Couple in butterfly heaven

Outside the home of Ian and Jill Knight a sign says ‘‘butterflies welcome’’.

With hundreds of swan plants planted on their property in Hope, near Nelson, butterflies are welcome indeed.

The retired couple breed monarch butterflies and among the thousands that are raised in tunnel houses on the property in Hope, wild butterflies also come to feast on the plants.

Ian Knight said the idea for the business came after his daughter, who works as celebrant, mentioned that she had officiated a wedding where the couple had released live butterflies. She was surprised to learn at the time that there was only one place in the country they could be bought.

Knight said she encouraged him to plant more swan plants and and about eight years ago their business Occasional Monarchy was born.

Throughout the summer, the monarch butterflies are raised on the Knights’ property and then sent around the country for live release at weddings, funerals and other special occasions.

The butterflies are kept cool in the post with an ice pack and they sleep while it is dark.

Knight said breeding butterflies was his ‘‘dream job’’.

‘‘The pleasure of walking through the tunnel house with the butterflies, especially in the morning with the sun shining, the butterflies are active and flying around, it is such an awesome sight.’’

The season usually begins in late November, when the temperature is consistently warmer and the butterflies come out of hibernation and lay their eggs.

Jill Knight said the life cycle of the monarch was fascinating. In average temperatures it spends two weeks as an egg, two weeks as a caterpillar, a further two weeks in the chrysalis stage and then about three as a butterfly.

‘‘A caterpillar and a butterfly are so different . . . it’s just amazing.’’

Ian Knight said he had joined a national research project with the Monarch Butterfly Trust this year to track the winter behaviour of the butterflies.

It is known that monarch butterflies in North America travel thousands of kilometres to Mexico, where they roost over winter, but less is known about their winter behaviour in New Zealand.

‘‘We are going to be tagging butterflies and releasing them and if someone finds a tag on a butterfly, it has the details for them to register on the website, where they found it and what condition it was in.’’

"A caterpillar and a butterfly are so different . . . it's just amazing." Jill Knight, butterfly breeder