Butterflies make exquisite accessories at Butterfly Creek

Walking round with a scarlet mormon butterfly perched on your shoulder, you feel as though you're wearing an exquisite piece of jewellery.

There are bigger specimens in the butterfly house at Butterfly Creek - the atlas moth has a wingspan of 300mm; the owl butterfly with eyes on its wings grows to about 175mm - but the scarlet mormons are the most spectacular.

They've also got one of the strangest names. Their dark background colour was thought to make them look like black-suited Mormon missionaries but that ignores the scarlet patterns which are their most outstanding feature.

Maybe the name comes from the fact that like Mormon missionaries - and most of the butterflies on display at Butterfly Creek - they're keen to meet people.

You'll be hard put to avoid having a butterfly land on your head, shoulder or hand - especially if you're wearing brightly coloured clothing.

There are usually about 700 butterflies fluttering around in the huge, heated enclosure, and in between feeding on sugar water and rotten fruit they seem to like nothing better than checking out the visitors.

"Some days when it's sunny and the butterflies are particularly active it's like a motorway in here," said general manager John Dowsett. "You've almost got to brush them out of the way so you can get through."

Because butterflies mostly live only a few days it's quite a task keeping their numbers up. Butterfly Creek imports 600-700 chrysalises a week, mostly from Asia and Britain.

They arrive by airmail in little parcels, are unpacked, glued to wooden kebab sticks, and hung up in a glass-fronted cabinet to hatch.

Most days a couple of butterflies emerge from their chrysalises and it's worth taking the time to watch through a window as they stretch their wings and then flutter about the cabinet waiting to be moved into the big enclosure.

The day I visited some newly hatched scarlet mormon butterflies were being released so they were keen to sit on any passing shirts or hands while assessing their new surroundings.

But butterflies aren't all they have at Butterfly Creek.

There are some huge tanks of tropical fish - the butterflies of the sea - including their very own Nemo and Dory and a new tank of sea horses.

It also has its own Buttermilk Farm where youngsters can cuddle animals like lambs, rabbits, guinea pigs, llamas, roosters and kunikuni.

The latest addition is a bug room where resident entomologist Paul Barrett plans to introduce visitors to giant Avondale spiders, spiky wetas, red-backed katipo spiders, - "if we can get them" - stick insects, native mantids "and whatever else we can get".

Barrett, who's been fascinated by insects since childhood, is aware that cuddling a big spider won't be everyone's cup of tea. "But I do hope to let people see what amazing creatures they are."

As part of the bug programme he wants to educate people on where to look for insects, what to plant to encourage particular species and behaviour patterns to look for.

There's even a plan to produce insect packs - containing an insect, such as a stick insect, suitable food, the right media for eggs to be laid in and a small cage - so interested youngsters can raise their own insects and study them.

"What we want to do is to empower people, to help them overcome any prejudices about creepy crawly things, and discover the magic of insects," says Barrett.

"When people think of amazing wildlife they tend to focus on large animals like lions. But I believe insects are even more fascinating.

"And unlike lions, chances are they already live in our back gardens, so, if you know what to look for, you can watch their behaviour any time you like."

* Butterfly Creek is on Tom Pierce Drive at Auckland International Airport. Phone (09) 275 8880 or visit www.butterflycreek.co.nz (see link below).