The Butterflies in Our Parks and Gardens

The Singapore Garden Festival 2012 was held from 7th July to 15th July. This year, Oh' Farms together with Mr Syaiful Hakim from Nparks were invited to speak on the topic, " The Butterflies Around Our Parks" on the 12th and 14th July '12. Both of us were excited as this had given us an opportunity to introduce some of the nature's flying jewels found in our parks to the visitors. Hopefully, a better understanding of this unique group of insects would stimulate more interest in appreciating and conserving them.

Ai Ling, from Oh' Farms explained the different stages of the life cycle of a butterfly and why butterflies were important in our environment.
Syaiful, on the other hand, covered a wider range of topics - from the basics of creating a butterfly garden to some species of butterfly that are facing extinction in our island. After the talk, many stayed to look at the exhibits. Abby, one of the helpers who handled the exhibits, explained in details the life cycle of a butterfly has to go through.One of the visitors brought a photo of a butterfly for Abby to identify.Visitors spotting a few caterpillars on the plant which were very well camouflaged.Mother and daughter were looking at the different instars of the lime caterpillars.Abby was busy answering many queries posted by the curious visitors. From the responses of the audience, it clearly showed that many people had misconceptions about butterflies and caterpillars. In order to encourage more people to appreciate and know more about butterflies, educating the public with the correct facts about butterflies is a way to go.