Dave Milner has been busy preparing a special place for the monarch butterfly to nest at his home in Kaiteriteri.
Dave and his wife Raewyn have been living at Bethany Park for seven years and he had noticed that he hadn’t seen any monarch butterflies around.
“There are some in and around Nelson and occasionally in Motueka, but not here,” he says. “For that reason, I decided to get some plants for them to nest in.
“I had bought some plants with caterpillars, but they were taken by paper wasps.
Dave says he has read that if there were enough monarch butterflies, they would counteract the paper wasp.
So, over a couple of weeks, he built a small house with shade cloth in his garden, and in it has been growing numerous milkweed – better known as swan plants - the preferred host for the monarch.
“I will get some eggs or chrysalises for the plants from Tāhunanui and look after them until they become butterflies. Then I’ll release them.”
Monarch butterflies are the most identifiable butterfly in New Zealand and are considered native due to establishing themselves here, having been first recorded in the country in the mid-1800s.
Internationally, they are considered endangered, and surveys undertaken by Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust show that their numbers may be in decline in New Zealand.
As well as preparing his butterfly nesting house, Dave has been propagating four species of milkweed and has raised more than two hundred seedlings.
He says he will both sell and give-away to people wanting to attract the monarch into their gardens.
