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Meadow Brown - Favourite Photo of 2015

Week 11

So continues sequence of posts giving one and all the opportunity to showcase their favourite shots of 2015!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks, Wurzel,

Hi Folks,
Hope you had a good Meadow Brown season in the UK this year.
Down here in the South of France, in the area of Marseilles, we have form hispulla :
Male, 23 May: Female, form hispulla, much brighter orangey colours than the nominative form: Female, forme hispulla: Male: Cheers, Chris

Lovely variety, Chris, particularly the female.

Our own UK females are rather more mundanely marked, but are still attractive nonetheless. Here's on from Arnside Knott, Cumbria on 6th August:

I like this one for the wonderful 'marbling' on the underside - a much under-rated butterfly!
Mike

My only Meadow Brown photo rather than my favourite. It was the largest prey taken by a crab spider that I have seen.

Not much to say about this shot, but the site itself - Sherwood Heath LNR, near Ollerton in Notts. - is interesting. It combines one of the last remaining patches of lowland heath habitat in Nottinghamshire with an area of reclaimed spoil from the adjacent Thoresby colliery.

These former industrial 'brownfield' sites seem to be attracting more attention from conservationists. This one has certainly attracted the local butterflies. No real rarities but many of the more common meadow and woodland species can be seen in large numbers throughout the season.

I took my favourite shot whilst on Holiday on the the Broads at Broadlands where we stayed, the field where I took the shot was adjacent to us, it was the 12th of June the day before we were due to leave and the Butterfly seemed so fresh.

I also took a photo of my next Meadow Brown at Hall-Lee-Brook, I mention this because shortly after the meadow grass was cut I'd the horrid experience of watching the Butterflies fly for cover else where, the date was 10th of July which I won't forget in a hurry Goldie

My favourite Meadow Brown photos taken this year were a couple that I took at Fermyn Woods in mid July of a nice female showing extra orange patches on her hindwings.
Cheers,

Neil.

Had a go at getting this female from a slightly different angle, being a freshly emerged animal the acute angle to her wings just caught a hint of purplish shimmer. And a more contextual shot on Malling Down when they were flying in a blue sea of Devil's-bit Scabious

Meadow Brown

I found myself almost ignoring the Meadow Browns after the initial ‘find’ this year so choosing my favourite photo was actually quite easy as I’d taken so few. This was my fave first of all because it was a nice close up, second it was taken at a slightly different angle from one that I usually use and finally because of the range of browns present – from almost black through to dark chocolate, milk chocolate, the odd purplish sheen and the light brown of the margins. The subtley in colouration makes this anything but a boring butterfly and now I feel slightly ashamed for giving them such short shrift this year. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Some catching up to do!

A butterfly you take for granted for much of the time, but I find there is still a thrill when you see the first ones around the start of June - the dark fresh males, followed by the brighter females a week or so later. The first two favourites are one of each from my local patch, which was blessed with good numbers in 2015. The third one is a female from Ryton Woods on 4th July, showing how the hind wings are often quite deeply scalloped. Dave

2015 was the pinnacle of my "looking for larvae at night" phase - finding Meadow Brown occasionally, and Marbled White in profusion, on Stockbridge Down. But this was the first time I'd ever found a full-grown Meadow Brown larva, and it was a delight to see. I repeated the exercise closer to home and Meadow Brown are not that hard to find! A combination of sifting through dense grass tussocks and rearing through larvae allowed me to also study the pupae, which have quite a range of markings but, in every case, the larval skin is retained at the end of the cremaster. Definitely a highlight of 2015, despite this being a common and widespread species.
Cheers,

- Pete

Great photos of the pupae, Pete. Just think how many hundreds of these beautifully camouflaged creatures are sitting down in the grass in so many fields across the UK during the summer - and you never see a single one without looking really hard. The markings really blend them in with the grass blades.

Dave