Close your eyes and picture a summer’s meadow. What do you see? Wildflowers gently swaying in the breeze? Butterflies flying from flower to flower feeding? Grasshoppers jumping? An area full of life? This summer we are asking people to go in search of their local wildflower patch, whether this be in their garden, a roadside verge or a local green space and look for three insects associated with meadows:
- Common blue butterflies
- Meadow browns
- Six-spot burnet moths
Who could resist an excuse to visit a meadow in the summertime? Keep your eyes peeled and please submit your records below.
How to spot common blue
The common blue is a small blue butterfly that flies throughout the summer between April and October. The most widespread of the blue butterflies, it is found in a variety of habitats, including heathland, woodland rides, grassy meadows, parks, large gardens and waste ground. The caterpillars feed on clovers, restharrow, common bird's-foot trefoil and related plants.
The male common blue has bright blue wings with a brown border and white fringe. The female is brown with a blue 'dusting' near the body. It has orange spots on the underside of its hindwings, whereas the similar holly blue has black spots. It is larger than the silver-studded blues, and brighter than the chalkhill blue.
How to spot meadow brown
The medium-sized meadow brown is one of the commonest grassland butterflies, on the wing in the summer, from June to September. It also occurs in parks, gardens and cemeteries. It even flies in dull weather when other butterflies are inactive. It is mainly brown with washed-out orange patches on the forewings. The best way to identify the 'brown' butterflies is by looking at the eyespots on their wings. The combination of its relatively large
size, orange patches on the forewings only, one eyespot on the forewing and none at all on the hindwings, is unique to the meadow brown. The meadow brown also has only one small white 'pupil' in the eyespots, instead of two like the gatekeeper.
How to spot six-spot burnet moth
The six-spot burnet is a medium-sized, day-flying moth, commonly found in grasslands, woodland rides and sand dunes, where the caterpillars feed on common bird's-foot trefoil. The adults feed on the nectar of knapweed, thistles and other grassland flowers. It is a glossy black with red spots on its long, narrow wings. There are six similar species of burnet moth in the UK: this is the only one with six red spots on each forewing; the other common species have five spots.