Have you noticed lots more butterflies around at the moment?
Kay Yarrow of Weston found a beautiful red-spotted jezebel butterfly in her backyard of Weston. But the nature parks also seem alive with butterflies.
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Associate Professor Michael Braby from the Australian National Insect Collection at the CSIRO said butterflies who ate grass in the caterpillar stage seemed to be exploding in numbers because recent and ongoing above-average rain had created much more feed for them, which in turn had not dried off as usual.
"Some species seem to be doing extremely well. Common browns, for example, I don't think I've seen numbers like these since the 1980s," he said.
"Cabbage whites, I saw huge numbers driving through Cowra the other day. [The caterpillars] feed on weeds that grown on road verges. Cabbage whites are just having an absolute bonanza."
Professor Braby said the butterflies were in such numbers that even their natural predators had yet to catch up and temper the explosion.
"They will eventually," he said.
"I don't think we'll see numbers like this next year."
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Megan Doherty
I like telling local stories with integrity. My greatest hope is that someone will read my story and turn to someone in a cafe or in the next cubicle or across the breakfast table and say, "Did you hear about this?" Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
I like telling local stories with integrity. My greatest hope is that someone will read my story and turn to someone in a cafe or in the next cubicle or across the breakfast table and say, "Did you hear about this?" Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
