Whitby Museum

Came across this collection of British butterflies in Whitby Museum by accident one year whilst on holiday in Yorkshire.

If you enjoy museums, you'll love this one - even the display cabinets themselves are museum pieces!

This is what I call an old-world museum, 'the way they used to be'. You'll know what I mean if you are over 40. If you read the history on their website (link at the end of this page) you'll see how it developed.

The butterflies were a complete surprise and include several collections, one of which seems to have all the British species including I think all the (now) extinct species. So if you want to get up close to some rare or extinct examples, here's the place to go.

There are the following species;

 - Black-Veined White

 - Large Copper

 - Large Blue

 - Mountain Ringlet

 - Bath White

 - Large Tortoiseshell

 - Mazarine Blue

...and a few more including all the more common species of course.

They are pretty much in good condition with only one or two showing decay. It won't be long before all these sort of butterfly examples in the UK disappear as they slowly disintegrate, so I was grateful for the opportunity to see them (even though they may be 'politically incorrect' these days).

I apologise for the quality of the photos of these butterflies. Lighting was not great in the museum and I gambled on holding the camera still enough at the slow speed I was having to use to at least get one or two usable shots.

Some photographs are better than others, but in most cases you can read the labels depicting the butterfly names. I've also included 2 photos of the complete species list of one of the butterfly collections in case you're interested to see exactly what there is. Click on any of the thumbnail butterfly photos on the left here for the full-size version.

Please don't be tempted to use flash in situations like this, the intense light from a flash will only speed the butterflies demise. It's better to have a tripod or other solid object you can rest the camera to prevent shake.

I didn't have either so relied upon my 'steady' hand. Note to self - don't do that again since you clearly aren't capable of holding a camera that still!