MAY: Peacock Butterfly EGGS

The Peacock butterfly is a stunning, colorful species found across Europe and temperate regions of Asia, known for distinctive eyespots and rich red base colour. The Peacock butterfly is a strong flier and is often seen in gardens, meadows, and woodlands, where it feeds on nectar from various flowers. Its caterpillars spend the first couple of weeks living among a silk web they construct to protect the colony. This web can cover entire plants in the wild as the caterpillars grow, finally becoming solitary in the final stage before pupation. Pupae can be bright green or brown in colour - both act as effective disguise among plants - and turn black in colour prior to the butterfly emerging after around 10-14 days. Numbers of this species have declined drastically due to habitat destruction and the use of herbicides/insecticides in fields, gardens, and public places where nettles, their only host plant, grow as weeds. That said, 2023 was reported to be an excellent year for Peacocks!