Butterflies at the Natural History Museum

Took a trip up town to see this spectacle of nature.  Every year the Natural History Museum in South Kensington puts on this show. Its in a polytunnel out in the grounds near the tube entrance, as you come in, you buy your ticket from the shed nearby and enter inward.  After the lab like plastic strips separating the outside from the inside you'll find yourself in a small tropical rainforest area complete with path and a few boards up with fun facts on the Lepidoptera.

There are plenty of things to see including a hatching area where if you are lucky you can see a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis or the table of rotting fruit which is favoured by some species.

Not pictured rotting Pineapples

 The fruit theme is explored further by the addition of orange and lemon bushes alongside some less recognizable flora. 

So what is there to see?
You get a few large species including Morpho, Owl Butterfly, some Swallowtails and an Atlas Moth bringing up the moth side of things. Some were quite tatty looking, especially the Eggfly with frayed wings and the like, possibly due to age and that. 

In the center was a shed with rows and rows of Chrysalises on poles.  I noticed a Monarch or another Danaeus species newly hatched as well as a Sulphur Yellow too.  They also had a guy in a shirt holding up an Atlas Moth which is truly huge. 

If you want to know the size check his hand in comparison.

After checking yourself for any stowaways in the mirror you can exit through the strips into the gift shop where you can buy all sorts of butterfly related tat and such. Reminds me a bit of the old butterfly house at Syon Park but that is now sadly closed.

Butterflies at the Natural History Museum.

It Costs. £6.50 to get in, Natural History Members get in free.

You can get there by Tube on these lines

Piccadilly. District and Circle exit at South Kensington and follow the signs down the tunnel as you go out.

(In fact this makes a great day out, there are a cluster of  museums in the area and a short walk will bring you to Hyde Park as well).