Come on the blues!

An abundance of Common Blue butterflies 🦋

April 2025

It's the Easter holidays and we are visiting Rotorua with the kids for the local fun-packed activities. One of these was a trip to the Agrodome and there, amongst the grassed fields, were dozens and dozens of common blue butterflies.

There are three types of blue butterfly in New Zealand - the New Zealand blue, Zizina oxleyi, the common blue, Zizina otis labradus, and the long-tailed blue, Lampides boeticus. It's not understood why, but the common blue has pushed the NZ blue south and it is not found around Auckland. In fact, it's pretty much restricted to the South Island, although there may be remnant populations still on the North Island.

The common blue came over from Australia. It's not known whether it flew/blew over or it piggybacked on human activity - possibly both - but our love of farming grazing animals in clover-filled grassland has meant it has done well and is possibly our most numerous butterfly. Because it is small and flies low to the ground, it is often overlooked. For me, it is not summer until I've seen a blue butterfly, whether this species or the long-tailed blue. I can never get enough of them.

Whilst they are called the common blue, I haven't seen lots of them.

Until now.

I cannot express how joyous it was to look in every direction and see a continuous shifting of blue close to the ground. The Agrodome also had a few flower beds around its visitor buildings and the blues loved the hebes, which are a native flower, alyssum and the African daisies.

I didn't have a lot of time to explore, but in the time I wandered, I also saw a yellow admiral and a monarch in the paddocks that had trees along their boundaries. I even saw a little thistle moth, Tebenna micalis, which is native and also found round the world.

The visit definitely showed me that the common blue butterfly is indeed common and I loved, loved, loved seeing them. Come on the blues!