Flora and Fauna
The coastal edge of Wellington supports many plant species adapted to the Cook Strait conditions. The steep coastal cliffs that bear the full force of Cook Strait gales support a mosaic of coastal scrub, flax and tussock land, and scree. Dense scrub including taupata, stunted karaka, and manuka would once have dominated but deforestation, intensive browsing, fire, quarrying and pest animals have destabilised many cliff faces. Threatened plants such as Muehlenbeckia astonii (shrubby tororaro), speargrass and Brachyglottis lagopus (a yellow daisy-headed herb) still occur within the coastal vegetation. Inland from the coast, the original vegetation was a mix of coastal and broadleaf forest species. Sheltered hillsides originally bore tawa forest studded with very large rimu and northern rata. Rotting trunks are still evident on what are now grasslands around Hawkins Hill. Spooky Gully is home to one of the few mature coastal forest remnants.
The coastal environment is also home to invertebrates, including the rare speargrass weevil, lizards and birdlife. Among the coastal birds are: the banded dotterel, shags, gannets/takapu and reef herons. Birds more commonly found inland can also be observed, such as grey arbler/riroriro, pipit/pihoihoi, and kingfisher/kotare.
