Monarch butterflies have been no-shows in Dundas

Royal Botanical Garden naturalist hopeful numbers will rebound

Aerial spraying for gypsy moths may have killed the larvae and caterpillars of monarch butterflies in the Dundas area earlier this spring. This is the belief of Joanna Chapman, founder and co-ordinator of the Urquhart Butterfly Garden. Chapman has noted a dramatic reduction in the early sightings of the species in the Dundas garden on Cootes Drive, near the Desjardins Canal.

Tys Theijsmeijer, head of natural lands for the Royal Botanical Gardens, suggests that the monarchs’ struggles in our area are compounded by their migration, but doesn’t deny that the spray for gypsy moths may well have reduced their numbers in the Dundas area.

Theijsmeijer adds that monarchs have multiple reproductive cycles throughout the summer and that, although the first batch of eggs and caterpillars may have been affected, this is a small subset of the species. He says the species, which makes the extremely long and often-perilous annual migration from Mexico to southern Ontario, has the odds stacked against them from the beginning. However, he adds, that by the end of last summer, their local numbers had rebounded significantly.

Theijsmeijer is optimistic that the same could be the case this summer.

While there were no monarchs visible at the Urquhart Butterfly Garden on Wednesday, several were spotted in the open meadow at Princess Point.

PHOTOS BY CATHIE COWARD THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR The absence of monarch butterflies in the Urquhart Butterfly Garden in Dundas has the garden co-ordinator, Joanna Chapman, wondering if aerial spraying for gypsy moths may have killed the monarch caterpillars and larvae. This monarch, seen enjoying...

A cabbage white is one of the more common butterflies found in the Urquhart Butterfly Garden.

A red admiral butterfly was in Urquhart Butterfly Garden on Wednesday.

A monarch enjoys the Joe-Pye weed in the meadow at Princess Point.