Two of the Green Iguanas that reside at Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm.

The green iguana’s extensive range comprises the rain forests of northern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and southern Brazil. They spend most of their lives in the canopy, descending only infrequently to mate, lay eggs, or change trees.

Primarily herbivores, iguanas are active during the day, feeding on leaves, flowers, and fruit. They generally live near water and are excellent swimmers. If threatened, they will leap from a branch, often from great heights, and escape with a splash to the water below. They are also tough enough to land on solid ground from as high as 40 feet and survive.

The Mexican Red Knee lives on the Pacific Coast of Mexico in dry forest and desert habitats

Whe threatened they will not hisitate to flick hairs from their abdomen using their back legs. We call these ‘urticating Hairs’ and they can cause itchiness, swelling respiratory issues if inhaled.

Female Red Knee tarantulas can live to by as old as 30, whereas males rarely live past 10 years old.

Their diet consists of insects, frogs and the occasional mouse.*

*Information from a signboard next to the Tarantulas

Giant leaf insects are native to the tropical forests of Malasia and Indonesia.

The leaf-like camouflage of these insects allows them to avoid being eaten whilst they eat the surrounding leaves.

However this camouflage is so effective that herbivores and other leaf insect do eat them by mistake.

Giant leaf insects are parthenogenic meaning that they can reproduce without mating. When doing so they only produce female offspring causing males to be very rare.*

*Information from a signboard next to the Leaf Insects

Green Bean stick insects are native to the Caribbean including the islands of Grenada, St Vincent and Guadeloupe.

Both males and females have vestigial wings. This means that their evolutionary ancestors had wings and were capable of flight. However, the ability to fly became less useful and so their wings diminished over many generations until they became small and no longer worked.

Males are small and brown whereas females are large and green.

They feed on a variety of tree leaves native to the Caribbean but will happily eat bramble, eucalyptus and oak in the UK. *

*Information from a signboard next to the Stick Insects

The Malagasy Giant Chameleon is native to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of Africa.

They are the largest chameleon in length and the secon heaviset in weight. Although their typical diet is insects their large size also enables them to eat small birds and reptiles.

Chamelons are famous for changing colour. However, this colour change is used more for temperature regulation and social signalling than camouflage.

They are unique, in that they have specialised leaves called cups. These cups hold digestive enzymes which allow them to consume flies and other invertebrates.

The butterfly in the final photo of my previous post was perched looking over the Koi swimming below.

A few of the many varieties of butterflies that flutter around Stratford-upon-Avon butterfly farm.

Swami Vivekananda

We arrived in the breakfast room to find that the advertised continental breakfast was exactly as advertised, unlike our previous hotel where several components of the continental breakfast were missing. I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity even though the vegetarian breakfast was also tempting. I wasn’t disappointed.

After breakfast, as planned, we had a chilly but leisurely mooch around the town before having lunch in Huffkins. I chose a Belgian bun, which was tasty, but I had forgotten how sticky the icing on top is! Surprisingly one of the Waitresses recognised us from our previous visits.

Our planned adventure for the afternoon was the Butterfly Farm which was busier than on our previous visits. I felt a bit crowded out when we first arrived which wasn’t helped by a gentleman who followed me round as I was trying to take photographs; he too was looking for perfect photo opportunities. I think it might have been the half term holiday which starts a week earlier in Stratford than in my local schools.

There were lots of interesting creatures hiding in plain view in the tropical house, including a red kneed tarantula who unusually was at the front of his safe cave and slowly moving his fangs. The cayman, once again did not realise that I had come to visit and was hiding away in his sleeping quarters.

We returned to Brook Tavener where Mr C had purchased a jacket the previous day. He bought the same jacket in a different colour. It was now time to return to the hotel for a warming cup of tea and a chill out before pre-theatre dining in the Giggling Squid. I chose sticky chicken which was delicious and chose the appropriately named (for Valentine’s Day) Melting Heart Chocolate. Unfortunately, when it arrived it was the full-sized version rather than the small portion ordered, reminding me that the service had been a little bit quirky on our previous visit there. We had a date with Hamlet at the RSC so there wasn’t time to rectify the mistake.

Photo copywrite of the RSC (Hamlet promotional material)

The stage was stunning in the shape of a ship with water around the bows and a video of waves and horizon to the stern. The first half is scene setting where the story is told. The second half, which is more dramatic, saw the stage tilt back and forth with the stormy sea and dramatic culmination of the story.

We returned to the hotel to have a nightcap in the bar to find that our favourite seats had just been taken, as were all the other seats in the bar area. We retired to another seating area which is lovely, albeit quieter than the bar area.

We were joined by others including two gay couples (including an American and a German) who discussed the recent election of Trump and related politics of the situation. Their discussion was to loud to tune out, but at least it was interesting.