Environment – Glorious wetlands

It was summer, Mahurangi camping at its best. We had kayaked to a favourite beach and had it to ourselves. We climbed green hills and gloried in the entire stretch of coastline down both heads, and   the harbour, Te Haupa, Motuora and Mahurangi Islands in the misty afternoon sun. A snapper approached and swam circles around our feet when we crossed the inlet. Little flounders skittled away as we waded along the beach. It was as beautiful as anywhere in the world.

At twilight, as always, I went looking for the banded rail in the wetland, a bird that I had seen only once, years before. I was pleased that an area of salt meadow, extending from the lagoon, was fenced off so that it was no longer mowed like an English meadow into lawn. Sheep still have access to the wetland though, which all seems a bit ironic. And the taraire trees haven’t really recovered from last year’s drought.

The wetland, the ebbing of the tide, the ripples of light on the estuary mud, and the last of the sun through the trees – the Mahurangi is one of the great loves of my life. And as I savoured the moment, a small black and brown form on long sticky legs emerged from the shadows. It was the cryptic (camouflaged) puweto or spotless crake.

Puweto are considered a relict (primitive) species, occupying an estimated less than 10 per cent of their former range, vulnerable to wetland habitat loss and predation. They are secretive and shy, they are monogamous and territorial. They lay two to five cream eggs in nests of woven grass and sedge leaves, surrounded by similar platforms, like decks, 30 to 50cm from the ground. Both parents mind the clutch, and the chicks hatch around 20 to 22 days. They can catch live prey from three days old and leave the nest at four. They become independent at four or five months. Puweto are crepuscular – most active at dawn and dusk, hence my reward. And they rarely venture far from cover – hence their presence at the wetland’s edge.

February 2 was World Wetland Day, and Forest and Bird reminded us that wetlands are even more efficient at storing carbon to help address climate change than forests. Then there are all the other benefits of wetlands – erosion control, sediment mitigation, flood and drought protection, in addition to hosting many species.

Forest and Bird said that coastal wetlands, including mangroves, salt marshes, and sea grasses, like the one I shared with the puweto, are also excellent at sequestering carbon, known as blue carbon. On average, they can trap carbon 35 to 57 times faster than tropical forests.

For some time, wetlands have been treated as wastelands, wet farmland not farmed wetland, victims of rubbish dumping, pollution, invasive weeds, reclamation, stock trampling, urban and industrial development, and recreational pressures. This treatment defies their complexity, importance and beauty. For the puweto, the wetland is home.

Christine Rose
christine.rose25@gmail.com