Start of April and its raining

Another dry weekend here. We have had 52mm of rain for the month, which is much better than at home, but it's still dry with some plants wilting and a few dying. We have another Five Finger dead. We have lost several Pate and Five finger so I wonder if there is something else that interacts with the drought stress in Aralia family plants. 

We had no traps set off and, although three poison blocks were gone, I suspect that is the result of slugs. On Friday night, about 1.30 am, I saw what I think was a hare on the drive. It was about the right size and had red eyeshine. Hares were common here when we first bought and they bit off many newly planted trees. The dog even caught several young ones. Now the trees are up high it seems that they don't like the place and normally avoid it. 

On Saturday night around the same time there was a cat fight behind the house. We haven't caught a cat for about 12 months, but clearly they are around and will be impacting on the native fauna. I think it is time I stepped up the trapping effort with them in mind. I have been hoping that skinks are doing well on our place as there are lots of suitable sites for them, but feral cats will be disastrous for skinks if they are allowed to hunt here. 

I have recently read Dave Goulson's latest book 'Silent World'. He talks of the huge drop in insect numbers worldwide, the impacts this is likely to have on all of us, along with likely causes and some practical actions people can take. 

It is very difficult to know what is happening in that way on this place, with no baseline data. I would like to think we are doing a lot by creating a range of habitats and limiting pests. I had a look around to see what I could see in the way of insects. 

At times we have quite a few of the 'Passion Vine Hopper' Scolypopa australis. These are sap sucking insects which feed on soft leafed plants, like the Poroporo shown here. 

Passion Vine Hoppers

I found lots of the small bronzy Flea Beetles, Psylliodes sp, on Poroporo and Titoki. These beetles make lots of small holes in the leaves and must slow growth, but they don't seem to kill plants. Given that about 60% of all insects have gone from the world in the last 50 years, it is best to accept the holes in the leaves and, maybe, plant some more trees. This appears to be a native species of beetle. 

Psylliodes sp on Poroporo leaf

I also saw several 'Common Blue' butterflies, Zizina otis labradus. these seem to have arrived from Australia since humans got here. They are doing well on a diet of introduced legumes. They probably like our place as we have Tree Lucerne for the caterpillars. The adults like nectar, and I see them on the Hebe flowers, they also like rocks to sunbathe on. 

Common Blue Butterfly on Hebe flowers

Our Hebes host a range of insect species which collect nectar and act as pollinators. We get Honey Bees and Bumble Bees, Buff Tailed ones I think. We also get Droneflies and Hoverflies. I did see a small 'Leafroller' fly, Trigonospila brevifacies, which also does some pollinating. I also saw some native solitary bees, but I am not sure which species. 

On my travels I found several of the 'Steelblue Ladybird' Halmus chalybeus  on some Giselinia leaves. This is a very striking little insect introduced from Australia. My uncle tells me they will bite, but they haven't bitten me yet.

Steelblue Ladybird

Leafroller fly on flax

It is easy to forget that climate change affects all species, not just us. The insects above, and many more like them, provide a range of services to the planet, even wasps are important pollinators. 

The most simple thing that we can do to help is to accept the effects of their lifestyles, the holes in the leaves and the reduction in growth rates are not that serious. As a famous Canadian poet once said, 'Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please'. In fact, the holes in the Kawakawa leaves, apparently, induce an increase in the levels of the active chemicals sought by rongoa practitioners. Its all in how you perceive things. 

Kawakawa leaves

The next easiest action is to reduce our weeding and lawn mowing. This allows for improved habitats for many small species of vertebrates and invertebrates, and gives us more time to enjoy them. Many of the species of plants we like in our gardens and lawns, are of limited use to little creatures and so a wider range of species is a help too. If we want to go further, there are many alternative species we can plant, which are more desirable to native critters. 

These are simple changes we can all make, they cost little and can start to reverse the damage done, on our behalf, to the many unacknowledged species still holding on. 

As I write this up it is raining across much of the country. Hallelujah.