Lake Kohangapiripiri is one of the two freshwater Pencarrow lakes in
Fitzroy Bay – the other being the slightly larger
Lake Kohangatera
Lake Kohangatera is one of two lakes in Fitzroy Bay (to the east of Pencarrow Head, on the eastern side of New Zealand's Wellington Harbour). It has an open water area of 17 hectares and is fed by Gollans Stream, which has its headwaters on Moun ...
. It stands to the east of
Pencarrow Head
Pencarrow Head, also known as Pencarrow, is a headland in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the name of the surrounding area. The name is Welsh and formed from Pen which translates to English as Head and Carrow which is a burial site. The ...
, on the eastern side of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's
Wellington Harbour, in
East Harbour Regional Park
East Harbour Regional Park is a regional park stretching from Baring Head along the east side of the Wellington Harbour along the east side of Eastbourne. It is located in Lower Hutt City, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island.
...
, and is fed by Cameron Stream which rises on private land to its north. The Pencarrow lakes formed in valleys which became blocked to the nearby sea after earthquakes changed the topography.
Unspoiled wetlands
Despite their proximity to Wellington, Kohangapiripiri, ('a nest clinging very strongly') and Kohangatera ('a nest basking in the sun') are notable as New Zealand's last remaining relatively unspoiled
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s. The site supports locally rare native plants, fish and wetland birds including the
spotless crake
The spotless crake (''Zapornia tabuensis'') is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is widely distributed species occurring from the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia, across the southern Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands a ...
and the
Australian bittern. It is the only place in the area where
banded dotterel
The double-banded plover (''Charadrius bicinctus''), known as the banded dotterel or pohowera in New Zealand, is a species of bird in the plover family. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate ''Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus'', which breeds ...
nest on the open sand. The lake itself is still free of introduced brown trout and noxious water weed and supports
kokopu
Kokopu ( mi, kōkopu) is a common name used for three species of fish of the genus ''Galaxias''. They are found in the rivers, lakes and swamps of New Zealand, to which they are endemic. Kokopu are galaxiids and like others members of that fami ...
(''Galaxias argenteus'') and
longfinned eel (''Anguilla dieffenbachii'').
The native flora on the surrounding hills had been severely denuded by 150 years of settler burning and grazing but, under joint management by the New Zealand Department of Conservation and the Greater Wellington Regional Council, stock animals have been banned since 2004 and the natural vegetation has begun to recover.
The area around the lake has yielded evidence of early Maori occupation and was the site of the New Zealand's first lighthouse.
External links
{{Commons category, Lake Kohangapiripiri
Map showing position of Lake Kohangapiripiri.Pencarrow Lakes: Wellington – their value and management
Kohangapiripiri