Naturually west: Monitoring the monarchs

Monitoring the monarchs

Margaret Newcombe’s first involvement with monarch butterflies was when her children were at kindergarten. A caterpillar hitched a ride home on her toddler’s clothing and then escaped the rubbish bin twice. Margaret was amazed by the tenacity of this small creature.

Margaret Newcombe heading to the Titirangi Post Shop to post off tags.

A friend gave her tips on rearing caterpillars and it was the beginning of a 40 year interest. “I had heard about Tom Skeates (see page 19) who started this whole idea of conserving monarch butterflies and was delighted to discover that he lived just along the road from us. “In the early days I used to take branches from swan plants in the district to bring home to feed hungry caterpillars, and I protected them from wasps. In recent years I have grown a few swan plants in pots. “My eldest daughter enrolled me in the Moths and Butterflies of New Zealaned Trust soon after it started and persuaded me to attend an early conference. Jacqui Knight, the driving force behind the Trust, coerced me into helping a little – assisting at publicity stands or plant sales. In 2019 I was ‘promoted’ to assigning and sending out tags to monarch enthusiasts all over New Zealand.”

Hundreds of others around New Zealand share Margaret’s interest in monarchs, and the MBNZ website has helpful information on how to tag butterflies. The programme helps monitor monarch’s winter behaviour, where they go, and how many sites there are.

Monarch butterflies are known as an ‘indicator species’, today’s ‘canaries of the coal mines’, as they are easy to see and not afraid of humans. The tagging programme helps the trust to protect monarchs and measure the environment changes which affect all insects. This is one way in which citizens can participate in a real science project.

Most people tag monarchs they see emerge from the chrysalis, but wild monarchs can also be tagged in the autumn months.

Jacqui Knight says monarchs are threatened mainly by wasps and the South African praying mantis (which is also killing off the native praying mantises). Whether or not monarchs have a good season is largely influenced by the local wasp population. Identifying (and removing) wasp nests and planting more swan plants and nectar plants will help monarch populations.

Jacqui says the MBNZ Trust depends on hardworking volunteers like Margaret. For more information visit https://wwwnzbutterflies.org.nz. For information abnout tagging visit https://www.nzbutterflies.org.nz/ introduction-to-research/taggingtransects/.

The Butterfly House, West Lynn Gardens

Located at 73 Parker Avenue, New Lynn, West Lynn Gardens is home to the fascinating Butterfly House. From December through to April hundreds of Monarch butterflies can be seen, with lots of eggs, chrysalises and caterpillars highlighting the full life cycle of the monarch. School parties, family groups and individuals are welcomed during the garden’s open hours, 10am to 4pm daily. (Visiting the butterfly house is included in the $3 garden entry fee and bookings are essential for groups of 10 or more.)

The creation of the butterfly house on February 1, 1996 was first mooted in 1989 when an entomologist visited the garden and thought it would be an ideal place to house a sanctuary and breeding place for butterflies. The concept was revisited in 1994 by a butterfly enthusiast, and the West Lynn Garden Trust committee began planning for the house, with funding forthcoming from the Portage Licensing Trust.

Find-A-Pest

Find-A-Pest is a new app that provides simple ways to report potential pests, weeds, and a range of animal pests. It is an opportunity to join other New Zealanders contributing to biosecurity.

Observations are made by directly with your smart phone camera or via factsheets available in the app.

The app can be downloaded from https://www. findapest.nz.

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