The European peacock is a large, instantly recognizable butterfly whose rich rusty-red wings bear four bold eyespots in black, blue, and yellow that startle predators. Adults nectar widely on garden and meadow flowers — buddleia, marjoram, thistles, hemp agrimony, and many herbs — and also take tree sap and overripe fruit late in the year. Larvae feed almost exclusively on stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), occasionally hop or annual nettle, so nettle patches are the essential breeding habitat. Adults overwinter in sheltered places such as hollow trees and outbuildings and reappear in early spring, making the peacock one of the first butterflies on the wing in European gardens.

Nectar plants · 2

Found throughout Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan; widespread and common across the British Isles and currently expanding northward.