It’s incredible to reflect that it’s only been a year since we started building the wetland. At the end of 2022, we started removing willows and draining old duck ponds and we turned the first sod in February 2023 with the main construction completed by June. Although, to be fair, it was several years of hard work – and lots of paperwork – to get to that point.
Thomson’s wetland is something for us all to be proud of. It’s a farmer-led project, with significant involvement from hundreds of people in the local community, including our farmers, local businesses, organisations, Councils and even our local schools supporting our efforts.
It has a catchment committee guiding progress (Thomsons Catchment Committee), governance by the Manuherekia Catchment Group and funding from the Ministry for the Environment Jobs for Nature to help us get off the ground.
With two years left on the project, our next steps are to continue to look after the wetland, allowing it to flourish. Key member of the Thomsons Project team met at the wetland in mid-January to plan the next phase of works.
Project Manager Nicola McGrouther, plant specialist Jo Wakelin, engineer Brendan Sheehan, water specialist Roger Williams, weed control expert Mark Edgar and support crew Haines Battrick are working together to plan the pest and weed control around the wetland, plan the island planting in April, organise the water level management and sort the monitoring. The wetland is doing incredibly well, and we are slowly increasing the water level as the plants are getting bigger.
And – very excitingly, we hope to install signage and build a community boardwalk around the wetland for everyone to enjoy this community asset. Fundraising efforts start soon! And finally, a special shout out to Fiona Kissel, who recently celebrate 18 years with Office Management Solutions. Fiona is a key member of our core team and manages our meeting minutes and finances. We couldn’t do this project without Fiona’s amazing work.
What’s been happening
Bird Monitoring
In mid-January, we held our annual wetland bird count, led by Fish and Game’s Ben Sowry. We had five locals join Ben to learn how to count the birds.
It’s been particularly fantastic to see the arrival of the rare NZ black-billed gull. In November around 1000 gulls moved onto the wetland for their breeding season and there were still 360 birds remaining in mid-January, before the breeding season was over end January and they moved on. These rare gulls normally breed in the braided riverbeds in Canterbury and Southland, and they just happened to take a shine to our wetland. It’ll be interesting to see if they return for their next breeding season – we certainly hope they do!
Our plan is to monitor the birds that visit the wetland, or make it their home, several times a year, and our next count is in mid-March (9am Tuesday 12 March, if the weather is good).
If you would like to join us to help with the bird monitoring, please contact Nicola on 027 493 9500.
World Wetlands Day
On Friday 2 February, 35 people popped along to Thomson’s wetland to join us celebrating the completion of the first phase of the wetland.
In only a year, we now have a fully functioning wetland. Construction is completed and we’ve planted 41,000 carex secta, which are thriving in their watery environment only three months after planting.
Our celebration at Thomson’s wetland was opened by Central Otago District Council Mayor Tim Cadogan and Otago Regional Council’s (ORC) Kevin Malcolm. Thank you to Councillors Lloyd McCall, Elliot Weir, and ORC CEO Richard Saunders for also joining us.
Thankfully the wild weather from earlier in the day, including thunder, hail storms, lightening, disappeared just an hour before we started, and those that attended enjoyed a sunny beautiful day to walk around the wetland.
Central Otago A&P show Omakau
On Saturday 10 February, the Manuherekia Catchment Group, Ida Valley and Thomsons Catchment Group set up at the A&P show and connected with people wandering past the tent.
Plus, they shared a tent space with Betty, the Pool burn school pig, who was the guest of honour for a ‘guess the weight of the pig’ competition.
We also ran a very successful plant competition and congratulations to winners, Tracey Bowen and Kiri Spain who guessed all the plants right!
Thanks to everyone who came for a chat.
What’s next: the wetland
2024 is going to be a busy year for the wetland and we are excited to have plenty of opportunities available for our community to be involved and connect with them. Follow us on Facebook for event information, or keep an eye on our web page at www.mcg.org.nz/thomsons-project
March: Bird monitoring
April: Planting on the wetland islands
May: Field Day for farmers ‘know your soils’
August: Celebrate the Black-billed gulls returning (we hope)
September: Community planting day at the wetland
