大象传媒

Work on the start of the 拢25M project work has begun with construction of an eco-friendly access road to the site.听听

Actress Emilia Fox, a patron of the project, together with project founder Clive Farrell and landscape designer Ivan Hicks marked the start of the project with a ceremony marking the cutting of the first sod.

Butterfly World will be built on a 27-acre butterfly-shaped site near St Albans.听 The tropical biome at 100m diameter and 17m high will be the same size as the smallest dome at the Eden Centre in Cornwall and will have 10,000 tropical butterflies from 250 different species flying at any one time.

It will be surrounded outside by wildflower meadows and gardens filled with flowers and plants designed to attract native and fast-declining British butterflies.

The founders hope it will become a world-class visitor centre attracting as many as one million people a year and providing a focal point for conservation and research into butterflies.

Butterfly World is the realisation of a dream for wealthy property developer and entomologist Clive Farrell who created the first butterfly 'walk-through' houses in London, Switzerland and Florida. He co-owns Butterfly World in Stratford-upon-Avon and jointly runs Florida's Butterfly World Park at Coconut Creek, Fort Lauderdale.

Clive spoke to 大象传媒 Three Counties Radio about the project:

The recreated rainforest will have ponds, waterfalls, and rope walk-ways overlooking the rainforest canopy while below ground level sections of the dome will be submerged to incorporate caverns featuring creatures such as giant spiders and scorpions.

The 拢14m funding for the first phase of the development has been raised from private sources and a bank loan and Mr Farrell is confident he can raise the remainder.

Butterfly World听 will give equal prominence to indigenous and tropical species and is expected to attract up to one million visitors a year when it is fully opened in spring 2011.