City of Bristol Museum

Set high up in the heart of Bristol, the City Museum is big and it's free!

I recommend it as a museum visit regardless of any butterfly collections as it has a wide range of sections to keep almost anybody interested. It also has a restaurant and very pleasant interior. There's a gift and book shop too which you may find interesting.

I made a great discovery in there - a book on butterflies I didn't know existed! It's called "Butterflies of the Bristol Region" and presents the results of the Avon Butterfly Project's survey of the butterflies to be found in the region.

It is illustrated throughout with superb colour photographs of the adult butterflies, certain life-stages and habitats and distribution maps. There's a link in the right column here where I've managed to find where you can buy it online if you can't make it to the museum.

Anyway, back to the museum itself...

A natural history gallery on the ground floor contains examples of aquatic habitats in the south west of England and an interactive map of local wildlife sites. It's here in a winding room with subdued lighting that you'll find a few examples of the British butterfly. Well OK, there's a few immigrants in there as well but at least they're trying! Nothing to write home about but it's nevertheless nice to see and there are some of you who may not seen the Clouded Yellow Butterfly for instance. (Click on any photo for the large-scale version).

Amongst the numerous other sections of the museum, you'll find a World Wildlife Gallery containing many examples of endangered or extinct animals. It's here that you'll find a colourful display of worldwide butterflies in two large-sized displays on the wall. Being upright, it was easy to get right up and close and examine them in detail.

My only criticism is that there were no labels to any of them which rather let the side down. Too harsh? Well it is a museum, so you'd think there wouldn't be any exhibits without labels would you?

Ah well, on the other hand some of you might consider it fun to try and identify as many butterflies as you can - so well done to you!

For those of you who like to be informed on the spot, there's a small case on the opposite wall, (which you might just walk past and miss), which contains 4 additional world butterflies complete with names and origin. They are the Red Helen, the Apricot Sulphur, the Passion Flower and the Ceylon Birdwing Butterfly.

I've no idea why these particular butterflies were singled out and put in their own isolated case, but again, they were lovely to see.

Worthwhile trip? Well if you live fairly close to Bristol, then parking at a meter and getting in free is a nice way to spend an hour or two looking close-up at butterflies. If you like museums then get yourself parked up at a multi-story and enjoy the whole day!

By the way, there are more attractions close-by such as the Georgian House Museum and the Red Lodge Museum, both literally within 5 minutes walk from the City of Bristol Museum. Neither contain butterflies unfortunately but you might like to consider them if you are trying to persuade other family members to visit (so you can see the butterflies)!