DOZENS of butterflies were released at an Oxford nursery school in a colourful ceremony.

The butterfly release was part of a project on life cycles at Cherry Tree Nursery in Headington.

Youngsters at the nursery were able to follow the creatures through each of their stages of development before they emerged from chrysalises as butterflies.

Nursery manager Jenny Willoughby said: “The children have loved the experience of watching a larva grow and change from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

“They have particularly enjoyed being involved with releasing the butterflies, as many of them landed on the children.”

It is the second time the nursery has run the project, and it is planned for a new intake of larva to be brought to the nursery in September.

Mrs Willoughby said: “We have previously had frog spawn.

“But from observing the children, we can see that they gain much more from the caterpillars and butterflies.”

The nursery’s chairman Tanya Field said the project had been a big success.

The idea had come from staff on training courses where they picked up the idea of having real caterpillars for the children to watch grow and transform.

The creatures were all colourful Painted Lady butterflies.

They were bought online and delivered to the nursery, where they were kept indoors until the grand release last Friday.

Mrs Field said: “The children loved it and the release was a big highlight for them.

“It’s a bit more visual for the children and I think they were quite amazed to see what happens.”

She said the children were very successful in nurturing the insects — not a single one had died before they were released.

Cherry Tree Nursery has the equivalent of 24 full-time places,and in total there are 45 children on the roll.