Yellow admirals every day!

June 2025

We are definitely in winter. Temperatures are dropping, especially at night, and we are experiencing thunderstorms and gale force winds on a regular basis recently. Nevertheless the yellow admirals are eclosing (emerging from their chrysalis) as if they've all decided to put on their thick jumpers and enjoy the brutal weather.

According to NZ Butterfly Info they are a year round species. We have some flowers in the butterfly garden, with strawflowers, tropical milkweed and ageratum still blooming, but really, it's slim pickings. They will also feed on tree sap, berries and fruit juices, but again, not a lot of those around locally either. The winter admirals must have a tougher time of it, even though they will go into a quiescence - hibernation - and only be active on sunny days.

And they do love their sun. Being the sun worshippers they are, it makes less sense to eclose in winter, but there are a lot harder places to be than Auckland in the cool months. They are tough cookies and are found right across New Zealand as well as in Australia, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is thought there are new migrations from Australia to New Zealand each year when the westerlies are blowing and anyone who's done that in a 737 knows it's no mean feat.

Yellow admirals are definitely a contender for my favourite butterfly with the amazing under-wing patterns for camouflage and the brown to burnt orange gradient on their upper sides. I hope some stay local and help create a population that will use the butterfly garden as a regular stop. I'd better get back into the garden, so I can plant more flowers!