Female, July 2013 (anomalously, with twin eye-spot)
Male, Málaga, March 2019 (the earliest I have ever seen this species)
Female, Switzerland, June
2011
Meadow browns in August 2006, Switzerland
Male, Switzerland, June 2007
Female, Val d'Aran
Final instar caterpillar, Switzerland, May 2015
Distribution
A common grassland species
throughout
the whole of Europe except northern Scandinavia, the meadow brown is
the herald of summer. The first individuals appear towards the end of
May, as the grasses grow tall, and there are still butterflies around
in September, as summer comes to a close. I did see one at the end of
March 2019 in Málaga, in an exceptionally early year, but in most of
Europe this species waits for spring to be over before putting in an
appearance. It can be seen wherever grasses grow, in gardens, woods,
allotments or at the beach, flying up to about 1600m in mountainous
areas.
Both sexes are medium-large butterflies - the female generally
noticeably bigger - with a rather floppy flight quite unlike the
swooping flight of grayling species, which often fly in the same areas.
The male is brown above with a sooty sex brand and a single
white-pupilled eyespot in the apex of the forewing, usually set in at
least a little orange. There is considerable variation here. The spot
is occasionally blind, and the surrounding orange may be absent. I
don't think I've ever seen an individual lacking a spot altogether,
though. The female is similar, but with much more orange on the
forewing and occasionally twin white pupils in the apical spot. In
Spain and the Canaries - subspecies hispulla -
females are almost completely orange above, with dark borders (rather
than dark, with orange patches).The underside hindwing of the male
usually has one or more small, blind spots set in orange rings - the
individual from Italy I illustrate above is exceptional in the size of
these spots and the fact two of them have white pupils. The female has
a paler underside hindwing, with a wavy line separating the darker
basal region from the paler outer region. She usually lacks hindwing
spots.
The caterpillars feed on a wide range of grasses, including meadow
grasses, fescues, bent grasses, Yorkshire fog and others. It is the
caterpillar that hibernates, feeding up in the spring and reaching full
size by May, when it goes wandering, looking for a place to pupate. As
the last picture shows, it is quite distinctive with its long, slightly
wavy hairs - very different from the finer fur of other satyrids.