Meadow Brown
Maniola jurtina
If house sparrows were still as abundant as they were thirty years ago, we might say this was the house sparrow of the butterfly world: it is found right across Britain, virtually everywhere there is long grass, and not infrequently in huge colonies of hundreds or even thousands.
Larval food plant: a wide range of grasses, from fescues and meadow grasses to cock's foot. Where seen: on grasslands and downlands all across Britain and Ireland (with the exception of Shetland), and also on roadside verges, hedgerows, woodland rides and clearings, waste ground, parks and gardens. Current conservation status: Stable.
David Dennis/Butterfly Conservation
