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By SharkSense (aka Silvershark) - Listed at The Forum Directory

Well I'll give this e-zine thing a go I guess! A sort-of review of my trip to Edinburgh Butterfly World yesterday. I'm not sure what the rules are for posting images in this section but there are some thumbs at the bottom of with a few of the photos I took (the rest can be found at my forum).

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EDINBURGH BUTTERFLY WORLD

Yesterday I took a trip down to Butterfly World in Edinburgh. For months I have been wanting to go there but have never had the chance with it being such a long trip down there, but believe me it is well worth the journey! If anything I prefered it to Edinburgh Zoo even if it is much smaller! Being a Saturday there were a few kids running around but it wasn't too bad to be honest, wasn't happy with the way some of them were poking at the butterflies though!

The butterflies habitat was beautifully set up and there were plenty of butterflies to be seen flying from flower to flower and to their feeding stations filled with fruit. It was very hot and humid in there - but that's how the butterflies need it! There probably weren't as many there as they would be in the summer months but there were still lots around including some beautiful owl butterflies that I was able to see close-up! They had a mud pool where they could collect salt too. There were also some newly emerged Atlas moths and they are HUGE! Very beautiful moths though! I've never seen them in real life before, and they are far more beautiful than any photo can give them credit for.

The reptile zone was really well set-up too. All the reptiles looked fantastic and I was really taken by the set-up for th hognose snake - hoping to use some of their ideas for my sand geckos new set-up. There was a yellow anaconda there too, gorgeous snake! The Nile Monitor was great too, he was hanging onto the guard around the basking lamp warming his belly! Beautiful lizard!

At noon there was a handling session...the guy doing this was fantastic and really kept everyone engaged even though there was only a handful of us there. I held a millipede, a gorgeous royal python called stripe and a tarantula! Have to admit I was taken by the millipede - it was a bit like a snake only with lots of legs! One of the kids there was absolutely fascinated by the royal python too, he just couldn't take his eyes off her it was so cute!

Outside was an area for the wild birds, butterflies and of course honeybees but since it was winter there were only the birds around on the feeders. The garden was gorgeous though and I'll definately go back there in spring and summer when it will be flowering and the wild butterflies will be out and about as well as the honeybees in their hive (which you could see inside!)

And I'm forgetting about the ants! They had a colony of leaf-cutter ants that travelled along rope bridges above out heads from their feeding grounds to their nests! That was a very cool addition! Mr. Green

Spent a good few hours in there chasing the butterflies for photos. Still not able to touch them but one did land on my shoulder and I was okay with that. I'm definately going to go back there when I have a night off work and my aunt is in Edinburgh so I can just jump on the bus down there. Never know, maybe if I spend enough time there I will manage to actually hold one of the butterflies and completely get rid of my fear!

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