Wildlife March 2011

[Anthony Darby]

Oh Mark, did you kill it? Last Satuirday when I drove to work at 5.30am I killed 2 rabbits. There were 7 altogether on the side of the road and two just darted out under the wheels. I couldn't have missed them to save myself. I sent a text to Roger who retrieved them. Cain and Teddy finished them last night.

On our tour of the northern half of North Island I was amazed at the number of dead possums on the road. One every hundred metres or so in some places. Maybe Martin B. could re-write "101 uses for a dead cat" (them more I see and hear of the decimation of NZ wildlife by feral and domestic cats the more I come to the conclusion that the only good cat is a dead cat) as "101 uses for a dead possum"?

[Paul T]

Anthony,

Don't forget the weasels etc that are doing so much damage there as well.  Anything other than bats that is a mammal is introduced in NZ, where there were no ground predators before they came in.... which is why so much has been decimated.

So in your move were you able to bring you animals etc with you?  Things like your Chameleons etc?

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony,

Don't forget the weasels etc that are doing so much damage there as well.  Anything other than bats that is a mammal is introduced in NZ, where there were no ground predators before they came in.... which is why so much has been decimated.

So in your move were you able to bring you animals etc with you?  Things like your Chameleons etc?

Only the dog Paul. All the rest had to stay behind. I would have liked to have brought my tortoises, which would do very well here eating British weeds. Interestingly there is a guy (Marcin Makerewicz from New Jersey - he says) blanket bombing NZ sales sites offering to sell tortoises for import. I think he is a fraud as it can't be done (from what I've found out). He even offers the name of someone who has done so but they won't say what part of NZ they live in - even supposing they are real. I am going to build myself some gecko cages and then apply for a permit to keep and breed NZ geckos. This can be done outside! The NZ green geckos are live bearers and very pretty. I can't bring my tortoises, or even buy a blue tongue skink (a pest species in Auckland - not sure if it is or has the potential to be), yet the pet shops and "Trademe" are full of red-eared terrapins, which is a pest species even in the UK (even though there they can't breed).

I've done my bit for NZ conservation by rearing a couple of dozen monarchs from eggs laid on milkweed plants by passing females. Had to cage them to stop the larvae being eaten by paper wasps.

[Lesley Cox]

One used to be able to buy very tiny turtles in pet shops but I don't know if it's still possible. I wish you luck with your application to raise NZ geckos. We are told it is illegal to keep any native bird/animal in captivity.

[daveyp1970]

Anthony fantastic shots of the monarch,it has such a large distribution area,is a common sp there,can we have more pics of NZ butterflies please and any hawkmoths,that would make my day.

[Anthony Darby]

One used to be able to buy very tiny turtles in pet shops but I don't know if it's still possible. I wish you luck with your application to raise NZ geckos. We are told it is illegal to keep any native bird/animal in captivity.

Lesley, the pet shops, e.g. Animates, still sell these tiny turtles. In Scotland when they outgrew their owners facilities they were often released. I saw several at the Edinburgh Zoo that had been handed in having been found in the Union canal. At the now defunct Glasgow Zoo they used to over-winter under the ice in an outside pond!

Native lizards can only be kept under license. You need a cage at least 60cm X 60cm X 90cm tall with wire mesh on the outside as a cat screen and mosquito mesh on the inside with a 40mm gap in between these layers.

Dave, I'll try to take more pics. The butterfly life is poor here. I've only seen a couple of yellow admirals (Bassaris itea) and one red (B. gonerilla). Our garden (until Monday) has no nectar (or any other for that matter) flowers in it. Just lemon, tangerine, macadamia, puriri, pohutukawa, magnolia and other trees. I'll try to take pics of the little blue (Zizina labradus), which is common and seems to have benefited from the introduction of leguminous weeds from the UK. A well as dead possums we must have killed dozens of small whites (Pieris rapae) which at times were so common on our journey as to resemble snow! The only other butterflies I've seen so far are the Common Copper (Lycaena salustius) at Piha west of Auckland and the Blue Moon (Hypolimna bolina) at Kerikeri.

[Anthony Darby]

Dave, a friend in the UK breeds moths, including hawkmoths. He had this Chinese hawkmoth (Langi zenzeroides) hatch yesterday.

[Anthony Darby]

Managed to track down some "Common Blues" (Zizina labradus) and I had another group of monarch's (Danaus plexippus) emerge.

[annew]

I love those last two photos, Anthony. Glad to see you are rapidly getting to know the natives!

[daveyp1970]

Dave, a friend in the UK breeds moths, including hawkmoths. He had this Chinese hawkmoth (Langi zenzeroides) hatch yesterday.

thats incredible,lovely shots of the butterflies thank you keep them coming and any more hawk-moths i will be a very happy chappy

[Lesley Cox]

The monarchs are not native to NZ but are naturalized by now with large populations in some areas without cold winters. We have them here for a year or two then lose them over a colder winter and it takes another couple of years for them to work down the country again, probably from Nelson where there are a lot. I've heard (not seen) that some trees in Nelson are hung through the winter with thousands of the chrysal (you know what I mean, can't spell it), which in their early stage are a most lovely jade green, with dotting of pure gold. It seems to be the true metal, but I suppose can't be. Stunningly beautiful. The colour changes to blackish as in Anthony's pictures then goes transparent and the orange and black can be seen through, before they hatch. They're a lot bigger than any of our natives and I just love them.

I remember some years ago at a one day cricket match in Christchurch, I was in one of the stands and many monarchs appeared from somewhere and for hours fluttered about among the crowd in my area. Even the radio commentators talked about them. A few people went elsewhere in a hurry but I was thrilled.

[Anthony Darby]

Lesley, the monarch is a real wanderer (wanderer is its Australian name) and is reckoned to have reached New Zealand under its own steam about 1840 and Australia in 1871. It can even cross the Atlantic, reaching the UK in some years. There is a static population in the Canary Islands and it is now found in the Mediterranean area. In New Zealand its main foodplant is Asclepias fruticosa (swan plant) which has large spherical seed pods producing fluffy tufted seeds. No chance of it becoming a pest. "The Warehouse" even sells swan plants with a photo of a monarch on the label. I took a pic of one of the last chrysalids that are still green and some from last week. As Lesley says, jade green with gold spots. The adult is poisonous and distasteful, hence the orange and black stripes. Depending on the food plant, there can be enough poison in one butterfly to kill a starling! Mostly they don't bother, but it is a tough butterfly so a would be predator would drop it before too much damage was done. The local bird ignore any butterflies I release. In New Zealand there are several "swarming sites" where adult butterflies congregate on trees for a few weeks over the cooler winter period.

[RichardW]

couple of Hawk Moths from work last year, for some strange reason I get more variety with the trap at home 

Privet & Poplar, the first photo I showed to a friend who didn't believe there was a moth that big in the UK 

[daveyp1970]

Richard they are incredible WOW,i found a lime hawk moth chrysalis the other day while doing a garden,as soon as the moth comes out i will take a pic.

[RichardW]

they are amazing, get a few more different ones, Oak, Elephant and Eyed are quite common here, plus Hummingbird sometimes in quite good numbers, they're amazing but very hard to photograph!

will post more pics in the summer when the trap goes out.