Blues, yellows, oranges, or blacks, well, there are butterflies of all colours. They are back to the best spot in Cascais to observe them, the João Pedro Cardoso da Conceição Butterfly House, located in Quinta de Rana, starting this weekend of April 6th and 7th. This marks the reopening of the space, which has been renovated in recent months.
This is the country's only natural butterfly house. That means it does not have different temperature conditions compared to the outside nor any exotic species. All the butterflies you can see there are those found in nature in the Cascais region — there are about 370 species in the area. However, there, in a confined space without predators, they can be known to all visitors, in addition to leading a longer life.
It usually hosts around 60 specimens, including both diurnal and nocturnal butterflies, in their life cycles throughout the year. From eggs they become larvae, which in turn transform into chrysalises, until they become the butterflies as we know them. This is the time of year when butterflies are most abundant, although climate change is altering ecosystems, warns biologist Diogo Rama da Silva, the scientific manager of the space for eight years, who is a specialist in these insects.
There, they have host trees where butterflies can safely lay their eggs and go through the different stages of the process. They feed on weeds, which technicians cultivate in a nearby nursery. The mission is to conserve and promote biodiversity, something that has been successfully done since the butterfly house was inaugurated in 2013.
"We do here what we are doing on a large scale in the Cascais natural park, to live up to the Rewilding project, which reintroduces native Portuguese species such as the woolly donkey, the Mirandese cow, the Corsican sheep, and the Campaniça sheep, in this whole strategy of giving back and helping nature," explains the Municipal Director of Environment and Sustainability of the Cascais City Council, Luís Almeida Capão, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of Cascais Ambiente.
In the last year alone, the João Pedro Cardoso da Conceição Butterfly House received about 10,000 visitors, with over 70 schools from all over the country bringing their students there. "We've managed to increase the attractiveness of this green space in the municipality and at the same time contribute to biodiversity. It's increasingly easier to collect the species that reproduce here. That's a bioindicator, it's almost a stamp of approval that we're indeed doing a good job promoting biodiversity in Cascais."
On Saturday, starting at 11:00, there will be a guided tour of the butterfly house, which is shaped like a cocoon. This will be followed by a butterfly identification workshop at 14:30. On Sunday, April 7th, join us for the butterfly and caterpillar photography workshop at 10:30; or the Stamp or Flutter workshop at 14:30. Registrations should be made through the email address atividadesnatureza@cascaisambiente.pt.
Rua Feliciano Moreira, 4 (São Domingos de Rana)