Exciting 2018 Calendar TIMES AHEAD SPONSORED BY
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ISSUE 22 | SPRING 2017 PLUS ON PAGE 14 ORDER YOUR 2018 CALENDAR NOW Exciting 2018 Calendar TIMES AHEAD SPONSORED BY ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: TWO IMPRESSIVE SCHOOLS | NATIONAL BUTTERFLY CENTRE | VISITORS FROM KOREA 2 things) yellow admirals now becoming established in my own community. From the We are looking forward with excitement to our exhibit at the NZ Flower and Garden EDITOR Show to be held in Auckland in November-December this year. And we are working on the hese are exciting times for follow-up to the insight gained CONTENTS the Moths and Butterflies of into the Forest Ringlet. But Cover photo: Yellow admiral by Sally Phillips TNZ Trust and I think the articles in this the most exciting thing of all, I think, is the magazine reflect that. It is amazing for me progress on our plans to build the National to think that 13 years ago our organisation Butterfly Centre. 2 Editorial didn’t exist – and look at how far we’ve A quick shout out to the work of your come. trustees and our volunteers for making all 3 New Legal Advisor In this issue we share two wonderful our achievements come to fruition. Outside the Square stories from schools that have benefited from We do hope that you enjoy this issue and the resources we can provide. Children that will encourage your friends to also support grow up experiencing and handling monarch our cause. Working together, we can make 4 Corinna’s Caterpillars butterflies have a greater understanding of New Zealand rich with butterflies. biodiversity and appreciation for Nature. 5 Lepidoptera Week at Over the winter we received a visit from Hurunui College two professors from Korea, keen to learn about our work in citizen science. We made 6 a submission on DOC’s Threatened Species Vegepods policy. We have been working with New World supermarket on their latest Little 7 National Butterfly Centre Garden promotion. Update For every $40 spent in store you receive a seedling kit to encourage young and old New Zealanders to learn and gain more 10 Notes from Butterfly Gully Newly emerged yellow admiral Jacqui's garden understanding about where food comes from 11 – and there are great supporting resources Te Puna Progress on the website (www.littlegarden.co.nz) There’s an article about some of our 12 The MBNZT At Work products from our shop which are now sent overseas, and I’m moved when I read of 13 Kiwiana Butterflies how our Kiwiana monarchs are enriching the lives of people in other lands. From our 14 Forest Ringlet Update magazines you can read about butterfly projects elsewhere in NZ… and even in Calendar my own garden, things have improved immensely for butterflies and moths over the 15 Inspector Insector years. The knowledge I’ve absorbed, from The Trusts Arena Auckland 29th November - 3rd December you and others, has led to (amongst other Patron: Sir Robert Harvey, KNZM, QSO A Big Thank You to our Sponsors Editor/Secretary: Jacqui Knight Platinum Sponsors [email protected] Graphic Designer: Jai Pancha, [email protected] Treasurer: Carol Stensness [email protected] Advertising: Angela Moon-Jones [email protected] ISSN 2324-1993 (Print) Silver Sponsors ISSN 2324-2000 (Online) Published by: Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust, PO Box 44100 Pt Chevalier, Auckland 1246 www.nzbutterflies.org.nz [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/mbnzt Magazine Sponsors mbnztorg pinterest.com/mbnzt mothsandbutterfliesnztrust Printed in New Zealand on Cocoon 100% Gubba recycled paper using vegetable-based inks NEW LEGAL ADVISOR 3 elcome to Richard Wood our Richard is looking forward to working new pro bono legal advisor. with us on any issues that demand his W Richard grew up in West legal expertise. Auckland and still remembers the “It will be a bonus to work with Sir fascination of having monarch butterflies Bob and an honour to be asked to be at Edmonton Road Primary School. part of the MBNZT. I’m looking forward “I was fascinated with the to working on the new venture at Tui transformation of a caterpillar into Glen, Henderson. As a westie I am a chrysalis,” he said, “and then the happy to support anything that shows emergence of the stunning and beautiful innovation and family values in our butterfly.” vibrant and diverse community.” He has an added connection because We look forward to having him as a his neighbour for the past thirty years is valued member of our team our patron, Sir Bob Harvey. Visitors from Korea n July we hosted Jin Hee Park and Dong-Kwang Kim, professors at Dongguk IUniversity in Seoul, Korea. They wanted to learn more about tagging monarch butterflies as they found out how to involve people in citizen science projects. Evidently the MBNZT was listed in an Australian Encyclopedia of Citizen Science. Yoonseo Ko and Dokyung Lee who are students at Auckland International College in Blockhouse Bay came along too: Jacqui had invited them to ensure nothing was “lost in translation”. The visitors were very interested in our work. They watched a monarch being tagged with fascination and learned about the Trust and its other projects. Left to right: Jacqui, Dokyung Lee, Jin Hee park, Yoonseo Ko, Dong-Kwang Kim and Rebecca Bibby. PALMERSTON GARDEN CIRCLE When Jacqui spoke at the Palmerston Garden Circle recently, she got a surprise. Jan Smith and Isabel Anderson introduced themselves: with the help of the local school, Jan and Isabel have been tagging monarch butterflies. “The last generation of Monarchs each summer forms the breeding stock for next year’s population,” Jacqui told Palmerston gardeners. “With warmer weather mating and breeding is triggered and they return to gardens and swan plants.” It’s now over ten years since Trust members have been tagging monarchs. “One of the longest flights recorded in NZ was from Pukawa Bay near Turangi,” added Jacqui. “Three weeks later the butterfly was seen at Whangarei, some 400 kilometres away. Other monarchs have been recovered six or seven months after they were tagged, still in the same neighbourhood.” Until the MBNZT started tracking monarchs there was little research being done as to why some New Zealand butterfly species are disappearing. 4 Working in the butterfly CORINNA'S CATERPILLARS garden is a team effort By Joanne Ticehurst orinna School is situated in the caterpillars at Corinna School so they can season. We suburb of Waitangirua in Porirua. turn into butterflies. might even have CThe school has a stable roll of 220 In our garden we have swan plants a competition children from new entrants to year 8s. and marigolds. The swan plants are for and see who Almost half the children are identified as the caterpillars to eat and the marigolds can grow the Faith Tusiga Samoan, followed by Maori, Cook Island attract the butterflies to our garden. tallest swan Maori, Tokelauan and other ethnicities When the caterpillars get big we bring plant. that include Filipino, Tongan, Tuvaluan, them inside to our butterfly tank and watch Last year, my class had to come Pakeha and Southeast Asian; including them go into a chrysalis. Then we wait for up with a solution to protect our swan Kampuchea/Cambodian, Laos and them to hatch out into a beautiful butterfly. plants from a major predator - the weed On Myanmar. When the butterfly hatches, it hangs eater! Our caretaker at the time thought e o f C o The children are culturally upside down to let the blood go through the plants were weeds until he noticed he r in n a diverse with many of its veins and to dry out its wings before it was actually in the butterfly garden, by s m their parents from more can fly. then we had lost a few plants. At the time o n a than one ethnic group. We know which is a boy or a girl we were collecting bottles for another r c h Some children are because boys have a black dot on the project and the children thought we could s being raised by their bottom of each wing. use them around the garden. This lasted grandparents; and Some people in our class have taken until the holidays when vandals kicked some from homes the butterflies outside and released them. the bottles all around the garden. One of where English is a Most times the butterflies flew away but our teacher aides and a couple of children second language. some of us had to take our butterfly down built a wooden barrier around the garden At the end of 2011 the to the garden and put it on a swan plant. to protect the plants. school became part of the We have tagged many butterflies this During morning tea and lunchtimes, you Enviroschools community year. We know butterflies in America fly to can see the children from different year and in 2015 they received Mexico in winter. But where do our New levels looking at the caterpillars, counting their Silver award. The Enviroschools Zealand butterflies go? The tags might them and talking. They talk about what vision for Corinna is that the school help us find out. they see, what they’re thinking and what will be a place where the students feel Soon we will need to start planting they’re wondering. strong, nurtured and safe; their diversity our swan plant seeds ready for the next is expressed in many different ways; environmental programmes are school- Xiah Duncan wide, creating a clean waste-free place; the trees and gardens are cared for and they provide learning and nourishment for their community.