Crash Landing...

Sad end to a beautiful creature. This Peacock butterfly's wing is all that remains after it landed on the car headlight and stuck there. Perhaps it thrashed around until if fell off minus it's wing or maybe a bird had a tasty titbit for breakfast? Who knows. It can't have had long to live anyway. My butterfly guide book says it shouldn't even be around in October, I guess the warm spell had confused it.


The Peacock is a familiar sight in gardens across the British Isles and is unmistakable, with quite spectacular eyes on the upperside of the hindwings that give this butterfly its name. These eyes must appear very threatening to predators, such as mice, that confront this butterfly head-on, where the body forming a "beak", as shown in the image below.

The underside is a different matter altogether, being almost black, providing perfect camouflage when the butterfly is at rest on a tree trunk, or when hibernating. In addition to camouflage and large eyes, the butterfly is able to make a hissing sound by rubbing its wings together that is audible to human ears. All in all, this butterfly must appear very threatening to any predator that might come across it.