Monarch and admiral caterpillars

December 2025

An admiral caterpillar - likely a yellow admiral - in its new home at my place

It was clear a month ago that Christchurch butterfly gardens were inundated with fat, happy Monarch caterpillars whilst early glimpses of monarchs mid-October was all the luck I had. I was looking on Monarch Matchmaker with jealousy!

Then on the first day of December I had a monarch in the garden laying eggs. Since then I've regularly had monarchs in the garden, both male and female, although always one at a time. I only have a few swan plants that are reaching maturity, most are seedlings still, so now I am putting early instar caterpillars on Monarch Matchmaker myself, because I think I've only got enough food for the very first eggs that hatched. They are safe in a caterpillar castle. It is great to see that other North Shore gardens are getting visits from monarchs too. Such a change from last year. I am going through the garden a couple of times a week now to make sure that I get to any Monarch eggs or caterpillars before the ants and wasps do.

A newly hatched monarch caterpillar eating its eggshell

Also safe in a castle are admiral caterpillars I picked up as part of the Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust's Red Admiral project. It's likely they are a mix of yellow and red admirals, which I am happy with. Despite all the yellows that I raised last autumn, I haven't seen one admiral in the garden this season, so raising some more may help local numbers. Unlike the swan plants, I do have a lot of nettle ready, so it will be easier to continue to raise admirals.

An admiral chrysalis

Despite all the posts I've written on wasps, I think I have done a pretty good job of reducing numbers in the garden. There are definitely a lot less than this time last year, but it will take continuing vigilance to keep numbers low as nest sizes grow through the summer and at some point it may become a thankless task. I am finding it interesting that the bird baths are prime spots for attracting the wasps in this continuing warm weather. The cheapish European wasp bait I put out didn't catch any wasps at all, so a non-protein attractant like the water is a good thing for catching them. The upcoming summer holidays will mean I have more time to nab the undesirables and enjoy the butterflies that are visiting. The garden is still very new, so to have monarchs and whites spending long periods of time in it is wonderful.

Butterflies in the new butterfly garden