It's butterfly time: family program in Pennsylvania and Westonbirt Arboretum’s Treefest, UK

Community and Forum → Blog → It's butterfly time: family program in Pennsylvania and Westonbirt Arboretum’s Treefest, UK

Lev Bely, 22.08.2012 21:03

This Saturday, August 25th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Upper Schuylkill Valley Park in Royersford, Pennsylvania (US), hosts an annual butterfly celebration to come all the family.

Come here to know more about lepidoptera life cycle and plants they're attracted to. The special guest is a butterfly expert Rick Mikula who has been educating butterfly lovers for many years, kids and adults, and also writing books, among which is The Family Butterfly Book.

Mikula will start talking at 11 a.m. and show butterfly and moth species from all over the world, accompanying it with fun facts about butterflies.

Another celebration activity to take part in will be tagging and feeding monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). Children may join butterfly hands-on classes and craft to make something with their own hands and take it home.

If the weather's good, at 1:30 p.m. guests will release tagged monarch butterflies for them to fly farther south on their migration way.

Butterfly celebration welcomes all ages. The entrance is free, $4 suggested donation per person. Since it is an outdoor, the event will take place only in good weather.

If you're about to spend the whole day in the park, bring lunch to have a river shore picnic!

Upper Schuylkill Valley Park is located right across from Parkhouse, Montgomery County Geriatric Center, Royersford, Pennsylvania. Open all year round, save major holidays.

Beside the butterfly celebration, you may also visit a local exhibit Schuylkill Wilds and see animals living in Schuylkill River neighbourhood, with newcomer young wolves and deer.

Elephant hawks and ruby tigers at Westonbirt Arboretum’s annual Treefest, Gloucestershire (UK)

Westonbirt Arboretum’s annual Treefest, Gloucestershire (UK), that's opening tomorrow, offers a rich varied 3-day program including interesting exhibits, workshops, vivid stalls and musical performances. However, plus to this good line-up organisers have just announced something new, a series of special show and tell moth events lead by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

If you've never met such beauties as elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) or ruby tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa), but always wished to, come see them at the Westonbirt Arboretum’s Treefest. August 25, 26 and 27 it will host a series of moth events where you can see those and know a little bit more of other wonderful moths.

Amy Martin from the RSPB speaking on the show: “We’ve been working with Butterfly Conservation to establish our day flying butterflies, but the nocturnal moths of Westonbirt remain an enigma… so we’ve drafted in the RSPB’s moth-expert, Dave Nevitt, with his harmless moth trap to find out more!”

RSPB invites all moth lovers to its shows and lectures that will start at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, August 26—28th. Locals are welcome to come by any time.

Children may create their own finger paint butterflies, and not just butterflies, but two newly discovered species recently found on the RSPB reserve in West Africa.

More about Westonbirt Arboretum’s Treefest: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt.

The Times Herald, http://www.timesherald.com, SoGlos.com, http://www.soglos.com

Photo: The Maltese Ruby Tiger Moth, P. fuliginosa

All the rest posts on: recreation, UK, event, education, USA