Keith Moore sent us this beautiful photograph! He writes:

Here is another early Monarch, Looked like it had just woken and hadn’t warmed up yet. Appears to have had a hard time thru the winter. Hope some one has a mature Swan plant in the area, mine got eaten by snails.

Photo taken 9am 28th August 2010 @ 36: 54′ 17.7″ S = 174: 55′ 44.2″ Elev 37M Of Union Rd, Howick 2014 1.3Km from previous siting a Month ago.

Season has started?? Keith Moore

This is a moth which seems quite comfortable in butterfly pose. In fact it was a very co-operative creature indeed as I was able, with the help of a small twig, to get it to change poses for the camera. There were several on the wall of a toilet close to the pool. Mike Lusk, Havelock North, Hawkes Bay

——– Original Message ——–

A few photographs of the sucessful Ecofest, two days in Nelson, 21 and 22 August 2010

Chrissie, Tony, Kath, Rae and Mary.

Photos by Kath Widdowson

Hi Jacqui

I had these photos sent to me by Liz Rawson and she is very happy for us to use them on our website. Liz took these photos in the park at lunchtime on Wednesday May 12th 2010.

Thanks

Char

Here’s the calendar – now you can see why it’s proving so popular! Some fantastic photographs never before seen – and some of the species have never been seen either. From sales of this calendar, available in time for Christmas posting, extra funds will go towards helping our Lepidoptera species. So why wouldn’t you buy one or two… or more… NOW?

MBT Calendar 2011 LRD low sample

A comparison of G.physocarpus and G. fruticosus seeds pods with A.curassavica. Although all disperse their seeds using pappus threads, the Gomphocarpus seedpods have an inflated double layer not seen in Asclepias species.

Darren

Jacqui,

With a foam board and hot glue, you can make a quick and easy mounting board. The key is to make the width of the trench wide enough for the body of the insect, of course. These can be made adjustable but I simply make several with varying widths. This one is wide enough for a big moth.

styrofoammountingboardhomemade6.jpg

I don’t know if you’ve spread wings before. If not, here are a few tips. http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com/mountingdeceasedbutterflies.php

It is important to put the needle in the body where it is at a perfect angle, front and back as well as side to side. The antennae and head of butterflies can be adjusted with needles. I’ll have to do more photos with some to show how. You just put needles around the antennae to hold them where you want them to dry.

The best way is to glue down graph paper on the top of this, covering the trench too. Make the lines of the graph perfect with the trench. After the paper is glued tightly, cut the paper off the trench. You can then make sure the wings are exactly matching on each side with graph paper under the wings to use as a guide.

We were blessed to be taught for an hour by the only person paid to spread wings at the McGuire Center. All others are volunteers and students. What fun it was to hear her stories. It is a precise science to get them exactly right for a place like the McGuire Center so I don’t fool myself that I know how to spread them properly for their purposes.

She had a butterfly that was decades old, broken into many pieces, in a paper envelope at the McGuire Center. She had to mend the broken wings (there are ways to do that too, even when in a dozen pieces) and mount the rascal. Why, we asked. A president of the US was walking around the front of the limo he had been riding in, saw the butterfly on the grill, took it off and put it in an envelope. That was it. A president collected it … how funny!

~Edith

Hello – I have recently returned from three and a half weeks touring North Island (what a stunning place!), and as a butterfly enthusiast (a VP of Butterfly Conservation for my sins!) I was keeping a lookout, despite it being your winter. I had mentioned to my wife Sandra we might see a Monarch somewhere (most places we go in the world we usually see a Monarch!), and as usual since she’s a much better “spotter” than I am, she saw a Monarch floating by as we walked up the riverside track just out of Whakatane (on a nice warm sunny afternoon). Looking back I confirmed the sighting, and then just round the corner we came across hundreds, feeding on some very large hebe (?) shrubs in flower, floating around, basking on the roost trees behind the shrubs, or just hanging there in small clumps. One male was even attempting (unsuccessfully) a mating on a ground-trapped female. It was by far our best sighting since we were lucky enough a few years ago to see the wintering millions in the Mexican mountains.

Not a bad little pic!

I guess you know about this site, but this is just in case you don’t! It’s just behind the river walk embankment on the edge of town between a small park (domain!) area and a “camper van” (mostly permanent) area, cut-grassed underneath. There are a few mature trees (didn’t know the species, the leaf has a fig species shape, white “berries/fruit”) in an open line, with one or two “monkey puzzle” trees (yours not ours) at each end, with the two hebes (if that’s what they were – large red hebe-like flowers anyway!) in front with a few other smaller trees, really more small trees than large shrubs. The few locals who passed by were aware of (and seemed pleased to have) the roost but I don’t know if there’s any protection order on the trees.

Hope this helps – good luck with all your information, education and conservation efforts.

Regards, Ian

Ian Hardy, MVO

This is what the tags for the 2011 season (tagging will start February/March). will look like.

Jacqui