The Sinclair Wetlands (''Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau'') are an internationally renowned wetlands located to the south west of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

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 ...

, at the southern edge of the

Taieri Plains The Taieri Plain (also referred to in the plural as the Taieri Plains) is an area of fertile agricultural land to the southwest of Dunedin, in Otago, New Zealand. The plain covers an area of some 300 square kilometres, with a maximum extent of 3 ...

. They are on the western side of

Lake Waipori Lake Waipori is the smaller and shallower of the pair of lakes located in the wetlands to the south west of Dunedin in New Zealand on the Waipori River. The Waipori River is a major tributary of the Taieri River, and these wetlands form the south ...

and approximately equidistant between

Mosgiel Mosgiel (Māori: ''Te Konika o te Matamata'') is an urban satellite of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, fifteen kilometres west of the city's centre. Since the re-organisation of New Zealand local government in 1989 it has been inside the Dunedin ...

and

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. The protected area covers a little over 315 Ha 3 km². The wetlands are home to many species of birds including scaup,

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

s and many more

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 ...

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

including the

fernbird The New Zealand fernbird or simply fernbird (''Poodytes punctatus'') is an insectivorous bird endemic to New Zealand. In the Māori language, it is named or . Taxonomy The New Zealand fernbird was described by the French zoologists Jean Quo ...

and rare

bittern Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern ...

. A number of birds such as white herons and

spoonbills Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", re ...

occasionally frequent the area also. The wetlands are named for Horace "Horrie" Sinclair, a local farmer who donated land to the wetlands scheme in 1984. An education centre opened in the late 1980s is located at the wetlands. The wetlands contain a small island (Whakaraupuka / Ram Island), which was in ancient times the location of a Maori settlement, Tukiauau Pa. In the

1986 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1986 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, Horace Sinclair was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to conservation.

Gallery

File:Sinclair Wetlands 1 MRD.jpg File:Southern Bell Frog MRD Sinclair Wetlands.jpg, Southern bell frog (''Ranoidea raniformis'') File:Coprosma propinqua MRD.jpg, Miki ''(Coprosma propinqua)'' File:Fernbird (Mātātā) in Flax (Harakeke).jpg, Fernbird/Mātātā (''Bowdleria punctata'') File:Nursery Web Spider at Sinclair Wetlands.jpg, Nurseryweb spider (''Dolomedes'')

References

* Dann, C., & Peat, N. (1989). ''Dunedin, North and South Otago''. Wellington: GP Books.

External links

* https://www.tenohoaka.org.nz/ Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau/ Sinclair Wetlands Protected areas of Otago Wetlands of Otago Taieri River {{Otago-geo-stub