Making discoveries beneath the surface during the City Nature Challenge

It was the first morning of the City Nature Challenge, and Dr Frank Ashwood was spending his day doing macrophotography in the Port Hills’ Kennedy’s Bush.

After hours of overturning decaying wood and discovering native fungi and invertebrates, Frank was getting ready to call it a day.

“I turned over one last log, and my heart soared at the unmistakable sight of a giant springtail!” Frank says.

“At only five millimetres long, it was one of the tiniest I’ve encountered – but big things come in small packages, and this observation has finally put Christchurch on the map for giant springtails.”

Frank says this find is a sign the bush is being well managed, as the endemic invertebrates are very sensitive to habitat loss and disturbance.

“This is a very exciting discovery and great news for the biodiversity value of the Port Hills area,” Frank says.

“I’ve been hoping to find giant springtails around Christchurch for a while now - having photographed them in native bush all around the South Island. But according to the iNaturalist distribution maps and the scientific literature, they’ve never been found anywhere near the city.”

The discovery was one of the 25,322 observations made across Christchurch and the Banks Peninsula throughout the City Nature Challenge – a tally that’s increased compared to last year’s 20,310.

The 10th annual event ran from 25 – 28 April with a total of 3,310,131 observations from 669 cities across 62 countries.

Christchurch City Council Community Partnership Ranger Sarah Mankelow says it was an amazing autumnal weekend for exploring nature in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor.

“Our evening event at the Climate Action Campus was a huge success with families travelling all the way from Timaru to attend,” Ms Mankelow says.

“Another highlight was the spotlight walk to the river where Jenny Bond from Te Tuna Toane facilitated a close encounter with tuna / eels.”

Saturday events included a whānau fun day at Richmond Community Garden and a science exploration of Cockayne Reserve, before finishing the four days with a guided tour of the estuary mudflats with Council Ecologist Andrew Crossland.

“It was another stellar weekend with nature lovers from all across the region – we’re incredibly pleased with the final results,” Ms Mankelow says.

View the full observations for across Ōtautahi Christchurch on iNaturalist.