Ornythion Swallowtail

This print was photographed in the newly rebuilt butterfly house in the Southsea Natural History Museum at Cumberland House in Eastern Parade, Southsea. The old butterfly house was built as an extension to the main building in 1986 but was deemed to be in desperate need of repair, and so construction of a new state of the art butterfly house began and was completed in August 2017.

We didn't manage to get along until around a month or so after the re-opening, and just before it closed it's doors for the winter. This was probably no bad thing as it seems the publicity behind the new butterfly house did it's job very well and over 13,000 visitors attended in the first month alone, which in itself was a few thousand higher than the footfall for the whole of 2015.

Cumberland House is not large as museums go, but it does contain some of the 114,000 natural science specimens currently held by Portsmouth Museums, so definitely an interesting and educational visit. Of course my favourite is the butterfly house, but another piece of interest is the working beehive, where the 9,000 or so honey bees raise their young and make honeycombs. The bees enter and exit the hive via a short tunnel which connects to the outside and into the gardens, which just so happen to be planted to attract both bees and butterflies.

As with all of the butterflies here, the Ornythion Swallowtail is a South American species usually found in Guatemala and Mexico, however it has been seen as far north as southern Texas and New Mexico. It is quite large in comparison to UK butterfly species, with a wingspan measuring up to 4.5 inches and are typically seen in flight as adults between April and September.

To find out more about Southsea Natural History Museum please visit: www.portsmouthnaturalhistory.co.uk