It was 20 years ago today …

In 1995 Jim Lynch had a marvellous and audacious idea – convert the soon to be decommissioned reservoir and surrounding water catchment area in Karori into a wildlife sanctuary. I read about this and thought what a great scheme it was.

The official opening was on July 5^th 1995 and yesterday foundation members were presented with a certificate and a seedling. I choose a pigeonwood/porokaiwhiri which should help to attract kereru to our garden. It could grow up to 12 or 16 metres tall – possibly not for 50 years though.

I had a wander round the sanctuary – unfortunately I didn’t get many good photos of birds, but here is a very fat kereru from below

and a kakariki – the first one I have seen inside the sanctuary.

Two views from the dam - the upper lake

and down the valley to the lower one.

Finally, an arty shot of sunlight catching a cobweb on a tree trunk.