Butterflies and… otters?

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Buckfast Butterfly Farm and Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary located in Devon, UK.

As much as I love the incredibly cute little otters, of particular interest to me as a macro photographer was the butterfly house.

The butterfly house is a specially controlled environment designed to maintain the perfect conditions for the butterflies to live and breed as they would in the wild. A high temperature and humidity is maintained to support the butterflies and the exotic plants and flowers upon which their larvae feed.

The full life cycle is on display, from caterpillars to butterflies with an incredible and fascinating array of chrysalises.

Shown here is a small collection of photographs I took during my visit. Unfortunately I neglected to note the species as I was photographing them, and am therefore looking for help in identifying many of these butterflies!

View the full size gallery!

Can you help me to correctly identify some of the butterflies shown here? Please leave a comment or notify me via the contact page.

It is well worth the visit if you are in the area, with plenty to see and do. The small team do a fantastic job of promoting wildlife conservation and education through breeding and rehabilitation programs for both otters and butterflies. Otter feeding time is a particular treat, where visitors can watch adorably cute orphaned baby otters snaffle fish from the keeper’s hands!

Equipment

For these shots I used –