Miranda Shorebird Coast

Pukorokoro Miranda is a stretch of chenier - long ridges of broken shell thrown up by the tide - backing onto mudflats that are exceptionally rich in the small invertebrates wading birds eat. That combination makes it one of the most important shorebird sites in the country and a Ramsar wetland. The birds to know are two. Bar-tailed godwits arrive in September from their Alaskan breeding grounds, and satellite tracking of this population produced the record for the longest non-stop flight by any bird - over eleven days and more than eleven thousand kilometres without landing. Red knots come the same way. In the southern winter the wrybill, a New Zealand endemic with a bill bent sideways, arrives from South Island braided rivers. The naturalists' centre has hides, a shop and staff who will tell you what is on the flats. Timing matters more than anything: come on a rising tide, which pushes the birds close to the hides.

What you actually see

• Bar-tailed godwits - arriving from Alaska from September.
• Wrybill - the sideways-billed endemic, in winter.
• The shell banks - chenier ridges backing the mudflats.
• The hides - close views on a rising tide.

When to go

September to March for the Arctic migrants, May to August for wrybill. Go on a rising tide about two hours before high water - at low tide the birds are far out and you see nothing.

Honest expectations

Without binoculars this is a distant grey smudge; a scope is better. Tide timing is essential and getting it wrong wastes the trip. It is exposed, with wind off the firth and no shade.

Nearby

The Coromandel and Thames are across the firth; Auckland is 75 minutes north.