There were 105 males and 93 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.13 males per female. The median age was 50.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 30 people (15.4%) aged under 15 years, 12 (6.2%) aged 15 to 29, 126 (64.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 27 (13.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 83.1% European/Pākehā, 21.5% Māori, 4.6% Asian, and 6.2% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 49.2% had no religion, 30.8% were Christian and 9.2% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 39 (23.6%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 30 (18.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $29,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 90 (54.5%) people were employed full-time, 18 (10.9%) were part-time, and 3 (1.8%) were unemployed.

References

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External links

University of Canterbury
- Birdlings Flat radars {{Banks Peninsula Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand Banks Peninsula