Meadow Brown - Favourite Photo of 2012

[Vince Massimo]

Here is the opportunity to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2012 (or the last time you saw one!).

This is part of a series of topics which will grow over 20 weeks throughout the winter until all 59 UK species have been covered. The intention is to showcase three species per week (in alphabetical order), so please wait until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos. Our overseas friends are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants.

Details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome and please feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, stories of personal encounters, anecdotes or other interesting points.

Vince

[Wurzel]

Meadow Brown
This was taken at Old Sarum on the same evening as my fave Marbled White. It felt different from the other MB’s I’d been seeing over the course of the evening and it looked more interesting due to its seemingly darker appearance as well as the dark spots on the hind wings with their orange “halos” and the unusual looking fore-wing eye-spot. Also I had to cling like an Abseiler to the side of the ring in order to get level with the butterfly. So bearing in mind that I was holding and shooting with my right hand while my left was grasping a few blades of grass which were stopping me tumbling down the cliff, I’m pleased with how well it came out.

Have a goodun
Wurzel

[ChrisC]

at Martin Downin september, i found this one, a worn one doing a fine impression of alba, took a good 10 minutes for it to open it's wings after it flew on the first attempt. didn't want to chase it hence all the grass in the way. longest i've spent on a single meadow brown

[CFB]

This is my favourite Meadow Brown of the year. It is one of many females with wings wide open that I saw at the beginning of September. Is she trying to attract males?

--
Colin

[David M]

That's amazingly orange for a Meadow Brown. It's not far off Hedge Brown suffusion!

[MikeOxon]

I like this one because it breaks the "1 spot = Meadow Brown, 2 spots = Gatekeeper" rule.

Otmoor, Oxon - 22nd August 2012
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/5.6 ISO400

Mike

EDIT: Looking back, I see I made the same comment on my photo last year! Ageing brings not only amnesia but makes one set in one's ways

[badgerbob]

For such a common species the Meadow Brown is not particularly easy to get good photos of. I was pleased to find a fresh male in Friston Forest which posed well and a little later in the year a female on Cradle Hill also sat still for me.

[CFB]

It's not far off Hedge Brown suffusion!

Hello David,

What is a Hedge Brown? That's a new one for me. I suspect my photo shows the form hispulla of the Meadow Brown.

Here's a more normal coloured one taken the next day:

--
Colin

[CFB]

It's not far off Hedge Brown suffusion!

What is a Hedge Brown? That's a new one for me.

Never mind, I've just found that it's the same thing as a Gatekeeper.
--
Colin

[David M]

It's not far off Hedge Brown suffusion!

What is a Hedge Brown? That's a new one for me.

Never mind, I've just found that it's the same thing as a Gatekeeper.
--
Colin

Sorry, Colin. I grew up using the name Hedge Brown and I find it hard to change now.

Are Meadow browns generally more suffused with orange in that region?

[CFB]

Are Meadow browns generally more suffused with orange in that region?

In my limited experience the amount of yellow/orange varies between a lot, as shown in my first photo, and very little, especially on the hind-wing, but my second photo probably represents the most common form.
--
Colin

[Neil Freeman]

I saw Meadow Browns in very high numbers at some places this year, possibly the most I have ever seen at a couple of local spots.

The first one that I saw was this male at Babbs Mill in Late June,

Meadow Brown male - Babbs Mill 23.06.2012

The first female that I photographed was this one from Whixall Moss in early July with forewing eyespots reduced to little more than black spots,

Meadow Brown female - Whixall Moss 04.07.2012

I also saw fair numbers of individuals with double white spots including this one from Shadowbrook Meadows,

Meadow Brown - Shadowbrook 11.08.2012

and this pale looking female at Ryton Wood,

Meadow Brown - Ryton Wood 14.07.2012

I photographed this very orange female on Bindon Hill in early September. Nearly all of the Meadow Browns, Graylings and Marbled Whites seen here had some of the red mites on them.

Meadow Brown - Lulworth 05.09.2012

I will finish off with two of my favourites, taken at Shadowbrook Meadows on a day in Mid August when the place was alive with hundreds of Meadow Browns as well as loads of Peacocks.

Meadow Brown - Shadowbrook 19.08.2012

Meadow Brown - Shadowbrook 19.08.2012

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Nigel Kiteley]

My favourite Meadow Brown image was taken at Aston Rowant on July 21st.

[Vince Massimo]

The 8th August 2012 was one of those rare days where the wind was calm, the temperature was high and the sky partially overcast..........prefect for photographing Meadow Browns. In these conditions they were apt to bask for long periods and if disturbed would soon settle nearby. There were many potential candidates at one of my local sites on the North Downs, so I was able to pick the freshest or the most unusual.

This first one needed the use of flash because the conditions were so dark.

Meadow Brown female - Woldingham, Surrey 8-Aug-2012

This second individual was not only pale, but had double eye spots on each wing. It really glowed in the hazy sunshine.

Meadow Brown female (pale variant) - Woldingham, Surrey 8-Aug-2012

I still, however, need to get some good upper wing shots of males........

Vince

[John W]

My favourite from 2012 was this fresh male taken on the evening of 20th June, at Southwater woods. It was the first time I had seen them in 2012. I like the graceful crescent shape.

[millerd]

In five years or so of monitoring my local patch, I have never seen as many Meadow Browns as I did in 2012. There must have been hundreds, even thousands, and there were a healthy number at nearby Harmondsworth Moor too. I have chosen a couple of early males - these to my mind are the most attractive of the many variations to be seen throughout the long emergence of this species, being dark and velvety, sometimes almost unmarked on the upperside. I have also included a mating pair, mainly because there is something on one of the flowerheads which looks a bit like a lycaenid caterpillar of some sort. It would be good to know one way or the other...

Dave

[Goldie M]

Just got back from Christmas Hols ready for New Year and Spring now I saw my Meadow Brown 3ard of July in Lydden Kent the weather was cold and damp that day so the sight of this Butterfly made my day Goldie

[The Annoying Czech]

Must be this one, both for the lighting and will of the imago to stay extremely still even under the strong sun.

[Neil Hulme]

I think we've collectively shown that the easily overlooked Meadow Brown is a rather attractive species, despite it lacking the glamour of some. It's also one of the hardest to photograph well; even faced with a meadow supporting thousands, it's all too easy to come away with nothing of merit! This one was snapped in the meadows adjacent to Southwater Woods on a foggy morning in June.
Neil