Have you seen any black butterflies?

Now, in high summer, we're at the height of the butterfly season - hoorah for that! There is a whole host of species you can see in gardens if you're lucky...and if you've been doing the right things to give them a home.

There are blue ones and white ones, golden ones and brown ones. But black ones?

Well, this was the sight that greeted me when I popped into the RSPB HQ at The Lodge in Bedfordshire last week.

In fact there were about a couple of dozen of these black butterflies, all merrily feeding on Hemp Agrimony, which is such a wonderful nectar plant.

I'm anticipating that many of you will already have identified them as Peacock butterflies, whose dark undersides are in sharp contrast to the rich mahogany upperwings with their bold eye spots.

These Peacocks are the offspring of the adults you would have flown in March and April. The parents would have laid their eggs in large stands of nettle and then perished, letting this brood to hatch and grow into spiky black caterpillars before pupating and then emerging from late July onwards.

They then feed up on favourite nectar-rich plants, including Fleabane, Echinacea and Inula, before finding a safe place to sleep for six months. Log piles, hollow trees and - in gardens - sheds and outbuildings are their typical choice, and many will settle down within the next few weeks, so enjoy them while you can.

Sadly, few of us have the space in our garden for a large bed of nettles but at least we can all grow the flowers that give them a sugary autumn boost. And remember never to upset a Peacock - they are the one British buttefly that can 'hiss' when annoyed, by rubbing their wings together. You have been warned!