Celebrating our waterways with fish bunting

It’s been a while. As we are tucked away, hopefully all safe in our very own lockdown bubbles, we could probably need a little distraction, something to do and get excited about, something that exists and that we can interact with, unequivocally both inside and outside of our bubbles. Well, here it is: We are in the Wairarapa, where sparkling, glittering, chattering waterways carve through the landscape every second of the day, at every couple of corners that we turn and gaze upon, from a-near and afar.

This Summer we had drought, and I was very worried about the lack of water in Donald’s Creek impacting on the health and lives of the freshwater creatures that shelter in it. I hoped that perhaps there was a puddle here (upstream) and maybe a puddle there (downstream) and that the water was trickling through some centimetres or more below ground, but it was hard to know for sure. Then on the first weekend of lockdown, when we were all a bit shell shocked and worried, not made any easier by the endless rain and having trouble separating between real life and the endless games of monopoly, the creek pushed itself back to become a thrashing bashing river, almost racing across the fields. Phew.

Now, for this Autumn and Winter, it is here to stay. The creek may not look so pretty just yet, as it is still framed by scorched plants from weeks of heat and drought. But nevertheless it is here to provide a home to fish, maybe to some eels, and surely to a lot of bugs. So let’s celebrate it, visit it! If it is within walking distance, at Barr Brown Bush Reserve, or as it crosses Harrison Street East, or Fitzherbert Street – take a look across the bridge – or from State Highway 2, or perhaps as it merges with Abbot’s Creek some way down towards the Moana. Spend some time looking at, and listening to the water. It may even make lockdown a little more bearable.

And whether you can walk to these places or not, or yours is a different stream, or perhaps it’s a rainy day, another way to celebrate our freshwater is to make some fish bunting. Fish bunting can brighten up a window, an information stand, your kitchen or bedroom wall or ceiling, or can even be a clever way to say something important, because it draws people to look at it. It also gets rid of all those old magazines piling up in the corner of the table…! One thing is for sure; it is definitely fun to make!

All the local Featherston primary schools were invited to participate in making fish bunting for the Donald’s Creek Freshwater Celebration Event. It ended up being very popular and the bunting was displayed at the event as well as in many shops along Featherston’s main street! Check out this link for more pictures of all the amazing fish that the school children created!

How to make Donald’s Creek Fish Bunting:

You will need:

1) Print/photocopy and cut out 2 x fish templates. (Here’s also a printable combined fish template and instructions.)
Cut one template into parts: tail, head, and main body. You can use all these templates again and again.

2) Trace and cut coloured or scrap paper to fit one whole fish. This gives you a stabile surface onto which you can glue other coloured paper onto each side.

3) Trace and cut coloured paper to fit one side and glue onto the fish.
Turn the fish over, and trace and cut coloured paper to fit the other side of fish.
Glue tail, body and head onto both sides of whole fish cut-out.

4) Cut round pieces for eyes and glue on (tips: make each eye from two different types of paper, or look for a pattern that creates an interesting eye shape). Trim any edges that don’t fit neatly (this is optional – sometimes it’s nice to leave them on!).

5) To make your next fish, complete steps 2-4 again.

To hang: cut a small hole in head or tail of each fish for the string (a hole punch does an excellent job). Add more coloured fish in different colours and patterns and use as bunting.

Here’s another lot of fish that my 6 year old son, Felix, and I made the other day. Because we happened to have a few old National Geographic magazines, some of the fish ended up looking a bit opinionated… which we quite liked 🙂 and we also found that we could give them interesting or funny names.