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Martin Williams

THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN northwest Hong Kong and Shenzhen runs through an estuary, Deep Bay, the inner section of which is a Ramsar site: a wetland of international importance. This is a magnet for migratory waterbirds, and now is peak season for visiting to see both lingering winter species, along with long distance travellers like shorebirds en route from Australia to Siberia.
You can also enjoy expansive vistas unlike any in the country parks, and find echoes of yesteryear. Weather greatly influences spring birdwatching, which is best during rainy cold fronts, when throngs of swallows and swifts may hawk insects over ponds, and thousands of shorebirds feast on the mudflats, refuelling for onward journeys. With warm southerlies, many birds depart. Knowing tidal forecasts can also help with optimising visits: you can find them at hko.gov.hk
 
Hong Kong Wetland Park 
What is it? Originally conceived to mitigate for loss of wetlands before construction of Tin Shui Wai, the Wetland Park morphed into a Millennium Project, which may explain why there is a gargantuan visitor's centre with quirky exhibits, but little wetland habitat.
Why visit? For a surreal experience, walk around the centre, which features oddities such as an Arctic room complete with reindeer, a cinema like a spaceship interior, and artificial mangrove swamp. Or, do as their MTR adverts advise and "Unroll the Hong Kong diverse green temptations".
The exterior is surely a far more rewarding, albeit sanitised, wetland experience. There are paths lined with flowering shrubs and trees, an artificial stream and walkways over replicas of wet agricultural fields and a patch of genuine mangroves. For the best birdwatching, make for a pool known as the Mudflat. You can overlook this from a hide: a small wooden building that has relatively small openings so people can look out while being barely seen by wildlife.
As the name suggests, at the Mudflat there are areas of gently sloping wet mud. Sandpipers and other shorebirds feed there, and until around mid-April there might be lingering winter birds such as ducks and black-faced spoonbills. The spoonbills are endangered, with a world population of fewer than 3,000, perhaps a fifth of which stop over in Hong Kong each year.
Although some HK$500 million was spent on the Wetland Park, there is just one hide at the Mudflat, and it can be crowded on busy days. A second hide may be built.
The Wetland Park has another key attraction: Pui Pui the crocodile, in a specially built enclosure by the visitor centre. She's a saltwater crocodile that became an instant celebrity in November 2003, when seen roaming wild in Deep Bay, especially in Shan Pui River. She was voted "Personality of the Year" by RTHK radio listeners, and wasn't caught until the following June. Then 1.5 metres long, Pui Pui has since grown by about a metre.
Getting there: the Wetland Park is just to the east of Tin Shui Wai, beside stops for the Light Rail and buses including 967 from Admiralty.
Entry is HK$30; half price for children, students, disabled people and senior citizens. Arrive well before 4pm, when the park begins closing. Closed on Tuesdays.


Nam Sang Wai 
What is it? The Shan Pui River forms the western boundary of a roughly triangular area of fishponds, few of which are still active. The Kam Tin River flows to the east, and the two rivers merge just north of Nam Sang Wai. Although just outside the Ramsar site, Nam Sang Wai is significant for wildlife, and development plans have so far been thwarted, albeit lately included increased plans for wetland conservation.
Why visit? With many fishponds and shanty houses abandoned, the interior is like a land where time almost stands still. There's a fine landscape of ponds and reed beds, with trees that in winter may be festooned with roosting cormorants.
The rivers were channelised during flood control work, and have since been allowed to become silty, with tidal flats attracting estuary birds. For the best birdwatching, head to vantages overlooking the confluence of rivers, perhaps as the tide is falling below two metres and fresh mud is exposed. You're sure to see egrets and herons, and might be lucky enough to have shorebirds like black-winged stilts feeding close by.
There are birds at the fishponds, too, although many prefer lurking in dense vegetation. Keep an eye out overhead, especially a couple of days after a cold front, when there's a chance of grey-faced buzzards and Chinese goshawks that have just arrived from the Philippines.
The Hong Kong Birdwatching Society may have a stall and volunteer bird guides beside fishponds to the east. Western Nam Sang Wai can get busier, with radio-controlled helicopters and planes zooming around, as cyclists and strollers pass by, and couples have wedding photos taken. But there's still fine scenery, and a chance of interesting birds. There are basic restaurants, including in the southwest of the area.
Getting there: take a taxi from Yuen Long to eastern Nam Sang Wai, then stroll the narrow road along the riverbanks. Soon after the road ends in the southwest, you'll come to a unique sampan ferry across the Shan Pui River. From here, it's about 10 minutes walk to the MTR station, or there's minibus 611 to the bus terminus.
 
Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve
What is it? One of the world's greatest wetland reserves, managed by WWF Hong Kong. It's in the heart of the Deep Bay Ramsar site, with former shrimp ponds - gei wai - and access to the prime tidal mudflats.
Why visit? In spring Mai Po offers some of the best shorebird watching on earth, thanks to diversity of species coupled with numbers and densities of birds. With luck, you can experience an outstanding bird spectacle.
Most of Deep Bay's waterbirds feed on the mudflats beyond the mangroves fringing the reserve. You can see them from specially built hides, reached by walking along a boardwalk through dense mangrove forest. The best time can be just as the tide falls, and flocks arrive to swarm the glistening wet mud, the air ringing with their piping and churring calls.
The shorebirds range from stints the size of sparrows to curlews bigger than pigeons. Many are now in breeding plumage, which for some species means combinations of red, buff and brown, while there are plovers with intricate facial markings.
There are world rarities to be found, the most sought after being spoon-billed sandpiper, which is now critically endangered with only around 100 pairs remaining.
Gulls become scarce as spring advances and are replaced with similar terns, including Caspian terns with bright red bills looking as big as carrots.
The highest tides push most birds off the mudflats, and many then roost at landscaped ponds within Mai Po. Exploring these ponds, you can find kingfishers and other birds, plus there are dragonflies and butterflies, and coloured water lilies.
Getting there: entry is restricted to people who are proven wildlife enthusiasts or - for the most part - join tours organised by the reserve. The basic tours cost HK$120 per head; or HK$90 during the quieter summer months. Consider "The Magic of Migration" tours, which cost HK$320 per person and include visits to the mudflat hides coinciding with high tides, providing actual tide times permit. The special "Friends of Birds" day on May 4 will combine a talk on research with a reserve tour, for HK$220.
Book through wwf.org.hk; tour prices are lower for WWF Hong Kong members.
48hours@scmp.com
 


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Birdwatching in the wetlands and marshes of Deep Bay

Lilies reflected in a pond at Mai Po. Photos: Martin Williams

Left: black-winged stilt fishing in the marshes. Right: cormorants roosting at Nam Sang Wai.

The education centre at Mai Po.

Avocets flying at Mai Po.

View from a hide in the Wetland Park.

Pui Pui the celebrity saltwater crocodile.

A Daurian redstart.

Cyclist through a stand of eucalyptus trees at Nam Sang Wai. 

A fish pond at Nam Sang Wai. 

Signs at the sampan ferry pier at Nam Sang Wai..

Magazines

48 Hours

With its wetlands and vast country parks, the New Territories is a world-class birdwatching hotspot, writes Martin Williams


With its wetlands and vast country parks, the New Territories is a world-class birdwatching hotspot, writes Martin Williams.


Birdwatching in the wetlands and marshes of Deep Bay

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With its wetlands and vast country parks, the New Territories is a world-class birdwatching hotspot, writes Martin Williams

With its wetlands and vast country parks, the New Territories is a world-class birdwatching hotspot, writes Martin Williams