Building a Richmond birdwing butterfly superhighway
When the Cubberla-Witton Catchment Network (CWCN) decided to support the recovery of the Richmond birdwing butterfly, its members looked for native birdwing butterfly vines to buy. They only found a handful available in Brisbane, not enough for their project. Rather than buying the vines, the CWCN had to start by growing them.
This project has spanned years and continues today, engaging residents across Brisbane’s inner west to gradually build a butterfly superhighway between healthy populations north and south of Brisbane.
CWCN member Jutta Godwin explained this butterfly is one of Australia’s most spectacular but is rarely spotted in Brisbane.
“The Richmond birdwing was once found along the eastern seaboard from Grafton in New South Wales to Maryborough in Queensland, but so much of its habitat has been lost or fragmented,” Jutta said. “In Brisbane, this butterfly lays its eggs on one particular vine, the birdwing butterfly vine, Pararistolochia praevenosa, which its larvae need to survive and thrive.”
In 2019, Jutta applied for Queensland Government funding to support its project, Bringing Back the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly to Brisbane's Inner West.
“As we couldn’t buy enough native birdwing butterfly vines, we had to start from scratch. The grant provided money to buy materials, and start cultivating, and planting the vines,” Jutta said. “It took longer than anticipated to get from seeding to planting.”
“We worked in consultation with the Richmond Birdwing Conservation Network, drew on their experience and followed their guidelines. The vines take about two years to be ready to plant in the wild or in gardens.
“We also got creative about how to keep the community engaged in the project. We ran workshops to train bush care groups, held community planting days, and ran a highly successful campaign asking community members to adopt a vine to help with the regular watering of young plants.
“Helping a threatened species is a good motivator. The project brought together different bush care groups that planted the vines at different sites.”
According to Jutta, more than 750 birdwing butterfly vines have been planted. Most plants survived in the wild, but not all. Flooding washed away some vines, and unfortunately, some were vandalised. All were replaced. Thankfully, the network has birdwing butterfly vines in reserve and continues to substitute those that are not thriving.
“Although this project officially ended in June 2023, we are still planting and maintaining the vines. They require a lot of care for at least one year, but to have the chance to help a threatened species makes every effort worth it. We are creating future biomass for the very hungry Richmond birdwing butterfly caterpillars.”
Local community gardeners and individuals have also sourced free vines from the Cubberla-Witton Catchments Network to plant in their gardens, expanding the habitat rehabilitation started by the network.