Lake Heron Canterbury New Zealand
Lake Heron is the largest of the lakes in the Ashburton Lakes region (region also known as O Tu Wharekai, a poetic reference to this large high country wetland's importance to early Maori as a food gathering and bird hunting area). O Tu Roto (Lake Heron). It is renowned for its fine trout fishing but is also an important wildlife refuge with several rare and threatened species of native birds (along with many common ones) which either live there or visit seasonally. It is one of the places the rare crested grebe lives and breeds and australasian bittern and Marsh Crake frequent its marshes. The whole Ashburton Lakes region is also known for its 'kettlehole' landscape which features many rare, highly specialised plants evolved to survive the extreme conditions of seasonally wet, dry, frozen and baked kettlehole depressions.
Lake Heron Canterbury New Zealand
Lake Heron is the largest of the lakes in the Ashburton Lakes region (region also known as O Tu Wharekai, a poetic reference to this large high country wetland's importance to early Maori as a food gathering and bird hunting area). O Tu Roto (Lake Heron). It is renowned for its fine trout fishing but is also an important wildlife refuge with several rare and threatened species of native birds (along with many common ones) which either live there or visit seasonally. It is one of the places the rare crested grebe lives and breeds and australasian bittern and Marsh Crake frequent its marshes. The whole Ashburton Lakes region is also known for its 'kettlehole' landscape which features many rare, highly specialised plants evolved to survive the extreme conditions of seasonally wet, dry, frozen and baked kettlehole depressions.