Middleton Common Butterfly Gardens...

This update is all about my visit to:

Butterfly Gardens @ Middleton Common Farm

20th January 2022

This is how the butterfly experience was advertised:

 Within the tropical flight area we have created an environment which is carefully controlled and monitored to ensure perfect conditions for our live butterflies. The high temperature and humidity is created not only for the hundreds of tropical butterflies, but to also sustain the tropical plants and flowers needed to enable the butterflies to feed, breed and lay their eggs. The habitat of the butterflies has been reconstructed at our butterfly farm in such a way as to allow visitors an insight into the fascinating way of life of these amazing insects.

Winter Prices 2022
Prices are £6 for Adults , £4 for Children. (Babes In Arms Are Free)

The farm was easy to find, even if Google Maps thought otherwise! It's not a large enclosure by some standards, but was well populated and most of the butterflies seemed pretty well free of the tatty appearance that I have seen at many of these indoor sites. The time was pre-booked, but it seemed quite relaxed, and there were no restrictions on the time allowed for a visit. There is also an adjacent gift shop, as well as a farm shop opposite. 

There was plenty of parking space for butterflies and cars!

As expected, the temperature was pushing 90 deg Fahrenheit and so it took a while for both my glasses, and camera lens to acclimatise. 

Catopsilia pomona - Lemon Emigrant Butterfly

The Common, or Lemon Emigrant butterfly is a medium-sized pierid butterfly, found in Cambodia, Asia, and parts of Australia. Pretty sure this one is a female. 

Heliconius hecale-Tiger Longwing Butterfly

The Tiger Longwing is a heliconiid butterfly that occurs from Mexico to the Peruvian Amazon. I am no expert on these tropical butterflies and so these are my educated guesses. This one for instance could just as easily be the Golden Helicon? Oh it could! Because I think they are one and the same.

Cethosia cyane-Leopard lacewing Butterfly

 The Leopard Lacewing, is a species of heliconiine butterfly found from India to southern China (southern Yunnan), and Indochina. This is a male.

Heliconius charithonia-Zebra Longwing

This species is distributed across South and Central America and as far north as southern Texas and peninsular Florida; there are migrations north into other American states in the warmer months.

I have been unable to identify this one with any degree of certainty from my photograph, but perhaps another Lacewing?

Idea leuconoe- Large Tree Nymph Butterfly

Also known as the Rice-paper Butterfly, Paper Kite Butterfly, and White Nymph Butterfly. Of Southeast Asian origin. But also found in Northern Australia and Southern Taiwan. This is a butterfly known especially for its presence in butterfly houses. 

I wish I'd paid a bit more attention when taking these photographs regards species, because it's hard to be certain of some just from these images. I think this is a different view of a Tiger Longwing though.

I only spotted one caterpillar and have no idea which species this might be.

There were a number of eggs scattered around though, mostly on the banana plants. This one, as you can see in the rather poor crop, is about to eclose.

Greta oto- Glasswing Butterfly

The Glasswing is a species of brush-footed butterfly that is mainly found in Central and northern regions of South America: although, there have been sightings from both Mexico and Chile. 

   This Lemon Emigrant butterfly made it to my blog update by virtue of having         another tiny insect hitching a ride. It looks like a net-winged insect to me;          maybe a Dustywing? 

Ariadne Merione-Angled Castor Butterfly

The  Angled Castor is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in Asia.

Myscelia ethusa- Mexican Bluewing Butterfly

The Mexican Bluewing  ranges from Mexico south through Central America and Columbia. Sometimes seen in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. As with many colourful butterflies, the underwings are quite drab; an aid to camouflage.

Morpho peleides-Blue Morpho Butterfly

The blue morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches. Their vivid, iridescent blue colouring is a result of the microscopic scales on the backs of their wings, which reflect light. The underside of the morpho’s wings, on the other hand, is a dull brown colour with many eyespots, providing camouflage against predators such as birds and insects when its wings are closed.

 When the blue morpho flies, the contrasting bright blue and dull brown colours flash, making it look like the morpho is appearing and disappearing.

Papilio polytes-Common Mormon

That's my best guess for this one. They seem quite variable. Papilio polytes, the common Mormon, is a common species of swallowtail butterfly widely distributed across Asia. This butterfly is known for the mimicry displayed by the numerous forms of its females which mimic inedible red-bodied swallowtails, such as the common rose and the crimson rose.

And so it was a most pleasant visit and well worth the entrance fee. I'm sure another visit, at a different time of the year would be rewarded with different species to see. If I were to be hyper-critical, I would suggest that there was no supervision of young children (even by their parents), and some were doing their best to cause havoc with the butterflies and environment. That aside, I would certainly recommend a visit. 

Finally: Apologies if you are reading this and some of the text is undersized or poorly spaced. I have tried to correct it a few times now, but the Blogger dashboard I have to use to create these posts, just keeps reverting it to what IT wants!