Luke's all of a flutter (From This Is Wiltshire)

Luke's all of a flutter

8:03am Friday 7th March 2008 in

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A BUTTERFLY enthusiast is hoping his passion for the winged creatures will take flight at London's most famous museum.

Luke Brown, has been asked to oversee a butterfly exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.

The 34-year-old, of Mulcaster Avenue, Grange Park, said he was flattered the museum had approached him to be involved.

Luke will be commuting from Swindon to London every day, but sees this as a great opportunity to meet the world's experts on butterflies.

He hopes this will further his own career in the field and allow him to indulge his fascination for the creatures.

"Butterflies are one of the only things you can immerse yourself in," he said.

"Rather than getting a wet suit on to swim with fish for example, you can sit in there and have hundreds of these amazing things around you."

The exhibition entitled Amazing Butterflies will run for six months and opens to the public on April 5.

Once set up, the exhibition should house about a thousand tropical butterflies from places such as Asia and South America.

The exhibition will be the latest instalment on the lawns in front of the Natural History Museum and aims to educate children on the process from chrysalis to butterfly.

Although there will be experts in the field at the museum, Luke says that he has much experience working with butterflies and keeping them alive in this environment.

His fascination with the winged creatures started when he was only six years old.

He was taken to the Syon Park Butterfly House in London for a birthday treat and never looked back.

"It started an obsession really," he said. "I got my first greenhouse when I was six - everybody else wanted BMXs and skateboards, but I wanted a greenhouse and Father Christmas duly obliged."

Luke spent many years searching for someone to finance a butterfly project on a larger scale, and Studley Grange Garden and Leisure Park was interested.

With Luke's assistance, Studley Grange Butterfly World opened in August 2003, described by him as one of the best butterfly farms in the world.

He has also set up his consultancy business called The Butterfly Gardener.