Welcome to Friends of Tawa Bush Reserves
The Friends of Tawa Bush Reserves is a local environmental care group. We work to promote and enhance the conservation and long term preservation of bush reserves in Tawa.
We liaise with the Wellington City Council to achieve these aims.
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Have you experienced a walk-through of all the well preserved native bush reserves that Tawa has to offer?
We are so privileged to have these within our suburb!
Recent Highlights
Here’s why our native bush matters – in pictures
Microsorum pustulatum 
Miro 
Kārearea 
Te Ngahere-0-Tawa 
Tawa trees 
Orbilia 
Miro seedling 
Kohekohe fruit 
Tawa trunk by stream 
Mātai Larsen Cres 
Kohekohe flowers 
little world on a hangehange leaf 
Kawakawa – well eaten 
Kererū – NZ Woodpigeon 
Kohekohe flowers Wilf Mexted Reserve 
Ileodictyon cibarium – White Basket Fungus 
Kahikatea – Dacrycarpus dacridioides 
Silver fern 
Haircap moss 
Northern rātā flowers 
Kanono flowers on leaf 
Pānako 
Shining spleenwort 
Conchomyces bursiformis 
Northern rātā 
Māhoe flowers 
Ngahere gecko 2018 – photo credit: Helen Challands 
Ruru 
Hinau – Elaeocarpus dentatus 
Kohekohe in flower 
Woodie 
Pīwakawaka 
Tawa leaves on forest floor 
Wētā hotel @ Redwood 
Kanono flower
What We Provide
Guardianship
We undertake active guardianship on matters concerning the indigenous bush reserves of Tawa
Regular working bees
Members and school groups participate to improve the public access tracks, to undertake tree planting, weeding around planted trees, or pest plant removal
Education & Knowledge
We encourage interest, use, and research into the historical, cultural, scientific, ecological, botanical and recreational aspects of the bush areas of Tawa
Come join in
Our Upcoming Events
Bring along your gloves and lend a hand tending our native taonga
Sunday Working Bee
01:30pm – 4.30pm
12th October 2025
Upper Wilf Mexted
Weeding
(cancelled due to weather)
Tuesday Working Bee
01:30pm – 4.30pm
28th October 2025
Charles Duncan
Weeding
Meet at Charles Duncan upper track – access via 4 Fyvie Ave.
Willowbank Reserve Care Group
9.30 am – 12 Noon
1st & 3rd Thursday of each month
Willowbank Reserve
weeding
Meet at Willowbank Reserve carpark
12,516
residents in Tawa
>21,160
plants in the ground
11
reserves
555
pests caught (YTD 2025)
Did you know…
Massive Tawa live here
Tawa is reputed to have the biggest Tawa tree in the Wellington region. Do you know where this tree is in Redwood Bush? It’s trunk girth at chest height is 3.14m!
We saved huge Mataī trees
Have you seen the huge mataī trees in Larsen Crescent Reserve that were saved by local residents from being felled at the time of housing development?
We have mature Nikau
Nikau are the only endemic palm that grows in our NZ native bush and the southern-most palm in the world. The only Tawa reserve to contain mature nikau is Wilf Mexted Reserve.
Guided Walks
If you would like to take part in a guided walk through one of our gems of native reserves, please feel free to contact us
Books on Tawa Reserves (by Gil Roper)
(Click on the covers for more detail)
Reserves and Walks
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than they seek.”
John Muir
Find us on Facebook
The Tawa Area – Then and Now
View over Tawa Flat with the Porirua-Johnsonville Motorway, Linden Primary School and the communities of Raroa Park, Linden, Tawa and Redwood, Wellington City. Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs. Ref: WA-47281-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/30633703 & Google Earth Image 2021
Thanks to Gil Roper for the research and content contributed to this site
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Thanks to our supporters:
Copyright © Friends of Tawa Bush Reserves Inc 2025. All rights reserved.
Friends of Tawa Bush Reserves 