15Apr2005

I knew when I saw the first swarm of them last November whilst on the road to Nelson that we were in for a bad season. But there was something different about them this year. In the past you would only see one or two. Sometimes if you were unlucky up to three. But here they were as early as November. Into their twenties and more.

Living as I did in the Hawkes Bay in the 1950s. I’d become accustomed to migratory birds. You could set your watch as to when the gannets would wing their way back to Cape Kidnappers. There they settled for the summer after the flight from Siberia. And equally you could lay odds on a departure in early Autumn. It was obvious that the swarms I earlier spoke of were a new form of migratory life. But unlike the gannets they didn’t just settle in one spot. They were every where throughout both Islands. There was a danger that they could become as prolific as the rabbit. I wondered whether the Department of Conversation as aware of the impending plague. I spoke to a District Conservator.

“Yes we’ve noted the dramatic increase in the numbers of these migratory creatures. There has been a real outbreak of them over the last few months. We’ve identified them as the species “Campus Vanus” or to give them their common title “Camper Vaners”. Most of them come from the Northern Hemisphere. We have identified various sub species. There’s the “Pommy Campus Vanus”. It migrates from the United Kingdom. It was particularly prevalent this season. It is easily identifiable. Very white underbelly. Blood shot eyes. Their flesh goes red after a couple of days exposure to our sunlight. It is something that they are not accustomed to. Then there is the “Euro Campus Vanus”. Darker flesh but can sometimes have tuffs of fairish hair spouting from the head. Very prominent abdomens. And this year we saw for the first time the “Campus Vanus Americanus”. But what’s been interesting is that whereas in the past just the male and female used to travel, now they are traveling in large groups. These would be those swarms you saw on the road to Nelson. You would have noticed the dominant characteristics. They travel very very slowly. They seem to like main highways. They are mesmerised by the middle line. The real problem is that there could be up to 20 or more traveling in convoy. Slowly. Attracted to the middle line. You’ve got no show of overtaking them. We have tried to keep them out of the South Island but unfortunately the Ferry people are making so much money out of transporting them here they are reluctant to give up a good thing. They’re bringing them across the Cook Straight in their hundreds. If you want to see the real extent of the problem go down to the Ferry Terminal. On any given day you can see up to 100 of them just standing there fortunately stationary, but readying to strike. There they are male and female and in some case young offspring. Judging by their age – that’s the offspring – we don’t think there’s been any mating in New Zealand. But I can assure you we are keeping an eye on it. There’s not much we can do. Someone suggested fumigation but we ran into such problems which the painted apple moth we are not game to have a go.

Fortunately we have established they are migratory. If this cold spell keeps up you can bet they will be beetling back to Great Yarmouth, Hamburg or wherever they came from. We have found that if we can get them off the road that they are particularly friendly and affable. They’re not as noxious as stoats and wasps and apparently they contribute substantially to the economy. What we need to do is break them up so they travel alone, male and female but definitely no mating! I could only wish the man from DOC the best of luck.