As part of the 2025 City Nature Challenge, Enviroschools hosted an event in Central Park to help local communities realise they can experience the magic of te taiao on their doorstep.
“Thanks so much to you and the team for organising this event tonight – Belle and I had a great time! The river walk was awesome, as were the glow worms. It was so cool to be able to experience Central Park at night in this way.” – participant
This is the second year Enviroschools have hosted a night time event at Central Park, spotlighting the stream, hunting for bugs and searching for glow worms. In 2024 the event was captured by Kelly Gilbride and Madison Smith in the documentary “Hear the wild things are”. In 2025, collaborators from Te Papa, Wellington City Council, Mountains to Sea, Friends of Central Park had so much fun they wanted to run it again and were joined by providers from Greater Wellington’s Fish Passage team, Old Man’s Beard Free Wellington and Conservation Volunteers.
36 people attended the night time event, connecting young people and their whānau to the nature that is all around us, as well as capturing observations in i-naturalist as part of the City Nature Challenge. See Te Papa’s Blog about this years results here: http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2025/05/22/highlights-from-the-2025-city-nature-challenge-in-greater-wellington/
Eleven year old Finn was supported by his māmā Brooke from Conservation Volunteers to run a blacklight activity. Participants were encouraged and supported to identify insects that were attracted to blue light on a sheet.
Blacklight activity to identify insects
11 yr old Finn running the activity
Glow worms hunt
Curator Entomology Dr. Yulia Kasper from Te Papa led the Glow worms hunt further into the park. One participant, George (7) said enjoyed it so much he forgot he was scared of the dark.
“Henry and Leo had such a great time. They were entranced by the glow worms and kōura.”
The river spotlighting activity (photos below) has led to further discovery and has enhanced the mana of the awa. Enviroschools facilitator Chandra Littlewood has a strong connection to Central Park as this was where she would take tamariki from her kindy each week. She reached out to Amy Gault of GWRC Fish Passage team to support the event. The team unexpectedly discovered banded kokopu, koaro, koura and tuna which led to further exploration up the awa on the night and has led to the plans by the Fish Passage team to return to undertake eDNA testing and look for any fish barriers that could be remedied.
Learning about kōura was a highlight for Manu Desmond (7), who recalled with amusement that they could only walk backwards because of the way they breathe. His brother Tadhg (3) when visiting Te Waimapihi following this event, asked where in the stream the creatures lived and looked out for likely habitats along the stream.
Exploration of the awa by night
People attending this fantastic event were even inspired to seek jobs in this field.
“I wanted to say a big thank you to yourself and the team for the event tonight. It was so inspiring for children and adults alike to see glow worms and crayfish whilst learning about the work that goes in to monitor them.
Community and education are a key interest of mine. If you know of any jobs coming up at the Council, Te Papa or other organisations I would love to know more!”
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