Pat Sin Leng Country Park () is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

located in the northeastern

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

. Established on 18August 1978, the country park covers of natural terrain. It comprises the

Pat Sin Leng Pat Sin Leng () is a mountain range in the northeast New Territories of Hong Kong, located within the Pat Sin Leng Country Park. The name ''Pat Sin Leng'' literally means "Ridge of the Eight Immortals", who are eight well-known ''xian'' ("Immo ...

mountain range and other spurs, including

Wong Leng Wong may refer to: Name * Wong (surname), a Chinese surname Places * Wong Chuk Hang, an area to the east of Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island * Wong Chuk Hang Estate, a public housing estate in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong * Wong Chuk Hang Road, a ma ...

, Ping Fung Shan,

Cloudy Hill Cloudy Hill or Kau Lung Hang Shan ( Chinese: 九龍坑山) is a 440m high hill in Tai Po District of northeastern Hong Kong. It is located within Pat Sin Leng Country Park. The source of the Ma Wat River is located on Cloudy Hill. Some parts of t ...

and Kwai Tau Leng.

Hok Tau Reservoir Hok Tau Reservoir is a small S-shaped reservoir situated in the northeastern New Territories, Hong Kong. The Tan Shan River flows through the reservoir and eventually empties into the Ng Tung River. The reservoir can be accessed by Stage 9 of ...

and

Lau Shui Heung Reservoir Lau Shui Heung Reservoir, built in 1968 as part of the Plover Cove Reservoir engineering programme, is a reservoir located within the boundary of Pat Sin Leng Country Park in the eastern part of North District, New Territories, Hong Kong, lo ...

are also within the country park.

Ecology

The catchment forests are habitats for avian species such as crested bulbul,

Chinese bulbul The light-vented bulbul (''Pycnonotus sinensis''), also called the Chinese bulbul, is a species of bird in the bulbul family found in central and southern China, Hong Kong, Macao, northern Vietnam, southern Japan and Taiwan, with occasional recor ...

hwamei The hwamei has been split into two species: * Chinese hwamei The Chinese hwamei or melodious laughingthrush (''Garrulax canorus'') is a passerine bird of eastern Asia in the family Leiothrichidae. The name "hwamei" comes from the Chinese 画眉 ...

Oriental magpie robin The Oriental magpie-robin (''Copsychus saularis'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long ...

, Chinese francolin,

Japanese quail The Japanese quail (''Coturnix japonica''), also known as the coturnix quail, is a species of Old World quail found in East Asia. First considered a subspecies of the common quail, it is now considered as a separate species. The Japanese quail ...

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

European magpie The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (''Pica pica'') is a resident breeding bird throughout the northern part of the Palearctic, Eurasian continent. It is one of several birds in the Corvidae, crow family (corvids) designated magpies, and belong ...

crested myna The crested myna (''Acridotheres cristatellus''), also known as the Chinese starling, is a species of starling in the genus ''Acridotheres'' native to southeastern China and Indochina.Feare, C., Craig, A., Croucher, B., Shields, C., Komolphalin, ...

and

crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

s. Also dwelling in woodlands are mammals like

Malayan porcupine The Malayan porcupine or Himalayan porcupine (''Hystrix brachyura'') is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae. Three subspecies are extant in South and Southeast Asia. Geographical distribution The Malayan porcupine ranges from Nepal th ...

Chinese pangolin The Chinese pangolin (''Manis pentadactyla'') is a pangolin native to the northern Indian subcontinent, northern parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2014, as the w ...

masked palm civet The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many p ...

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

and

common muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local ...

. Lau Shui Heung Reservoir is rimmed by

Peking willow ''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southwest Asia and Europe.Flora of China'' ...

and

Fortune's keteleeria ''Keteleeria fortunei'' ( zh: 油杉, ''you shan'') is a coniferous evergreen tree. Originated in China, ''K. fortunei'' is an ancient relict species and a second-class national key protected plant, "mainly distributed in south subtropical to th ...

Spots

Stages nine and ten (ending stages) of the

Wilson Trail The Wilson Trail () is a long-distance footpath in Hong Kong, 63 km of which runs through Hong Kong country parks.Pat Sin Leng Pat Sin Leng () is a mountain range in the northeast New Territories of Hong Kong, located within the Pat Sin Leng Country Park. The name ''Pat Sin Leng'' literally means "Ridge of the Eight Immortals", who are eight well-known ''xian'' ("Immo ...

. The view at the top on fine days covers the

Plover Cove Reservoir Plover Cove Reservoir, located within Plover Cove Country Park, in the northeastern New Territories, is the largest reservoir in Hong Kong in terms of area, and the second-largest in terms of volume. It is the world's first freshwater coastal ...

and the urban area of

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

. Other hiking options are the Hok Tau Country Trail and Lau Shui Heung Country Trail.Lau Shui Heung Country Trail

Sha Lo Tung Sha Lo Tung () is an area of Tai Po District, in the northeastern New Territories of Hong Kong. Administration For electoral purposes, Sha Lo Tung is part of the Hong Lok Yuen constituency of the Tai Po District Council. It was formerly represe ...

is an important habitat for

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

and

damselflies Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

Ting Kok Ting Kok is the name of an area and a village in the northeastern part of Hong Kong. It is located on the northern shore of Plover Cove * Lee Ancestral Hall (). Built in the late 19th century. Not graded. There are more than 10 ancestral halls i ...

, a piece of wetland, has been declared a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

Yim Tso Ha Yim Tso Ha () is an area and a village in Sha Tau Kok, North District, Hong Kong. Administration Yim Tso Ha is a recognized village under the New Territories Small House Policy. It is one of the villages represented within the Sha Tau Kok Dist ...

is one of the largest

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

ries in Hong Kong.

External links and references

AFCD Pat Sin Leng
* Initial text based on information provided by the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), under the provision that the re-dissemination or reproduction is for non-commercial use

{{coord, 22.4897, 114.1839, display=title Country parks and special areas of Hong Kong North District, Hong Kong Tai Po District 1978 establishments in Hong Kong