For over ten years, a group of dedicated volunteers (Fensham Group) has been restoring and maintaining 29 hectares of native bush and three hectares of wetland at Fensham Reserve near Carterton.

Located just 4.7km north-west of Carterton, the reserve contains one of the best forest remnants on the Wairarapa Plains, as well as a small wetland that supports the nationally endangered brown mudfish. The reserve, rich in a variety of habitat, comprises regenerating forest, including an area of advanced regeneration under black beech, primary forest and shrublands.

The reserve is part of a 50 hectare gift to the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society by the late John Fensham. The Fensham Group are members of the Wairarapa Branch of Forest and Bird.

You can comfortably walk the circuit track through the bush reserve in one hour in either direction. There are some moderately steep sections, but the all-weather tracks are well maintained, with wooden walkways over wet areas.

A short side track on the south-west leads to a superb lookout with extensive views over the lower Wairarapa valley. At the western end, about halfway around the circuit, there are picnic tables. Two interconnecting tracks, the Brow Track and the Old Fence Track, can also be walked. A detailed map of tracks is displayed at the entrance to the reserve, as well as at the picnic area.

Forest and Bird recognised Fensham Group’s work in 2000 with an Old Blue Award citing that “Through your efforts, Fensham’s delights have been enjoyed by many people and the district’s children have been able to experience a living treasure from a lost world.”

In the same year, the group was also awarded the Conservation Week Award for their work in the reserve. In 2002, they won the Wellington Region Conservation Award in recognition of their outstanding contribution to conservation.

The group has developed a monitoring programme to complement their restoration plan. The programme includes surveying the mudfish population, recording water levels, monitoring natural plant regeneration, monitoring plant survival and photo monitoring as a visual record of their progress. They also assist Greater Wellington in monitoring forest and wetland invertebrates, track rodent activity and are developing protocols for recording bird activity.

The monitoring programme is additional to the group’s ongoing work of collecting seeds and growing plants, weed control, pest control, planting around 1000 plants annually and holding an annual planting open day.

Greater Wellington’s Take Care programme has supported the group with their monitoring and restoration of the three hectare wetland (closed to the public for protection).

For further information contact Chris Surman, Fensham Group convenor, email clsurman@xtra.co.nz. or visit www.gw.govt.nz