Godwits welcomed

Bar-tailed Godwit. Photo / Greg Bowker

ChristChurch Cathedral bells rang out yesterday at noon to mark the end of the world's longest migration.

The first bar-tailed godwits to finish their more than 11,000km journey from Alaska have been spotted on Canterbury's Avon-Heathcote estuary.

About 2000 more are expected to land over the next few weeks.

The bells rang for half an hour from midday to welcome the birds to their wintering home.