Don't miss the Sensational Butterfly exhibition!

Stuck for something to do with the kids during the Easter holidays? Then take a flutter on a day out at the Natural History Museum in London.

Hundreds of exotic butterflies are part of a new museum exhibition in London.

Some 600 live insects have been brought in for the Natural History Museum's Sensational Butterflies exhibition, along with 1,300 pupae which will mature in the coming days.

The showcase opens to the public on April 12, and organisers are expecting to have around 1,500 insects flapping around the purpose-built butterfly house on the museum's front lawn.

'The exhibition is something that people of every age should see,' Butterfly house manager Luke Brown told the Press Association.

'It's so calming just sitting surrounded by butterflies. You can't fully appreciate it until you have experienced it for yourself.'

The butterfly house will be kept at temperatures between 25 and 35 degrees C (80-95 degrees F) and at 80% humidity to best suit the more than 40 different species of tropical insect including the blue morpho, swallowtail and giant birdwing.

The new arrivals have already settled into their surroundings, and have begun to reproduce.

Around 400 new pupae will also be brought in every week during the exhibition's run to keep numbers up, as the butterflies have an average life span of just two to three weeks.

The Sensational Butterflies exhibition runs at the Natural History Museum from April 12 until September 11.

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