Tropical Escapee From Hanwell Zoo

Liz Jenner manages to capture ( on film at least) this beautiful Blue Morpho

( all images courtesy Liz Jenner)

It was a balmy summer's morning and the baby birds were chirping from their nest in the large Bay tree near my back door. Time to get to work as the hot weather has encouraged a lot of growth and my Hanwell riverside garden now resembles a large jungle.

After three hours of pruning and feeding plants I pause to make a cup of tea and wander down to the end of the garden where I can rest on the banks of the River Brent.

Beautifully calm and tranquil I notice that the local heron is in his usual spot, like a statue patiently waiting for his lunch. As I meander back up the garden I stop feed the fish and check that the resident frog is still contentedly sitting on his favourite waterlily.

This area of the garden is filled with a vast selection of exotic but hardy plants. There are grapevines,oleanders, palm trees, figs as well as Cordylines, Cannas and Yuccas.

The walls here are a vivid Moroccan blue and there's colourful tiles and seating.

Suddenly out of the fig tree there is a wild fluttering and I see flashes of iridescent blue.A large stunning butterfly is flapping his beautiful wings directly in front of me. It lands briefly on my flowery t shirt then moves to the tiled mosaic table under a grape vine.

I dash to grab my phone from the greenhouse knowing that if I go back to the house for my camera I'll miss the moment. Luckily, he was still in situ when I return and his wings were softly shimmering in the sunlight, the detail on the underside was fascinating.

The butterfly flew up into the air and over the garden wall where I watched him enjoy my neighbours allotment style cottage garden, visiting the alliums, chives and garlics.

I contacted Ealing Wildlife group and have since discovered that our friendly visitor is in fact a Blue Morpho butterfly. It's one of the largest in the world with wingspan ranging from 3 inches to 8 inches.

They are neo tropical, reside in rainforest and are found mostly in Central America as well as Mexico and South America including Brazil,Costa Rica and Venezuela.

There was much interest and excitement amongst social media when they helped to identify him.On my local Facebook group it was noted that these butterflies had been on Jeremy Vine's Radio Two show last week with a keeper from Hanwell Zoo discussing the national butterfly count.

One woman reported that she had seen a butterfly 'escape' from Hanwell zoo earlier in the day and when I contacted a member of staff there they confirmed that this indeed is where it would have come from. He told me they have built an extra door on the butterfly house to try and stop them venturing too far.

I'm sad to see it go from my garden, but have left a small tray of rotting fruit ... in the hope of a return visit one day soon.

Liz Jenner

18th July 2017