New tropical house with 400 butterflies opens

A new tropical house hoped to help butterfly numbers which have declined in the last five years partly due to the weather.

The Bug Parc in Lenwade, Norfolk, was recently expanded to include 400 butterflies of different species and colours of butterflies in temperatures of 32C (89.6F).

A recent survey by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme showed that 31 out of 59 species have had their numbers fall since 1976 when monitoring began.

Martin French, owner of The Bug Parc, said: "Bees and butterflies are seriously in decline."

In 2009, Mr French built his very own 60ft (18m) shed in his back garden to house his growing collection of insects.

A year later he bought five acres of land to create The Bug Parc.

The attraction already had 15 big zones with more than 200 minibeasts and a butterfly house.

Mr French said the new tropical house, which took six months to build, was a "great addition".

He explained temperatures would be kept in the low 30Cs so the "absolutely stunning" insects would not "keel over and die".

"When you see some of these butterflies flying around with blues and the reds and oranges, they are not an English species they are stunning beautiful and all tropical," he added.

The lifespan of a butterfly is only seven to 14 days and each week Mr French told BBC Radio Norfolk, he brings in about 100 butterfly chrysalises to help maintain numbers.

Although numbers fluctuate annually, the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme said 2024 was the fifth-worst year for butterfly numbers across the country, partly due to wet spring weather and a cool summer.

Mr French said due to breeding efforts, butterfly parks were so important and he planned to expand even further to tackle bee and butterfly conservation.

"Bees and butterflies are seriously in decline and we are hoping to address that next year by the next thing we are going to build which is to help our bees and butterflies in the UK."

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