Bug man on the hunt for wildlife in the Gardens

Brian Patrick loves bugs and won’t leave home without a jar in his pocket just in case he spots a rare specimen.

Creepy crawlies aren’t everyone’s favourite thing, but the ecologist and entomologist, who works for Wildlands Consultants, is in the middle of his dream job, collecting insects at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

Brian Patrick on the hunt for bugs.

Mr Patrick has been tasked by the Council’s Parks Conservation Team with a summer survey of the small fauna living in the central city park, including butterflies, moths, cicadas, grasshoppers, weta, crickets, praying mantis, cockroaches, stick insects, beetles, dragonflies, bees and flies.

He believes the survey is a trailblazer and shows that a botanic gardens is full of exciting wildlife.

“This is a New Zealand first. Nobody has ever been brave enough to do this before. I’ve already found plenty of unusual species. The native brooms have been yielding a lot of surprises, especially interesting caterpillars.”

The work, which he is carrying out during the day and at night, is mainly funded by Friends of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

Visitors to the gardens have been fascinated to see him bashing bushes, walking around with a net, and crawling on his hands and knees on the ground. At night, usually between 10pm and midnight, he uses a 160 watt UV light and a white sheet to trap moths and butterflies and other nocturnal insects.

After he finishes his survey in late summer he will present the Botanic Gardens with a pinned and named collection of dried insects in entomological boxes.

He will explain the significance of his findings including noting which are new, threatened or endangered species.

Botanic Gardens Curator John Clemens says the survey results will provide valuable information on plants the insects are associating with which will help guide future decisions. “By improving our plant collection we can also look after the insect life. We’re intrigued to see what Brian will come up with about the ecology of the Gardens.”

Some of the moths Brian Patrick has collected from the Botanic Gardens.

Mr Patrick, who lives in Christchurch, is an expert on the order lepidoptera, a large group of insects that includes moths and butterflies.

He started collecting bugs as a 10-year-old living in Invercargill and still has records of his first trip on 1 January 1970 when he began a database. Since then he has carried out about 3770 bug hunting trips.

Why does he love insects so much? “I think I’m driven by patterns. I like the striking patterns on their wings, the distribution patterns, and patterns in the way they interact with the plants they feed on. I’m a mathematically trained person so that makes it really rewarding when you come to predictions based on your observations.”