Another butterfly update: with video

/ Su Leslie
Ready to fly. Close-up shot of one of fourteen monarch butterflies that emerged from it's cocoon in our garden today. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Ready to fly. One of fourteen monarch butterflies that emerged from it’s cocoon in our garden today. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

The Big T’s monarch rescue programme is proving to be incredibly successful. Over the last few days about twenty five butterflies have emerged; fourteen of them today.

Here’s a video I made this afternoon; just a few of the hatchlings getting ready to take flight and leave us forever. Apologies for the slightly out-of-focus bits.

37 thoughts on “Another butterfly update: with video”

  3. It’s beautiful, Su! Thank you so much for the lovely video! I enjoyed it and the music very much! ๐Ÿ˜„ (thanks for adding the music title, saves me from begging you to tell me ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).
    Those beauties were worth every pumpkin and plant! ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿ˜š๐Ÿ™

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

        • They hang around (literally) for a couple of hours then fly off. Some flutter around the garden for a while but then disappear. Apparently Monarchs in NZ don’t migrate they way northern hemisphere butterflies do, although they do form winter colonies in the warmest parts of the country. Can’t believe I have learned so much about this!!! I was the kid who hated “nature stuff.” Hope your weekend is going well. xxxxx

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

          • Haha! That’s the way it goes sometimes ๐Ÿ˜‚ But having become such a passionate butterfly foster parent it was bound to rub off sooner or later. ๐Ÿ˜‰
            How did this idea evolve actually?
            Wish you a lovely weekend and Happy Easter! xxxxxxx ๐Ÿ˜„

            Liked by 1 person

          • It was all T’s idea. I planted the milkweed (mainly to hide the ugly side of a shed) and assumed we’d get a few caterpillars, do some good for the local Monarch population … win, win. No stress or effort. But when it became clear that wasps were eating the caterpillars and none were hatching, T got very concerned and started trying to rescue them. I still am not quite sure how it became such and all-consuming project, but I’m kind of glad it did. We figure we’ll end up having 40-50 viable butterflies hatch and leave.
            Hope you are having a lovely Easter Weekend. It has suddenly become sunny again here. xxxxx ๐Ÿ™‚

            Liked by 1 person

          • WoW! Thatยดs exactly how things can turn sometimes, right? Wasp can be so mean, theyยดre also the enemies of bees, and one wasp can decimate a whole colony in an hour or two… Iยดm so glad you rescued the caterpillars from them! I often feel that projects that one didn’t intend to get overwhelming and that finally do, are always the best ones, no matter if itยดs about art or saving the lives of dozens of butterflies! ๐Ÿ™‚
            Have a lovely Easter Weekend too! ๐Ÿ™‚ Around here itยดs raining every 5 minutes and freezingly cold! ๐Ÿ˜‰ xxxxxxxx ๐Ÿ™‚

            Liked by 1 person

          • My next project is to learn how to get rid of the wasps in our neighbourhood!!
            I hope your weather improves soon. It is very wet here, but quite warm. Warm enough for the mosquitoes to feast on me overnight. ๐Ÿ˜ฆ

            Liked by 1 person

          • There are several birds and other insects that eat wasp, but I donยดt know if theyยดre native in NZ, like the red-back shrike. Also hornets, cross spiders (Araneus diadematus) and dragonflies.
            I wish you good luck with your war against the wasps!
            Ugh! Mosquitoes! Poor you! Thatยดs a thing I could happily live without ๐Ÿ˜‰ Not really looking forward to the first one thatยดs going to wake me this year with its annoying “Zzzsss!” in my ear… as much as to the second, third… well, you get the gist ๐Ÿ˜‰
            xxxxxxxx

            Liked by 1 person

          • We’ve been quite lucky this summer/autumn; there don’t seem to have been many mosquitoes around — until last week. I found out that NZ doesn’t have natural predators for lots of wasp species because they are not native to the country, and haven’t been here long enough for nature to do its thing. Several species are a real problem because they thrive here and do lots of damage to bee hives and are threatening lots of native insects and other invertibrates. Serious sad face! Sometimes I think ignorance really is bliss.
            Anyway, I hope your week is going well. xxxxx

            Liked by 1 person

          • I was aware of the problem of immigrated species in NZ and Australia before, but hearing about how they do damage to one of the most essential link in our survival, and nothing else are bees since it mostly up to them to go and pollinate all our crops, is a bit terrifying. Normally nature will come round to it to take care for it itself but this could take a while – more time than us silly little humans might have left on this planet ๐Ÿ˜”
            As you say, ignorance can be a bliss sometimes… at least in the short-term.
            Need to hurry to my window now and check if the bees are doing their job on my little black currant plant! ๐Ÿ˜€
            Have a lovely week too! xxxxxxx
            P.S. My sock-post is out with the promised link for you ๐Ÿ˜‰

            Liked by 1 person

  14. Pingback: Another butterfly update: with video โ€” Zimmerbitch – The Falor Companies – Falor Group

Leave a comment