YOUNGSTER, Jason O'Rourke, had a close-up encounter with a Tawny Owl butterfly when he spent a day at the Butterfly house at Moss Bank Park in Smithills.
The six-year-old is one of hundreds of people to have visited the attraction over the Christmas holidays.
During the summer months, the tropical house has as many as 200 butterflies and 80 different species.
But things are a little quieter at the moment because the long winter nights mean there is not enough sunlight for many of them.
As summer approaches, new specimens from as far afield as Kenya, Madagascar and New Guinea near Australia, will be imported.
The Butterfly House is open from 10am until 3.30pm.
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