From Wildlife Extra, about England:
Butterflies in December
Peacock butterfly in December
December 2012. Was driving along today (December 18th), a nice sunny day with temperatures hovering around 7-8 degrees, when something fluttered across my bows. Unfortunately, I was armed with only a mobile phone camera, so my apologies for the quality, but the image does show a peacock butterfly.
Unusual
Although it is quite unusual, several butterflies can sometimes be seen flying in the UK, even in mid-winter. Peacock and Red admiral are probably the most common, and small tortoiseshell can be found sheltering in houses and other buildings.
Read more about wintering and hibernating butterflies and moths with Butterfly Conservation.
Related articles
- Helping British butterflies (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- The Butterfly Project (klisaanne.typepad.com)
- Butterflies, Dung and Carrion – Terry Thormin (vancouverislandnature.wordpress.com)
- Experts solve mystery of painted lady’s winter disappearance (guardian.co.uk)
- Butterfly migration mystery solved (bbc.co.uk)
- Rare Uk Butterflies Flutter Back in 2011 (quazen.com)
Just last week my husband and I were out walking, and two different Peacock butterflies dive-bombed me on one particular road!
Congratulations! Good to see them!
Such a wonderful post. I love the idea of Peacock butterflies
The European Peacock (Inachis io), more commonly known simply as the Peacock butterfly, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan. Classified as the only member of the genus Inachis (the name is derived from Greek mythology, meaning Io, the daughter of Inachus). It should not be confused or classified with the “American peacocks” in the genus Anartia; these are not close relatives of the Eurasian species. The Peacock butterfly is resident in much of its range, often wintering in buildings or trees. It therefore often appears quite early in spring. The Peacock butterfly has figured in research where the role of eye-spots as anti-predator mechanism has been investigated.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inachis_io
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