Butterfly Conservatory

I am (impatiently) awaiting the return of butterflies as March has traditionally been a time when I start seeing species that over winter as adults....so we made a trip to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory!

When you first enter the butterfly zone, Blue Morpho Butterflies can be found everywhere. In flight, the beautiful blue colour is predominant. They are one of the larger butterflies in the world with a wing span of 5 to 8 inches! They are found in tropical forests in Central and South America.

https://sciencing.com/kids-blue-morpho-butterfly-8407112.html

The underwing of a Blue Morpho shows on this individual.  It can be difficult to photograph the blue colour as they usually close their wings when they land.

Several feeding stations attract the butterflies. Oranges and bananas were the favourite fruits.

Julia (Dryas iulia)

The Malachite Butterfly gets its name from the mineral malachite which has the same shade of green. They can be found in South American orchards of mango, citrus, avocado and other semideciduous or subtropical evergreen forest.

https://www.butterflyidentification.com/malachite.htm

The bold colours on the wings of the Zebra Longwing is an adaption termed as 'aposematic' which is a warning signal to predators to stay away. They are able to synthesize chemicals that make their bodies toxic to predators.

https://www.butterflyidentification.com/zebra-butterfly.htm

If the butterfly resting on this Red-eared Slider was hoping to travel anywhere, it was going to be waiting a long time as the turtle didn't move during the one hour of our visit.

Several birds call the butterfly conservatory home, including this Common Quail who was well hidden in the plants.