Edinburgh — By Andy Hayes on July 21, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Filed under: attractinos, sightseeing

Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World

If you’re looking for an offbeat adventure that’s fun for families and outdoor lovers, then I’d like to suggest to you to checkout the Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World, just south of Edinburgh.

Butterflies

Who doesn’t love a good butterfly? There are hundreds here at the centre, in their own custom-designed tropical jungle. Your visit to the greenhouse will vary with the time of year, as different breeds are more active at different times of year. If you look close, you’ll no doubt spot some larvae in their cocoons.

These butterflies are friendly – they love humans (and the salt in human sweat), so expect some visitors to come and say hello while you’re wandering around the site.

Some of the butterflies to watch for:

‘Glasswings’ – yes, as the name implies, this butterfly’s wings are transparent
‘Banded Owl’ – this butterfly has a scary defence mechanism, a wing colouring that looks like a large eye – pictured above
‘Blue Morpho’ for me, this is the prettiest of them all; her wings stretch out from a deep royal blue to a violet an then lighten up to sky blue, with black and white dotted edges to her wings. Gorgeous!

Insects

This is the portion of the show that is fun for the kids, where as the mums who are reading may run off shrieking. Kids (and adults) can pet, handle and cuddle with any one of their favourite insects:

slimy snakes!
wormy millipedes!
furry tarantulas!

For those who would like to reduce the need to shout with exclamation points, the centre also runs fear of insect courses. I’ve not been on one, but they do get quite good reviews.

There are other animals – whooops, insects – who are thankfully confined to glass housing. These include a variety of ants, scorpions, grasshoppers, iguanas, frogs, and beetles. You can quickly see why this place is an insect-lovers dream and an insect-phobics nightmare.