A small wetland system that runs through the reserve is home to longfin eel.

Introduced species including eastern rosella and Australian magpies are occasionally seen.

[3] Kākā sometimes stop off at St Johns Bush on their way to the Whangaparāoa Peninsula on the North Shore.

St Johns Bush was set aside as a reserve by Bishop George Selwyn and his wife Sarah in the mid-19th Century.

[1] In 1994 Auckland Council initiated a plan to rezone a considerable part of St Johns Bush.