The weather prospects at the beginning of the bank holiday weekend were pretty dismal and we’d also been missing our spring butterfly fix, so came up with a cunning plan to solve both these problems – a trip to the Stratford Butterfly Farm.  I know it’s not our usual native wildlife preference (and it feels a bit like cheating), but needs must, given the grey skies we woke up to on Saturday. I’ve also always had a soft spot for these butterfly farms. The sight of hundreds of stunning butterflies floating (or in some cases zooming) around the greenhouse always lifts the spirits. We got to Stratford pretty much as the doors opened in an attempt to beat the crowds – successful for a full 5 minutes before everyone else with the same idea arrived.

Near the entrance was a table covered with fruit which had attracted lots of these large Owl butterflies. I’d taken the GoPro with me, so managed a short video clip of them.

As always we took literally hundreds of photos, so it’s taken me a couple of days to whittle them down and also to try and identify them. You’d think great big beautiful butterflies would be easy to identify, but apparently not. I still have a folder full of unknowns. The butterflies came from three continents – Africa, Asia and America. Here in no particular order (other than a vague grouping by continent) are some of the stunning butterflies we saw.

I’ve only managed to identify three of the Asian species – first the Clipper:

then the Lime Swallowtail:

and finally the Tree Nymph.

The only African one that I’ve managed to tentatively identify is this delightfully named – Flying Handkerchief or Mocker Swallowtail.

For some reason I had more luck identifying the American ones. The Owl butterflies were reasonably easy to get to genus (Caligo) given the large “eyes” on the underwings. They were particularly keen on the fruit and gathered wherever the staff had provided it.

The Zebra Longwings pretty much did what it says on the tin – zebra stripes on longwings!

Another longwing – the Sara Longwing (I can but dream of getting a butterfly named after me – the Lazy Shortwing perhaps?)

And another one – the Mexican Longwing:

Another Mexican one – the Blue Wave:

This large butterfly – the Queen Page, is one of the Swallowtail family I presume.

These huge White Morpho butterflies were perhaps one of my favourites. Massive butterflies that flapped lackadaisically around, seeming to prefer being near the pool in the middle, although it might just be their preferred plants were there.

We only managed a sideways shot of this snazzily striped Orange Tiger, but its upperside is a gorgeous orange with dark stripes:

One of the more common but no less stunning butterflies there was the Malachite:

I wondered whether this Flame butterfly was newly emerged as it looked a bit crumpled still?

Arguably the most famous butterfly species is the Monarch. Renowned for its incredible migrations of thousands of miles and huge aggregations – we were happy just to snap one.

One species I was particularly keen to see was the Glass Wing, I’ve always loved these transparent butterflies. Turns out though they’re not that easy to photograph as the camera tends to try and focus through the wings. With hindsight of course I should have switched to manual focus instead of my usual auto!

For me the most stunning butterflies are the big blue ones like this Blue Morpho – absolutely gorgeous.

I’ve included one final butterfly, although I haven’t managed to identify it. The colours on the upper wings are pretty enough, but I absolutely loved the underside of the wings (below). If anyone can identify it for me, it would be very much appreciated.

It’s always good to catch a bit of the behaviour as well as just aesthetic shots, so it was nice to spot this pair of mating butterflies.

The farm has a cabinet with chrysalises, so the public can watch the butterflies emerge. These shiny gold ones were just exquisite, although not easy to photograph through the glass.

The greenhouse is also home to two species of bird – both carefully selected not to be insectivorous.  The quail had the most adorable baby chicks running around after them – smaller than many of the butterflies.

And these pretty little zebra finches were happy to share the food bowl with the butterflies.

And finally one of the iguanas that live in the greenhouse. We learnt from a previously very close call not to stand directly underneath these and particularly not to gawp up at them with your mouth open!

So all in all, the perfect antidote to a wet and dreary Saturday morning. Roll on spring though so we can see some of our own native butterflies on the wing.