Welcome to Butterworth Butterflies! This page offer you the opportunity to explore the Museum's Lepidoptera collection digitally. We've curated together some interesting information, created fun activities and posted incredible photographs for you to enjoy. Butterworth Butterflies was born when the rare collection was bought out of storage in its entirity for the first time in in over a decade. For the past year the collection has been on display to the public within the Butterworth Gallery, hence the nickname. The Team have embarked on a year of discovery with the collection and it was important to us that we could share that with you, the public!
With the Museum currently closed this page has been created to provide access to the newly digitised collection and ensure that the collection can still be used by the community. We hope that you will enjoy learning all about our Butterworth Butterflies.
Butterflies in Littlehampton?
Littlehampton Museum was founded in 1928 by the Natural History and Archaeology Society. The early collections were often donated by the founders and meant that the Museum held a large collection of Natural History. Sadly over the years the collection became smaller. Many items were returned to donors and others transferred to other Museums. The Museum still holds some of the original collection including three cabinets of Lepidoptera and a number of zooological specimens.
Places of Science
In 2019 the Museum was awarded a small grant from the Royal Society as part of their Places of Science Scheme
The grant programme aims to fund projects that focus on presenting science in new and engaging ways, and especially where the community can become involved.
The Museum's main focus was getting the collection back out on display and developing the team's knowledge to ensure the future of the collection.
You can read more about what the team have achieved in our blog post which is linked below.
Still want to know more?
In this section we've created some links to other organisations and Museum's where you can learn more about Natural History. We've also included some of our favourite videos for learning about Butterflies. Enjoy!
Magnificent Museums
Cumberland House Natural History Museum, Portsmouth
A wonderful Museum that makes natural history fun for all ages. Particular highlights are the A-Z gallery and the Butterfly House.
Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton
An impressive collection of Natural History which opened in 1874 and focuses on the Victorian collections of taxidermy.
Natural History Museum, London
A must visit for any family. An interactive museum with plenty to keep you engaged all day long.
Other Resources
get involved with this yearly count of butterflies, you can download an app or a print off a sheet to take part.
Twinkle - life cycle of a Butterfly
Twinkle has some incredible resources for primary learning about the life cycle of a Butterfly including some awesome very hungry caterpillar resources.
Litltehampton Museum would like to say thank you to the Royal Society for the Places of Science grant received in 2019. This grant has allowed staff to develop new knowledge and create new ways of engaging the public with our entomology collections. We would also like to say thank you to the team at Cumberland House who have shared their knowledge on caring for Natural History Collections. Lastly thank you to local artist Richard Kemp who kindly created the artwork for this project that you can see on this page.
