Rain has filled a newly restored Taieri wetland and the welcome mat is out for whitebait and dabbling ducks.
Fish and Game Otago operations manager Ian Hadland said a 350m-long bund was built to raise the water level on the rush-covered valley floor near Henley to restore the Takitakitoa Wetland.
Fish and Game Otago developed the 32ha wetland in a 70ha block it owned.
The "wetland enhancement project'' was the second largest in New Zealand, Mr Hadland said.
The rain was a relief, he said.
"It's such a big project you don't know where the water is going to get to ... It went pretty much where we expected.''
The wetland needed about 30mm more rain to reach the desired water level.
When the grass among the rushes died, a "nice 50:50 mix of vegetation and open water'' would be left.
The mix was ideal habitat for "dabbling ducks'', such as mallards.
The wetland was also for "prime'' habitat for adult whitebait and wading birds, such as stilts and dotterels.
A consent condition was trout could not be "liberated'' in the wetland.
Allan Winders, of Mosgiel, gave the Otago Fish and Game Council about 40ha of land in the early 1990s.
The land was part of the estate of Milford Wilson, who farmed the area.
The project aimed to restore some the native flora and fauna which was lost when the area was "heavily drained'' in the 1960s.
The council swapped some of its hill land with City Forest for swamp area.
Fines collected from hunting and fishing licence breaches paid for the five mai mais on the wetlands, improvement to access, planting and signage.
