Fact file

Common name: meadow brown
Scientific name: Maniola jurtina
Family: browns

Life cycle:
egg: eggs are laid between June and September; they hatch after four weeks;
caterpillar: this species over-winters as a caterpillar;
pupa: this stage lasts three or four weeks in the period from May to August;
adult: emerges in June and can be seen as late as October in the reserve; an adult’s average life span is only two weeks but an individual butterfly can live up to six weeks.

Food plants: the adults are nectar feeders; caterpillars eat a wide range of grass species; our hay meadows are ideal and during the summer months meadow browns are the reserve’s most commonly seen butterfly species.

Conservation status: Butterfly Conservation priority: low; European status: not threatened.                   

Header image: meadow brown female by Charles J Sharp (cc-by-sa-4.0) wikimedia.org