this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui / Wellington

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Glow Worms at Otari-Wilton Bush (www.owbt.nz)
submitted 1 year ago by happy_piwakawaka to c/wellington
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Possibly a little known / under appreciated gem in our city.

Did an unofficial (you can pay for guided tours) glow worm walk this evening in Otari-Wilton Bush - organized via my kids Childspace. I've lived nearby for years, and walked those trails many times without realizing that they were there.

We walked a short walk from the Northern carpark and all along the trail there were hundreds of glow worms right on the trail banks. I've never seen so many, so close (aside from Waitomo). Would definitely recommend for those with kids or anyone really.

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[–] Axisential 3 points 1 year ago

Some fun GlowWorm facts for you to amaze the kids next time you go:

  • they're not really a worm, but the larval stage of a flying insect called a Fungus Gnat
  • the scientific name is Arachnocampa luminosa, which means (broadly) "Glowing Spider Worm"
  • each GlowWorm has 30-50 sticky threads that hang down which are literally used as fishing lines. Other flying insects are attracted to the light and get stuck in the threads
  • the glow is produced by a chemical reaction between an enzyme called luciferase and a substrate called luciferin. These are produced by the GlowWorms and stored in a little sac right at the back end of their body
  • there are 8-10 different species of GlowWorm found in NZ and Australia, but A. luminosa is unique to NZ
[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 3 points 1 year ago

Hope you don't mind, x-posted to !nzwildlife@no.lastname.nz

[–] happy_piwakawaka 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I made some crude annotations to a map which hopefully shows where to go:

Crude map of glowworms

[–] Dave 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Amazing! So the car park marked on Wilton Bush Road is the one you're referring to as the Northern Carpark?

[–] happy_piwakawaka 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah that's correct

[–] Dave 3 points 1 year ago

Awesome, I'll have to take the kids to have a look some time! I've saved the post to come back to later, otherwise I'd inevitably forget.

[–] sylverstream 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks! That is awesome. We've done walks there in the past, didn't know about the glow worms. Is it sign posted? And where is the northern carpark?

[–] happy_piwakawaka 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The car park is off Churchill Drive (entrance opposite to Blackbridge Road)

The worms themselves are not signposted, and while there are post markers and a map at the trailhead it'll probably be too dark for them. Not to worry though as all you need to do is follow the main path as they're all along the trailside.

There's an optional detour midway along to a waterfall, just cross the bridge when you get to it and go up a dozen steps. There's a viewing platform for the waterfall and there's glowworms around the falls.

[–] sylverstream 1 points 1 year ago

Awesome, thanks!