Brooklands Lagoon

This elongated estuary near Brooklands, Christchurch, is called Brooklands Lagoon. The Styx River drains into it, and it's at the mouth of the Waimakariri River. The Waimakariri used to drain out of here toward Spencer Park, but that changed in 1930 when engineers dug through the sand dunes to give it a more direct course to the sea, all to reduce flooding risk. Brooklands Spit protects the lagoon from Pegasus Bay and the sea. To the south, you'll find Bottle Lake Forest and Spencer Park.

The lagoon itself is about 270 hectares in size, 4.5 kilometers long, and 800 meters at its widest. During spring tides, about 1.6 million cubic meters of water will flow in. Before the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, locals used this area frequently, but most of Brooklands was red-zoned after that.

You can find shellfish like cockles and pipis in the sand near the lagoon mouth. Eels, brown trout, and yellow-eyed mullet are also in the lagoon, and you'll often see whitebait and whitebaiters here. The mudflats support native plants including sedges, rushes, grasses, and saltmarsh ribbonwood, plus bachelor's button, yellow lotus, and swamp flax.

This is a tidal estuary and a mostly intact natural ecosystem, with over 100 different types of birds spotted here. Local birds include the pied stilt, banded dotterel, white-faced heron, pūkeko, and pied shag. Migratory birds like the South Island pied oystercatcher, Caspian tern, white-fronted tern, and New Zealand shoveler have also been seen. Rare sightings include the white heron, grey duck, black-fronted tern, and wrybill.

There are walking tracks maintained by the Christchurch City Council around most of the lagoon, and part of the Christchurch 360 Trail runs through here. You might notice the public toilet; it was installed by the Christchurch City Council and won an architectural award. This six-square-meter building, completed in 2011 at a cost of $80,000, was designed for low maintenance, to recognize local iwi perspectives and the site's history, and to deter vandalism.

In late 2020, a rāhui was placed on Brooklands Lagoon, closing it to the collection of shellfish like cockles, pipis, cat's eyes, and clams, in line with Ngāi Tūāhuriri and Ngāi Tahu customary fishing regulations to protect the fisheries.