THE owner of a research centre housing a collection of millions of butterflies is attempting to ensure its future.

Steve Collins' 1.5 acre plot of land in Nairobi encompasses hundreds of trees and flowering bushes - the perfect conditions for breeding butterflies. His decades long career all began as a childhood hobby.

"I've always learnt about nature since I've been a very small boy. We spent the first 28 years of our lives up in Mt Elgon, but I have been working on butterflies since I was five (years old) and it got really quite serious from about the age of nine," Collins explains.

Millions of butterflies are stored in the centre, a figure that even Collins has difficulty wrapping his head around.

"This collection here is the biggest collection of African butterflies in the world. It is 1.2 million pinned butterflies and 3 million (others), which is very difficult to understand in terms of size. It is huge," Collins marvels.

The researcher is seeking funding, as well as an individual or institution to protect the collection.

"For us, for the future, is to get some financial support to get the biodiversity going and to actually find a safe home for this (Butterfly Research Centre) when Collins is no longer here," he says.

In addition to his research and collections, Collins has penned eight books over the course of his 60 years in the field.