Peacock

Although it was a cold day with frost still around in the shadows I saw this peacock butterfly on today's walk. This one looks surprisingly fresh, it's colour, and therefore its scales, haven't suffered at all however the edges are a bit ragged. At this time of year I would expect this to be quite an old specimen.

Peacock  (Aglais io*) butterflies, along with a few other species go dormant rather than overwintering as a pupa. This is not hibernation. Hibernation requires a continuous lowering of the metabolism throughout the winter whereas when going dormant their metabolism depends on the temperature. This one was in a warm sheltered spot where the sun made the local temperature high enough for it to 'wake up' and fly. It didn't have much energy and only flew a few times while I was watching. I managed to get into macro range for this shot.

(According to the metadata this shot was taken on Sun, 04 December 2016)  13:16:34

Note: At the time of this posting the Wikipedia article incorrectly states that the butterfly hibernates. If this were true I would not have seen a live butterfly flying in December