Butterfly Sanctuary Beginnings

It all started with a dream: how amazing would it be to create a space where children and adults could come and experience the native Boulder Copper and Winter Copper butterflies?

Bianca, our butterfly guru, joined us early on to help turn this idea into reality. She met with us at Living Springs to select a suitable location and provided a list of ideal host plants for Copper butterflies.

Once the location was confirmed, the real work began. The site was a retired go kart track, completely covered in grass, which needed to be removed. This took several attempts, first with university students, then with our ACVE team and local volunteers, and finally with the help of a digger. The digger proved extremely effective, clearing the remaining grass in just half a day.

With the grass removed, we purchased 11 rolls (approximately 681 sqm) of dag mat and contacted Isaac Construction to see if they would consider donating river rock. Isaac Construction generously donated and delivered 120 tonnes, (11 truck loads!!!) of rock to our butterfly sanctuary, an incredibly significant gift. The rock was delivered in multiple loads over several days.

Once everything was in place, a day was set with our digger driver to begin moving the rock down the hill using a small tip loader. As we rolled out and pegged down the dag mat, the rock was poured on top and carefully raked out by hand. This process was far more physically demanding than anticipated and took two and a half days, with eight people working to cover approximately 681 sqm. Completing this stage was a massive relief and a real testament to teamwork.

Earlier in the year, we had already picked up a range of plants from Trees for Canterbury, generously donated through Whaka Ora Healthy Harbour. These plants were carefully kept alive over winter, and as summer approached, it became crucial to get them in the ground. Planting was locked in for 18 September, and Bianca once again joined us to advise on the placement of each species. Seeing the plants go into the ground, and colour begin to fill the space, was a huge milestone and incredibly rewarding.

The next challenge was keeping the plants alive over summer and allowing them time to become well established before any butterfly translocation could take place.

Translocating Butterflies

When we first visited Burnside Primary Schools, where Bianca and her class of students have created a butterfly sanctuary, we knew immediately that this was what we wanted to create at Living Springs. So, when Bianca invited us to be part of her class’s first butterfly translocation to the school sanctuary, we jumped at the opportunity.

It was a truly magical day. Students armed with catching nets and jam jars worked together to carefully collect Boulder Copper butterflies from a secret location. We successfully caught a healthy number of both male and female butterflies and transported them back to the school for release. Watching the butterflies explore their new surroundings was an unforgettable experience.

The day ended with afternoon tea, shared stories, and plenty of dreaming about how our own translocation might look in a year’s time. Once our plants are fully established, we hope to carry out our own translocation of both Boulder Copper and Winter Copper butterflies into this space.

The exciting news is that we have already spotted a couple of butterflies in our sanctuary, a promising sign of what is to come.