Brooklands Lagoon

Okay, so I'm here at Brooklands Lagoon, and it's quite a place. It's this long, narrow estuary near Brooklands, right where the Styx River flows in, and it's also at the mouth of the Waimakariri River. Apparently, the Waimakariri used to empty out of the lagoon further down towards Spencer Park, but that changed in 1930. Engineers actually dug through the sand dunes back then to create a more direct path to the sea, all to help reduce flooding from the Waimakariri.

The lagoon itself is protected from Pegasus Bay and the sea by something called Brooklands Spit. To the south, you've got Bottle Lake Forest and Spencer Park. It's pretty big, about 270 hectares, stretching 4.5 kilometers long and around 800 meters at its widest point. When spring tides come in, they bring about 1.6 million cubic meters of water, which is a lot!

Before the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, this area was really popular with locals, but most of Brooklands itself was red-zoned and basically disappeared.

Looking around, you can see why it's special for wildlife. There are shellfish like cockles and pipis near the lagoon mouth, and I've heard eels, brown trout, and yellow-eyed mullet are in here too. You might even spot some whitebaiters during the season. The mudflats are home to lots of native plants – sedges, rushes, grasses, and saltmarsh ribbonwood. I've also seen bachelor's button, yellow lotus, and swamp flax.

It's a tidal estuary and a pretty intact natural ecosystem, which is amazing. Over a hundred different bird types have been seen here. I've already spotted some pied stilts and white-faced herons, and I know pūkeko and pied shags are common. There are also migratory birds like the South Island pied oystercatcher. Apparently, even rare ones like the white heron show up sometimes.

There are walking tracks maintained by the Christchurch City Council all around most of the lagoon, and part of it's even on the Christchurch 360 Trail. Oh, and there's a public toilet here that actually won an architectural award! It's a small building, designed to be low-maintenance and resistant to vandalism, and it was completed in 2011 for about $80,000. It's supposed to reflect the local iwi's perspectives and the history of the site.

One important thing to know: in late 2020, they put a rāhui in place, so you can't collect shellfish like cockles, pipis, cat's eyes, or clams here. It's under Ngāi Tūāhuriri and Ngāi Tahu customary fishing regulations to protect the fisheries. So, definitely respect that if you're visiting.