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Meadow Butterflies |
One of the great joys of early summer is
the buzz in the garden, wildlife everywhere going about its
business, creating a wonderful feeling of a habitat brimming
with life. Birds and insects in particular are around in
abundance now so the next few weeks could be a good time to
become more familiar with some of the less obvious butterflies
that may visit your garden. Over the last couple of months we
have welcomed the bright spring butterflies – the brimstone,
small tortoiseshell, peacock and comma – and as the days have
lengthened and warmed, red admiral may have appeared, common
and holly blue, orange tip and the small, large and green
veined whites. Many observant gardeners will be familiar with
these species as they are relatively easy to get to know –
their distinctive bright colours make them straightforward to
tell apart. The peacock’s ‘eyes’, the orange tip’s orange
tips and the tiny common blue’s sparkling azure wings with
orange and black spots on the undersides – even the names of
these butterflies help to make them relatively easy to
identify. Summer however brings the group generally known as
the ‘Browns, butterflies that many people have difficulty
with, although like so much in life, familiarity and a little
effort makes it all a lot easier. These meadow butterflies are
well worth getting to know. |
The Browns belong to the Nymphalidae
family, and have in common the fact that all of them lay their
eggs on a variety of species of native grasses. Also in common
are the facts that they have relatively short antennae and
small eyespots of some sort on their wings. The latter are
thought to deter predatory birds which instinctively aim for
the spots when attacking. This strategy helps to keep the
vulnerable part of the butterfly, the soft body, away from
harm. Many a butterfly is seen with a beak sized piece
missing from a wing yet is still able to fly adequately, so
this is clearly a sacrifice well worth making. Most of the
Browns are fond of knapweed as a nectar source although wild
marjoram is excellent for gatekeepers. This means that a
small wildflower meadow in your garden is a huge advantage if
you wish to see them in any quantity. If you have an
allotment, any surrounding grassy strips with wildflowers or
long grass beneath hedges may act as a source of food for the
adult insects and their larvae. Sadly, these are butterflies
that are not inclined to fly long distances, unlike the red
admiral or painted lady, so in order to be around in your
garden or allotment there needs to be a breeding population
not too far away. However, they do make those short hops from
one suitable habitat to the next and there is every chance
that they will crop up in your garden at some point if you
have long grass, even if you have no knowledge of a nearby
colony. Even the marbled white (which should really be called
the marbled brown) has been known to turn up in unexpected
places. |
You
may come across six of the species within this group and the
two most likely to be seen in a garden environment are the
meadow brown and the gatekeeper. However, speckled wood,
wall, ringlet and the afore-mentioned marbled white are all
possible garden visitors. Grayling and small heath are less
likely unless you live close to their favourite habitats –
coastal areas and heath land. Sadly the wall, named after its
habit of basking on warm sunny walls and rocks, has become
much less common over the last thirty years although can still
be seen in some urban gardens. All these butterflies have a
similar life cycle. They are emerging now from pupation
having spent the winter as tiny caterpillars deep in the base
of thick grasses: one good reason not to cut all your grass to
within an inch of its life in the autumn! This is a very
important management point – if you have a meadow area or any
grass that is left long through the summer, you no doubt
already take in to account the cutting and raking necessary.
Never cutting to less than 5cms will ensure that the tiny
caterpillars of these and a few other butterfly species will
be relatively safe over the winter. As spring approaches the
caterpillars slowly come out of their semi-torpid winter state
and start to feed again on their chosen grasses. They then
pupate deep in the grass thatch before the adults emerge in
all their pristine glory over the next few weeks. Through the
summer they will mate and lay their eggs, often without a
great deal of care and attention! Several of the species
simply scatter their eggs in flight over areas where the
grassy caterpillar food plants are abundant. The
caterpillars, with their distinctive forked tails (which help
to camouflage them amongst the grasses), soon hatch and begin
to feed but as autumn approaches they bed down until spring
returns.
Amongst the commoner garden browns, identification is not too
difficult once you ‘get your eye in’. Seeing the butterfly
with its wings open (though they are not always obliging) will
certainly aid identification. The gatekeeper is a good
species with which to start as it is considerably smaller than
the others and has more orange – a splash on all four wings –
plus the eyespot on the forewing so characteristic of this
group. When seen briefly in flight the overall impression of
this species is that it is a small brown and orange butterfly.
The gatekeeper (also called hedge brown) enjoys wild marjoram
blossom and also feeds on the nectar from bramble flowers.
The meadow brown is similar, but it is about the size of a
small tortoiseshell butterfly and the upper forewing is merely
flushed with orange. Marbled white is unmistakeable,
being largely very dark chocolate brown with small white
patches, including beautiful brown and white scalloped edges
to the wings. This butterfly, if it visits your garden, will
generally be seen feeding on knapweed if you have it.
Speckled wood is also easy to recognise once you have seen it
a few times. It has a row of ‘eye spots’ along the lower wing
edge as well as cream specks throughout the upper wings. This
butterfly is also rather territorial and will fly aggressively
at you if you approach it! A garden with some light shade is
more likely to have speckled woods. |
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Of
the last two likely contenders, the ringlet gives the
impression of being rather dull until it is seen well. Its
rich, chocolate brown colouration is wonderful and each of the
four wings, which are edged with the slenderest white border,
has a double eyespot. The wall is mainly orange with wide
brown veining on the wings together with a range of spots.
Long grass and some nectar plants are all these lovely
creatures require and once they are examined in depth, their
subtle beauty becomes apparent. No gaudy colours for this
group; just enigmatic elegance! |
Useful grasses for the Brown Butterflies
These butterflies lay their eggs on a range of native wild
grasses – some species are very specific in which grasses they
use, whilst others are less fussy, sometimes dropping their
eggs in flight. The most useful species are false brome,
cocksfoot, couch grass, common bent, Yorkshire fog and sheep’s
fescue. |
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© Text and photographs Jenny Steel 2017 |
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