Peacock (Aglais io)

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2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.

14459_sex?_UK Buckinghamshire_15Mar09 13674_sex?_Lozère_21Aug08 48825_female_Côte-d'Or_27Jul21 38607_female_Pyrénées-Orientales_17Jul15

This is probably the most beautifully-marked European butterfly. If it was a rarity, its beauty would probably be more appreciated. Curiously, in 2006 I hardly saw any in Var until late September, when they started to appear in reasonable numbers.

In subsequent years there have been virtually no sightings, hence the paucity of photographs.

Scientific studies have concluded that the "eye-spots", when flashed as the wings open and close, have shown to be a deterrent to attacks from birds. I'm not sure how any study could come to this conclusion (there would need a test and a control), but I can see how it would be a deterrent.

This species was previously known as Inachis io.

ref sex

observations

alt. m
14459 M

a male, based its territorial behaviour.

90
13674 ?

hard to say what sex it is.

1450
48825 ? possibly a female based on what can be seen of the body shape. This individual posed perfectly with open wings on a warm but overcast day, sitting motionless for some time. It appears to a have a rather carmine-red colouring, maybe because it was fresh, but the ground colour provides an excellent backdrop to the multi-coloured markings. All in all, a spectacularly beautiful butterfly. 320
38607 F a rare (for me) sighting a an underside, probably a female based on body shape. 1820

 

14459_sex?_UK Buckinghamshire_15Mar09

 

13674_sex?_Lozère_21Aug08

 

48825_female_Côte-d'Or_27Jul21

 

38607_female_Pyrénées-Orientales_17Jul15