Nanzhou Wetland and Dongting Lake Birdwatching Area 南洲湿地与洞庭湖开放观鸟区

About Nanzhou Wetland and Dongting Lake Birdwatching Area

The former State Forestry Administration approved the park as a pilot in October 2011 and it was formally established in August 2016. It covers about 148,000 mu, roughly 9.2 per cent of Nan County, and its main area takes in the Sanxianhu reservoir, the Nanmao canal, the Ouchi River, the Songli flood channel and Tianxing islet with the land around them. The county is threaded by rivers and lakes and its ground changes with the water: falling levels expose sandbars, rising levels turn the same ground back into lake. The park was later reorganised as a national wetland nature park; the earlier designation covered 11,383.50 hectares, including a national aquatic germplasm reserve of 4,279.98 hectares for the Chinese pond turtle and the Chinese softshell turtle, and the reorganised park maps at 8,757.33 hectares.

The declared protection subjects are the wetland ecosystem and its plants and animals, with waterbirds and aquatic animals first among them and the wild pond turtle and softshell turtle singled out. The wetland falls into three classes and seven types, from permanent river and floodplain to herbaceous and forested marsh, reservoir pond, canal, conveyance channel and fish pond. Surveys have recorded 551 seed plant species in 121 families and 173 wild vertebrate species in 26 orders. Three birds are protected at national grade II, the Japanese sparrowhawk, the hen harrier and the common kestrel; 78 species carry provincial protection; 34 species fall under the China-Japan migratory bird agreement and 13 under the China-Australia agreement. Five nationally protected plants occur, including ginkgo and dawn redwood. Two national patriotic-education sites, the Changjiao Massacre Memorial Hall and the Duan Dechang Martyrs' Cemetery, lie within the park's area.

What to look for

• The Sanxianhu reservoir, one of the five main water bodies that make up the park
• Tianxing islet and the Songli flood channel, where sandbars emerge as water levels fall
• The Nanmao canal and the Ouchi River, the man-made and natural channels that thread the park
• Migratory waterbirds covered by the China-Japan and China-Australia agreements, present seasonally
• The Changjiao Massacre Memorial Hall and the Duan Dechang Martyrs' Cemetery, both inside the park's area

Location & getting there

Getting to Nanzhou Wetland and Dongting Lake Birdwatching Area

Check the open visitor route and follow the site’s rules on distance, food and photography. Conservation areas may limit access beyond designated paths.

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