Birdling's Flat
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Birdlings Flat, originally named Te Mata Hapuku, is a settlement in
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
, New Zealand, at the eastern end of
Kaitorete Spit Kaitorete Spit is a long finger of land which extends along the coast of Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. It runs west from Banks Peninsula for , and separates the shallow Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora from th ...
and the southern end of
Lake Forsyth Lake Forsyth (known to Māori people, Māori as Te Roto o Wairewa) is a lake on the south-western side of Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury region of New Zealand, near the eastern end of the much larger Lake Ellesmere / ...
, 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 shallow coastal lake or waituna, in the Canterbury, New Zealand, 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, ...
. 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
agate Agate ( ) is a banded variety of chalcedony. Agate stones are characterized by alternating bands of different colored chalcedony and sometimes include macroscopic quartz. They are common in nature and can be found globally in a large number of d ...
s 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 long a ...
, 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 Elephant seals or sea elephants are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of ...
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 rocky peninsula on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand that was formed by two now-extinct volcanoes. It has an area of approximately . It includes two large deep-water harbours — Lyttelton Harbour a ...
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 A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
railway was opened to Birdlings Flat from a junction with the Southbridge Branch in
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...
. This line became known as the
Little River Branch The Little River Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network. It diverged from the Southbridge Branch in Lincoln and ran down to Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island. I ...
, with the extension to
Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...
opened on 11 March 1886. The railway served Birdlings Flat until its closure on 30 June 1962. The railway's old formation remained well preserved and has now been revitalised into a public walking and cycling track, the
Little River Rail Trail The Little River Rail Trail is a cycling and walking track on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Location The rail trail utilises the track bed, formation of the Little River Branc ...
. 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 often ...
s. The
University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...
used to have a meteorological research station there.


Demographics

Birdlings Flat is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. It is part of the Banks Peninsula South SA2 statistical area. Birdlings Flat had a population of 195 at the
2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...
, 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, comprising 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 ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
, 21.5%
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, 4.6% Asian, and 6.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 49.2% had no religion, 30.8% were
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, 4.6% had
Māori religious beliefs Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
and 4.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 39 (23.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 30 (18.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $29,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 18 people (10.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% 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

* *


External links


University of Canterbury
- Birdlings Flat radars {{Banks Peninsula Populated places in the Canterbury Region Banks Peninsula