Critter Club #9 Summary

We had a great trip to Victoria Park. We played a game of trading and had a great time. We saw: Copper Butterflies Skinks Grasshoppers Here are some photos I hope to take many more photos of what we find at the sites. It is almost the 10th critter club trip 😀 CC turning out...

McCormacks Bay, Trip #8

Mud. And plenty of it. But lots of creatures too. We were on the eastern margin of McCormacks Bay, which is connected to the main Avon-Heathcote estuary via a culvert. There were many thousands of shells. Southern creeper snails seemed particularly abundant, and can reach levels of 18,000/m2*. Many shells vacated by their original owners had new occupants - so shells within shells...

Halswell Quarry, Trip #7

Halswell Quarry is the remains of a volcanic outcrop on the Port Hills. The rock is quite jointed, so there are lots of crevices for small beasts. Animals We watched and photographed several small jumping spiders (Family Salticidae). One way to recognise this family is the arrangement of their eyes. Jumping spiders have eight eyes....

Trip #7 Summary

We had a very successful trip, we found Hover Flies, crickets, leaf hoppers, and more. One of the best trips yet. It is so weird that all our trips are 30 min from our house XD CM

McLeans Forest, Trip #6

This week we explored under the pine trees at McLeans Forest, which is next to the Waimakariri River. The ground was very up and down, and the soil very stony. At first it looks fairly bare under the trees, but actually there was a lot of life to see. We saw fungi, lichens, slime mold, mosses,...

Hut game in Critter Club

In the latest Critter Club, we played a game where we made huts and traded natural materials. This is a great way to start looking, and we found a lot of stuff. Here is a photo of one of the huts: It was very fun. And a great game to play. Bai! CM

Critter Club Trip #5 Summary

Trip 5# was very successful! We found many cool creatures like a New Zealand Grasshopper, crabs, and a cricket of some sort. This is the New Zealand Grasshopper (Phaulacridium marginale) And some crab photos: A big success! Bye CM  

Brooklands Lagoon, Trip #5

This week we visited the southern end of Brooklands Lagoon. We had hoped to get access to the mudflats, but spent more time on the edge of the dunes and the upper end of the salt marsh. There was lots to see. There were cabbage trees (Cordyline australis) and we looked for caterpillars of the cabbage...