The new kind of hotel popping up in Christchurch
Bug or insect hotels are becoming increasingly popular. Apart from adding sculptural interest to a park or back yard, they also offset the increasing loss of natural habitats in urban areas and offer an opportunity to educate children about how balanced ecosystems work.
That’s why Christchurch City Council is watching with interest the three it’s installed at Te Ara a Rongo / Gloucester-Worcester Park. It is important, after all, that the insects actually like them and take up residence.
“Stilt Condo” hotel aims to attract flying insects.
“If they’re successful then the council will consider building them at other parks, council landscape architect”, Nicki Williams says. Gloucester Park was chosen as a good testing ground because it’s an inner city area where there’s not a lot of nature around. It’s opposite Christchurch East Primary School, so easy for students to check out and chat about what the different insects are doing and how it benefits the ecosystem.
After consulting with an entomologist Williams says she and Johnny Hall from design company Variant, came up with three different kinds of “hotels” to attract different insects.
Hotel one “Stilt Condo” is built on stilts and is made of bamboo and recycled wharf piles which have been eaten out by sea worms. It has lots of tiny holes to attract flying insects like ladybirds solitary bees and moths.
“The Towers” is for crawling insects.
Hotel two “The Towers” is made from untreated off-cuts and hardwood pallets creating different sized gaps for a range of insects including slaters, ground beetles, millipedes, centipedes, earwigs and spiders.
While hotel three ”Peek-a-Bug” has open mesh at the back with layers of pinecones, rotting wood and leaf mulch to attract a range of different insects. As its name suggests, the brightly coloured flaps can be moved aside so park visitors can see what’s going on inside.
“Peek-a-Bug” allows visitors to see what’s going on inside.
“Often people say “yuck there’s a spider, kill it!” Williams says. “We’re hoping this will encourage them to say “Oh! There’s a spider, what’s happening?”