Peacock Butterfly (gouache style)

The peacock is one of the easiest British butterflies to recognise. Its upper wings are a deep rusty red, each marked with a large eyespot in blue, black and yellow. Closed, the wings are almost black underneath, so a resting peacock looks like a dead leaf. If it's disturbed, it flicks its wings open to flash those four eyes at a predator, and it can make a faint hissing sound by rubbing them together.

Peacocks come out of hibernation on the first warm days of spring, often in March, and lay their eggs on stinging nettles. The black, spiny caterpillars feed in groups in early summer, and a new generation flies from July. Those adults feed hard on buddleia, hemp agrimony and other late flowers before hiding away for winter in sheds, outbuildings and hollow trees. Leave a nettle patch in a sunny corner, prune buddleia hard in late winter, and don't disturb a butterfly you find dozing indoors.

The peacock here has its wings fully open on a purple buddleia flower, showing all four eyespots at once. That open, basking pose is typical of a peacock feeding in summer, when it's building up reserves for the long months of hibernation ahead. The purple flower heads are a reminder of why buddleia is known as the butterfly bush.