Facts
Mud, mangroves and wading birds
Map of Motu Manawa Marine Reserve
The intertidal flats to the west of Pollen Island (see over for shore profile ) are probably the best example of mangrove and saltmarsh habitat in the Waitemata Harbour and are rich feeding grounds for white faced herons, pukeko, spotless crake and the endangered banded rail.These wetlands are equally important for several non-waders, including kingfisher and fernbird.
The shy fernbird or matata (Bowdleria punctata) is found in the marine reserve area. It is a weak flier and the few surviving populations in the Auckland area are confined to isolated scrubby salt marshes because the continuous fringe of shoreline scrub and coastal forest no longer exists. The bird, eggs and young are vulnerable to predation by rats, cats and dogs as they nest close to the ground.
The outer flats are regularly visited by red billed gulls, black backed gulls and their mottled brown juveniles, and by two terns. The smaller white fronted tern is usually in small flocks and has a black beak and cap separated by a narrow white forehead band. The larger caspian tern is less common. It has a full black cap and a large bright red bill and is usually only seen in pairs.
Some birds, such as godwits, knots and sandpipers, are international migrants that breed in the north Asian wetlands during the northern spring and summer. They avoid the frozen winter by flying south. Most return to the northern hemisphere in March but a few, too young to breed, remain here over winter. The South Island pied oystercatcher and the wrybill are national migrants. They breed on the shingle beds of South Island braided rivers in spring and fly to northern harbours and estuaries for the late summer, autumn and early winter, making the return journey south in July or August.
History
Aerial view of Motu Manawa
(Pollen Island)
The Waitemata Harbour's sheltered and bountiful waters attracted early Maori settlement. The head of the Whau inlet was a main canoe portage joining the Waitemata and Manukau harbours.
Pollen Island was named after Dr Daniel Pollen who bought it in 1855 together with some land at the tip of the Whau Peninsula. There he set up Pollen Brickworks, the first in the region, and built his homestead nearby. Pollen had been a doctor on Kawau Island during its mining period and was Premier of New Zealand for a few months in 1875/76.
The rectangular concrete structure visible at the northwestern end of Pollen Island, is thought to have been associated with shell extraction and processing for the production of lime. The structure is believed to be the remains of a tidal sea water pool for washing shell that was then transported to the mainland.
The remains of a tramway used for transporting shell, which connected the old cart road running to the end of the Rosebank Peninsula and the outer shell bank of Pollen Island, can be seen as a faint line running across the centre of the photo above. The tramway was built up across the mudflats using a two inch layer of tea tree topped by a three inch layer of shell. Wooden box culverts were constructed across several small tidal channels.
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