As a wildlife filmmaker, over the years, I've been lucky enough to get up close and personal

with some amazing animals.

From swimming with manta rays on the Ningaloo reef off the western coast of Australia,

to help in dedicated ranges feed orphaned elephant calves in Nairobi, Kenya.

You can hear about both these experiences in some of our earlier episodes, but it's

also worth saying that you don't have to travel halfway around the globe to see some

of the most stunning and delicate of Mother Nature's creations.

They can be found right on your doorstep, and one of the most perfect examples of this

comes in the exquisite form of butterflies.

Now I never cease to be amazed by the variety of patterns and colours on the wings of butterflies.

Of course, these aren't for our benefit, but rather play an important role for the

winged beauties, because butterflies and moths are the masters of disguise.

The colours and shapes of their wings can sometimes look like animal faces, eyes, rolled

up leaves, and even snakes.

There are more than 18,000 butterfly species in about 140,000 different moths.

All of them evolved from a common ancestor, which we can trace back more than 225 million

years ago.

From this one ancestor, a kaleidoscope of wing colours and shapes have evolved, which

can be found in many forests, fields, and savannas of the world, and also in your back garden.

Each species has developed their own way of making the most of their scaly wings.

In many species like the morphos, amperes, and blues, the males are more colourful than

the females.

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