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Good evening🦋
As I am sure you are all well aware by now, this weekend is the Big Butterfly Count and, as a trustee of Moths & Butterflies NZ, I have been doing my part by conducting 15-minute counts in spots around my area.
If you took part this weekend - thank you!✨
We’ll be back to the usual Weekly Wildlife next weekend (I am tossing up between the blue damselfly, or the chorus cicada) but I definitely had a BIG butterfly weekend and I would love to share it with you!
I headed out well after lunchtime and started my weekend at the Macraes Wetland to look for tussock butterflies, which we don’t get in our garden. I regretted my late start as there were fewer tussocks than last time, but I was chuffed to see a little copper butterfly.
I have seen a few people on Facebook comment that they noticed pūrerehua (butterflies) they may not have noticed if they hadn’t taken the 15 minutes to stop and observe. I am sure that last time there were coppers around, but I did not stop long enough to actually notice them.
I did a total of five counts here, trying to get some of the different habitats (tussock, thistle, tī kōuka/cabbage trees, grasses, pond). As well as a strong population of magpie moths, I saw the following pūrerehua, listed in order of abundance:
Pieris rapae (Small White)
Zizina oxleyi (NZ Blue Butterfly, Southern Blue)
Argyrophenga antipodum (Common Tussock Ringlet)
Lycaena salustius (Common Copper)
Because I’d spent much longer at the wetlands than I had planned, I came straight home and did a quick count in the evening before calling it a day. I did another count in the garden earlier this afternoon and saw:
Vanessa itea (Yellow Admiral)
Pieris rapae (Small White)
And for day two I headed north to Ōamaru where I saw kahuku (monarch butterflies) overwintering last year. There is a newly planted wildflower section and a signboard educating people about their life cycle which is lovely to see. I didn’t see as many kahuku as I expected to, but I saw plenty of small whites! As a bonus, I saw a couple of kahukōwhai (yellow admirals) and even a little NZ/Southern Blue. In order of abundance, I saw:
Pieris rapae (Small White)
Danaus plexippus plexippus (Monarch)
Vanessa itea (Yellow Admiral)
Zizina oxleyi (NZ Blue Butterfly, Southern Blue)
And finally, I swung by Kātiki Historic Reserve where I have seen copper butterflies before. It was very windy so not too many butterflies were out and about. On my way out I noticed some healthy nettle plants with the tell-tale ‘tents’ so hopefully there will be more admirals on the way! During my 15-minute count I saw just one of each of these species:
Lycaena salustius (Common Copper)
Pieris rapae (Small White)
Vanessa itea (Yellow Admiral)
If you were able to join in the count, thank you for your contribution! If not, we’d love if you could join in next year and help us build some idea of how our pūrerehua are faring across the country.
Happy counting,
Zenobia x
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