{"id":271069,"date":"2026-01-06T22:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/271069\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:45:12","slug":"kids-at-tiny-school-work-to-save-extremely-rare-flying-jewel-purple-copper-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/271069\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids at tiny school work to save extremely rare ‘flying jewel’ purple copper butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kids at a tiny regional school are on a mission to save one of Australia’s extremely rare butterflies.<\/p>\n

The purple copper butterfly is the size of a 10-cent piece and only lives in small pockets of habitat on the New South Wales Central Tablelands.<\/p>\n

The “flying jewel” is known for its iridescent wings, which glint with shades of purple, blue, copper and green in the sunlight.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Threatened species officer Alison Cowie says sunbaking is one of the butterfly’s favourite activities. (Supplied: NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)<\/p>\n

The scant availability of the butterfly’s only food source is something students and staff at Meadow Flat Public School, near Lithgow, hope to change.<\/p>\n

“The purple copper butterfly is pretty rare and we need to help it stay alive,” six-year-old student Angus said.<\/p>\n

“There’s only one planet that usually has life on it and it’s usually just Earth.<\/p>\n

“So we want them to come back to life and stay on our planet.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Meadow Flat Public school students Angus (left) and Hayden helped plant about 60 blackthorn saplings around the grounds. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

The school of 30 has planted a garden of more than 60 native blackthorn saplings and more are on the way.<\/p>\n

Student Hayden said he felt “happy” creating the habitat.<\/p>\n

“We get to help them come back to this land,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.A picky resident<\/p>\n

State environment department threatened species officer Alison Cowie said the butterfly was picky about its living arrangements.<\/p>\n

“They only live in areas where the native blackthorn exists, and only one particular subspecies of it \u2014 that only occurs at elevations [of] 850 metres and above,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Threatened species officer Alison Cowie amid mature blackthorn near Walang. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

The butterfly has other requirements for its potential home, including how many hours of sunlight it gets per day.<\/p>\n

“It has amazing iridescence on its wings when it’s basking in the sun, which is one of its favourite things to do,” Ms Cowie said.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the most crucial element for the butterfly is the presence of an ant that looks after its caterpillars.<\/p>\n

When the caterpillars hatch, the ants ferry them out to feed at night and protect them from predators.<\/p>\n

As sunrise approaches, the ants carry them back down to their nest underground.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The purple copper butterfly in caterpillar form, being protected by ants. (Supplied: NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)<\/p>\n

Ms Cowie said the ants were compensated for their labour.<\/p>\n

“The caterpillars grow a little gland on their back which secretes a sugary honey dew, and that’s what the ants use as a reward for their bodyguard work,” she said.<\/p>\n

Bathurst-based author Christine Bailey said this unusual relationship was what captivated her about the butterfly.<\/p>\n

“I went out at night counting caterpillars crawling around bushes and just watching,” she said.<\/p>\n

“When you see these little ants in action \u2026 they shepherd them like sheep dogs.<\/p>\n

“In the spring \u2026 you’re able to see them flying like little jewels \u2014 they’re just wonderful.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The adult butterflies live for about three weeks while they mate and lay eggs. (Supplied: NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water)<\/p>\n

Bailey created paintings of the butterfly’s unique life cycle and developed them, using funding from a grant, into a children’s book called the Purple Copper’s Secret.<\/p>\n

“This is a really interesting story and kids need to know this,” she said.<\/p>\n

All 200 copies of its first print went out the door, including to each public school in the Bathurst and Lithgow educational districts.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Christine Bailey says she hopes her book inspires children to learn and care for the butterfly. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

Slow growing<\/p>\n

The habitat requirements for the butterfly are difficult to reach and growing its food plant is not easy either.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chris Long from the Lithgow and District Community Nursery says it’s tricky to identify the butterfly’s food plant. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

Meadow Flat Public ordered the saplings from the Lithgow and District Community Nursery.<\/p>\n

Manager Chris Long said distinguishing between the ordinary blackthorn and the subspecies the butterfly eats was challenging.<\/p>\n

“The only way most people can identify it is if you look under a microscope at the underside of the leaf, and the [subspecies] has a little bit more hair,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We have to really study them quite hard and make sure that we do have the the right plant.”<\/p>\n

Mr Long said the subspecies grew sporadically, slowly, and needed to be hand-picked from germination to be nursed to a tubestock size.<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/p>\n

Chris Long says the blackthorn subspecies grows slowly and sporadically. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

Highly anticipated guests<\/p>\n

The school’s administration officer, Lindsey Foster, said the saplings were planted with the knowledge that the butterflies may never populate the gardens.<\/p>\n

The insects only travel a handful of metres from their existing habitat.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the kids didn’t understand when we were first talking about this that fragmentation of habitat is actually a thing \u2014 you [don’t] plant this plant and everything will be fine,” Ms Foster said.<\/p>\n

“If they ever make it here, that’s wonderful. If they don’t, we have a spot ready for them and we have a place where people can learn a bit more about it.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Meadow Flat Public School has ordered about 150 native blackthorn saplings to plant on its grounds, and send home with families. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

Ms Cowie said the school’s efforts to educate its students went further than providing more habitat for the butterflies.<\/p>\n

“The children are becoming familiar with the native blackthorn and understanding the butterfly life cycle,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’ll be the stewards in the future for this species.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The small, slow-growing plants (bottom right) have been planted amongst other flowers in a number of beds. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

Hayden is taking the project very seriously.<\/p>\n

“I want to bring them back to our earth,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Don’t be mean to them, and make sure you let them out of your house if they’re in there.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kids at a tiny regional school are on a mission to save one of Australia’s extremely rare butterflies.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[42957,6445,18,49049,19,17,138127,138130,138129,138128,138126,138131,138132,82,86361],"class_list":{"0":"post-271069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ants","9":"tag-butterfly","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-endangered","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-iridescent","15":"tag-lithgow-district-community-nursery","16":"tag-meadow-flat-public-school","17":"tag-native-blackthorn","18":"tag-purple-copper-butterfly","19":"tag-purple-coppers-secret","20":"tag-saving-our-species","21":"tag-technology","22":"tag-threatened-species"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}