A global butterfly collection

Idea leuconoe, a species from Indonesia, is just one of many at Butterfly World

Most people on Teesside have been to Butterfly World. Whether on a school trip where the overgrown greenery looked like The Day of the Triffids, or as grown ups with their children, realising just how fearless the winged insects are as they kamikaze towards people's faces.

Few visitors, though, know the story behind Butterfly World, and most importantly, Gareth Welsh, the man who set it all up.

Gareth's story starts when he was a lecturer craving something more in his life. He travelled around the world teaching in various countries and along with his children developed a love for butterflies. Breeding, catching and collecting them.

"I started off as a teacher at Stockton and Billingham Tech. I taught in Malawi and started going round the world teaching. When my children were small we'd go out catching butterflies, just like I did as a child.

"You've got to love them like I do." Gareth explains the motivation behind Butterfly World. But it's not all running around with nets catching butterflies, there's a lot of hard work that goes into collecting:

In pictures: Butterfly World In pictures: In a Butterfly World

"The problem is getting the plants, if you can get the plant you're half-way there. A lot of the trips we go on are to get the plants before we get the butterflies. Sometimes we'll go to an area three times."

Coming home

He eventually brought his talents back to the UK when sickness hit his young family and they needed to return home.

Having spent so long setting up his colonies across the globe, it seemed the logical thing to set up Butterfly World in Teesside.

"The thing is, people get a lot of pleasure out of them, and I get a lot of pleasure out of watching the children and the grown-ups.

"I just keep thinking it's all worth while."