Red and Yellow admiral breeding programme update

The red admiral breed and release programme is proving challenging and demonstrates that to translocate species you sometimes have to be prepared to be flexible and persistent in your approach. Breeding within the tunnel house is proving elusive. There is ongoing planting of flower species for a nectar source which, once established may encourage breeding. Trips to Awakino Gorge (south of Piopio) with nettle plants in pots, with the objective of getting red admiral eggs to bring back to the tunnel house, did not prove successful this year, with no sign of butterflies at the site. Fifteen yellow admiral caterpillars were relocated from nettle outside the tunnel house to inside so as to finish their life cycle protected from parasitic wasps, only to find that 10 were eaten by a rogue praying mantis that must have come in on a nettle plant. That left only five to release. We have decided that, rather than plant a nettle plant here and there, it would be better to plant a decent size grove. The theory is that when we release butterflies, they have a better chance of finding the nettle and, once they start laying eggs, the caterpillar’s life cycle has better natural protection among a grove than a single plant. Ongaonga is a hard plant to grow. If the growing conditions are not to their liking, the plants do not hesitate to die. We have selected what we think is an ideal spot. It is shaded from direct sunlight being under established manuka, never dries out but is not boggy and is easy to protect from the public. Seedlings for this planting is underway, see photo.