FAREWELL SPIT SANCTUARY

Press, Volume C, Issue 29633, 2 October 1961, Page 13

FAREWELL SPIT SANCTUARY

“Ornithologists’ Paradise”

One of the least-known areas set aside for the preservation of flora and fauna in New Zealand is Farewell Spit, which juts out for about 18 miles from the most north-westerly portion of the Sou'h Island like a kiwi’s beak, says “Landscape,” the journal of the Lands and Survey Department. Farewell Spit is an ornithologist's paradise. Apart from the lighthouse reserve of 531 acres near the seaward extremity, the whole area within the areas between mean high and low water, comprising sand dunes and banks and reserved as a wildlife sanctuary, is under 'he control of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Nelson, says the journal. Over the years the department has been concerned that adequate protection should be given to the bird life and natural vegetation on the spit as well as the bird life inhabiting the tidal flats nearby. It was not until 1938 that legislation was passed declaring 4397 acres of Farewell Spit a reserve for the protection of flora and fauna and the tidal flats a wildlife sanctuary. Later, 23,300 acres of tidal flats were reserved for the preservation of wild life.

Bird life abounds on the spit. The most important are various species ot wadinj birds. The spit is also o particular interest as a gathering place of the godwit, which migrate to Siberia in March and return in August. The South Island pied Oyster catcher is also plentiful, says the journal.