Nature table: The Peacock Butterfly

Peacock butterflies have just one brood a year in Ireland and this appears in the second part of July. They are vanessids, members of a family with five representatives in this country that include some of our largest and brightest species.

The colourful upper surfaces of the peacock’s wings with their prominent eye-spots contrast with well-camouflaged under wings that are black with a tracery of grey. The newly emerged adults feed heavily on nectar and will congregate on buddleia bushes when the flowers open in a few weeks. Then they’ll go into hibernation in September.

Unlike small tortoiseshells, they seldom come into houses to hibernate, though they sometimes use outbuildings.