Nature & Wildlife | Posted on June 12th, 2026 | return to news

Peacock struts its stuff as nation’s favourite butterfly

The nation has spoken and crowned the Peacock Britain’s Favourite Butterfly in a landmark poll held by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation.

Butterfly Conservation has revealed that the show-stopping Peacock beat off fierce competition from a colourful cast of species to take the top spot in the first-ever vote to find Britain’s Favourite Butterfly.

The garden favourite beat 59 other butterflies to claim the coveted title in a poll that saw over 20,000 votes cast across the UK between 15 May and 7 June.

The Orange-tip came a close second, Red Admiral third, Holly Blue fourth, and the bright yellow Brimstone was placed fifth. Ultimately, the Peacock stole the nation’s hearts.

Butterfly Conservation’s head of engagement, Kate Merry, said: “The response to Britain’s Favourite Butterfly has been absolutely wonderful, and we’re not surprised. It’s clear that people up and down the country love butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colours, and voted in their thousands for their favourites.”

“The Peacock is a worthy winner, it’s a true showstopper and a species that I bet a lot of us picture when we think of butterflies. It’s been really special seeing people get so passionate about their favourites and throw their support behind them. Now we can’t wait to see how many Peacocks are spotted up and down the country in this summer’s Big Butterfly Count.”

It’s a critical time for the UK’s butterflies and the charity is calling on everyone to take part in this year’s Big Butterfly Count to help conservationists get an updated picture of how Britain’s most common butterflies are faring. In 2024, Butterfly Conservation declared a butterfly emergency after numbers recorded during the charity’s annual count fell to their lowest ever.

Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count is the world’s largest butterfly survey, and this year it carries greater urgency than ever. Conservationists are hoping that a surge in public participation in 2026 will both improve the data picture and help galvanise support for butterfly-friendly habitats across the UK.

Kate Merry said: “Taking part in the Big Butterfly Count couldn’t be easier, simply spend 15 minutes in any outdoor space and count the butterflies and day-flying moths you see and submit your sightings to help build our interactive map.

“This information will help conservationists to see how some of our more-common species are faring, which in turn helps to build a wider picture of how all butterflies and moths are doing. It’s easy, fun for all the family, and a great excuse to get outside and experience the simple joy of spotting butterflies.”

This year’s Big Butterfly Count takes place from Friday 17 July until Sunday 9 August. Simply download the free app, spend 15 minutes in any sunny spot and record the number and types of butterflies spotted.

To find out more, visit www.bigbutterflycount.org

The top five butterflies voted in Butterfly Conservation’s Britain’s Favourite Butterfly poll were:

1st Peacock

An instantly recognisable beauty, this iconic butterfly has stand-out eye-spots, a remarkable evolutionary defence mechanism designed to ward off predators many times its own size. It is a regular visitor to gardens and green spaces across the whole of the UK, particularly where patches of nettles can be found as they are its caterpillars’ favourite foodplant.

2nd Orange-tip

A worthy runner up with glowing white wings and vivid tangerine tips in the males, this uplifting species is a sure sign of spring and that warmer summer days aren’t far away.

3rd Red Admiral

With striking jet-black wings, bold red bands and white spotted tips, it is a long-distance migrant that travels all the way from North Africa to flutter around UK gardens each year. It is now commonly sticking around through the winter, a sign of our warming climate.

4th Holly Blue

This butterfly counts British icons Dame Joanna Lumley and Geri Halliwell-Horner amongst its fans. It has powder-blue wings and has been steadily spreading northwards in recent decades, bringing its appealing beauty to gardens and hedgerows across more of the country than ever before.

5th Brimstone

Sunshine-yellow wings may have given all butterflies their name – but this is the original butter-coloured fly, whose appearance is often heralded as the first sign of spring.