Butterflies!!!

One of my first projects this year was to do a bug collection. I had to collect 10 different species of insects, one of which had to be a butterflies or moth and then mount them and identify them. I then had to present them. The hardest one i found to do was the moth that I had.

I think that butterflies are really very pretty and thought that It would be good to get some practise spreading and mounting their wings. 

I bought some butterflies (50 of them!! as I got a good deal) and then set out to practise. I made a spreading board and I already had the entomology pins. I had to rehydrate them first. I put in an air tight container a damp paper towel and some anti-fungal agent in with it to stop mould from occurring. 

I started by doing a few of the medium sized ones. 

It got easier and quicker the more I did and I started to do quite a few of them. I feel that I've gotten a lot better at it as well as having some very pretty mounted butterflies in frames. I just need to get identifying so that they're all labelled!