Taitua Arboretum

 

Today was a balmy warm with lots of cloud cover – the perfect day to go walking and I thought I would visit the Arboretum on the outskirts of Hamilton.

It is over 20 years since I was last here – my experience of traipsing around in gumboots through long grass and trying not to step on frogs, led me to avoid visiting again.

However, the place has come a long way since then and pathways are numerous and well-formed. 

The trees first began being planted in the 1970s by a farming couple with a love of trees, and they donated it to the city in 1997.

Different areas are devoted to different trees, such as a Native area, a Conifer area, an American area etc.  I especially loved this circle of redwoods.

Chickens roam freely around the place and there are signs up asking people to please only feed them certain items (which were listed).

These ducks were also interested in being feed, but there was nothing to be had and they soon returned to the pond.

Some of the lower areas of the Arboretum are rather swampy.  This was where I turned around and began the trek back up to the carpark, as my strength has not yet fully restored.

Parts of the area are still farmed.  These steers were waiting to be fed their daily hay (they could hear the tractor approaching, and there was lots of mooing going on).

There were native birds around also, but they were too far away or too fast for me to be able to photograph them - kingfishers, fantails, lots of tuis, and grey warblers, but the highlight was a New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae in Latin, or Karearea in Maori).

I heard the call first (which folklore says foretells rain when the weather is fine as it was today), and then was lucky enough to see it as it flew among the trees searching for prey.

This photo was accessed at https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/karearea.html

I have a sneaky suspicion I may have sore legs tomorrow 😊

Margaret.