Peacock Butterfly Wins Poll as Britain's Favourite

The votes are in on Britain’s favourite butterfly, and it is one of the most ubiquitous yet spectacular backyard beauties that has flown to victory. With its lavender, yellow and maroon eye spots and luscious rusty red and black colouration, the peacock butterfly is both beautiful and commonplace, flying throughout spring, summer and autumn in all corners of the British Isles. It beat 59 other native species in the charity Butterfly Conservation’s poll to find the nation’s favourite for the first time, in which more than 20,000 votes were cast. [...] Another butterfly expected to be seen in large numbers this summer is the painted lady, which finished 10th in the poll. [...] The count is the world’s largest butterfly survey, in which participants spend 15 minutes in any outdoor space counting the butterflies and day-flying moths they see before submitting their sightings via a free app or website. It starts on 17 July.