Do you love butterflies?
I love this photo from Elizabeth Amber's garden of a yellow admiral. You could have these beauties (and more) visiting your garden.
Here's some tips as well that I pulled from the last e-news from the MBNZT (Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust).
The e-news is free and comes out every Friday, with tips and tricks to bring more beautiful butterflies to your garden in the season. www.mb.org.nz... .
We're lucky in Blockhouse Bay because our swan plants are not "annuals" - we can have plants that last for years and of course if you let them they will self-seed, providing you and your neighbours with more plants... more caterpillars, more butterflies. (If you can control the social wasps, that is.)
Feel free to share this message with others in your neighbourhood(s) - it would be great to have more people looking after our butterflies.
The MBNZT has a great “special offer” available now for new financial members: George Gibbs’ excellent book on “The Monarch Butterfly in New Zealand” as well as a colourful ID poster of New Zealand’s butterflies, both absolutely free. And they put the subscription to really good use… they’ve listed 19 ways (and I suspect there are more) on their website.
www.nzbutterflies.org.nz...
Both of these gifts are free right now when you show your support for the MBNZT, $35 per annum to receive the magazines digitally, or only $45 to receive them in the mail.
Neighbourhood Challenge: Who Can Crack This One? ⛓️💥❔
What has a head but no brain?
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!
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Christmas gifts stolen from parked car prompts warning over holiday break-ins
An Auckland man whose Christmas presents were stolen from his car on a quiet street is warning others not to repeat his mistake.
Police and the AA say opportunistic thieves are breaking into cars more frequently during the Christmas period.
Jeremy Rees, an RNZ staff member in Auckland, had packed his car full of gifts when he decided to visit a friend.
“Everyone had handed over presents and we had a couple of bags full of presents sitting in the back of the car,” he said.
“I decided it would be great to go around and see a friend, drop off some presents and say hello. My wife said to me, ‘Are you sure we should be taking this car?’ I said, ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine’.
“I think it was only 20 minutes outside their house, a very quiet street. It was light [outside]. We came out and my wife pointed out that someone had smashed the rear window, reached in and grabbed the presents, and headed away.
“It was a shock. It was a shock partly because of the Christmas presents and partly because my wife had been telling me, ‘Don’t do that’.”
AA Insurance head of motor claims Beau Paparoa said roadside staff were responding to smashed windows more often.
“We definitely see car break-ins starting to occur a lot more around this time of year. We’re often hearing from customers and some of our roadside teams that there’s definitely a bit more opportunistic theft happening,” he said.
“We’re putting that down to it being a busy time of year. Everyone’s out doing their Christmas shopping and there’s much more presence of gifts and valuables being visible in the car.”
He encouraged people to be careful and make sure valuables were hidden from view.
“In terms of any valuables, if you’ve done some Christmas shopping, or if generally you’ve got valuables in your car, try [to] keep them locked away or out of sight – in your boot if you can,” he said.
“Where you’re parking is possibly a good thing to think about. If you can afford to, don’t park on the street, but if you have to park on-street, make sure you park in well-lit areas.”
Police said it was not uncommon for Christmas presents to be stolen.
“The key is to remove any opportunity. This includes taking valuables or documents out of vehicles wherever possible,” a spokesperson said.
Rees said he wished he had followed that advice.
“I feel a bit stupid, to be absolutely honest. I read all of the things from police saying ‘don’t do this, don’t pack your car, don’t just leave it on the street’, and I did exactly the opposite and I paid the price.”
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Auckland Harbour Bridge summer works
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is carrying out essential maintenance on the Auckland Harbour Bridge this December and January. The southbound clip-on lanes will be closed (24/7) from 26 December to 5 January for road resurfacing. Night-time lane restrictions will be in place throughout the summer for recoating work on the bridge. Traffic will still be able to travel in both directions at all times.
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