A visit to the Butterfly Farm in Straffan Co. Kildare
When making our plans for this weekend, my boyfriend and myself tripped over signs to the Butterfly Farm in Straffan Co. Kildare. Lacking any other ideas, we decided, a trip to the farm was worth a shot.

And rightly so: The Straffan Butterfly Farm is located in the lovely setting of the Irish countryside and can easily be reached via the M4 from Dublin. At the entrance, we were greeted by Iris, the heart and soul behind the Butterfly Farm. And the experience starts right at the entrance: With a well thought-out education area and exotic (living) animals like Roger, a rather lazy black and white snake, a couple of tarantulas (one of them clearly in “show-off” mood while we were there - quite amusing, actually), a living example of the biggest moth in the world (I should make a closer acquaintance with other members of his “family” later on...) and Iggy the Iguana.

In the education area, there is also a widespread exhibition of all sorts of well-preserved butterflies (both native to Ireland and exotic ones). They are beautifully exhibited in framed glass-boxes with internal mountings and presented in different categories such as “Butterflies of Ireland”, “Butterflies of South America”, “Butterfly Tails”, “Butterfly Eyes”. I have taken a couple of photos in the education area to give you an idea of the extent of the collection presented:

Afterwards, we head off to the “heart” of the Butterfly Farm: The Tropical House. The experience here can be described as anything between interesting, fascinating and funny.

Interesting because the little inhabitants just “fly by you” as you move around in their “home” and because there is an exhibition of the different stages of development of butterflies as most of the butterflies homed in the butterfly farm are actually bred there.

Fascinating because you would not get to come that close to those beautiful small creatures unless you travelled to their home-countries (which, in some cases can be a bit of a trip...) and...

Funny because some of them just don't mind their visitors at all – on the contrary: a jacket or a hand can be a welcome resting-place for a while as well. This is where I made a close acquaintance with one of the “exhibits”: He picked the back of my jacket and felt quite comfortable there. My boyfriend tried to take a picture of my new “best friend” - with questionable success. Due to the environment natural to the butterflies, both the humidity and the temperature in the Tropical House are not “camera-friendly” - and neither of us is particularly good with the camera... On the photo, you can see (or guess) the moth sitting right on my back: