The Butterfly Summer: British Butterflies of the Wildflower Meadow

The summer of 2025 has been great for butterflies! We have 57 species of butterfly in the UK, along with two migrant species and over 2,500 species of moth. Dr. Orton investigates some of the most common butterflies in our wildflower meadow this year!

Benefits of Butterflies

Butterflies are important! Not only are they beautiful, they are also ancient creatures, as moths and butterflies survived the Triassic period’s mass extinction over 200 million years ago.

Butterflies are pollinators perching on larger flower heads (rather than flying in and out like bees do) and collecting pollen on their legs and body. They also provide a natural form of pest control because many caterpillars feed on aphids.

Butterflies play an important role in the ecosystem, as they are a  food source for birds, spiders, lizards and mice, among other animals. They are good indicators of a healthy ecosystem.

The worrying news is that the UK’s butterfly population has decreased, but there are things that we can do to help. We started our own wildflower meadow as part of the national effort to restore our wild spaces and help creatures like butterflies and other animals!

This year has been a great year for butterflies thanks to the sunny weather! It can be a bit daunting to try to learn all the different species, so we’ve chosen eight of the butterflies most frequently seen this year to get you started.

Our Most Common Butterflies this Year

Gatekeeper butterflies (Pyronia tithonus; also known as Hedge Brown butterflies) are often found at gateways and along hedgerows and field edges, where there are clumps of flowers that humans have left uncut. You might see them alongside Meadow Brown butterflies (which we’ve seen a lot of this year) and Ringlet butterflies.

Gatekeeper butterfly

These are widespread in southern Britain, but they’ve expanded into the Midlands and further North recently. You’ll see them out from July to mid-September.

European Peacock butterflies (Aglais io) emerge from their chrysalis from June-mid-July and they overwinter as dormant adults. They have elaborate markings on their open wings, although the underside of their wings is very dark. You might thee them in your garden, but they range widely through the countryside and especially like woodland clearings, rides, and edges. We’ve seen them a lot on our huge patches of spear thistle in the wildflower meadow.

European peacock butterfly

Large White butterflies (Ieris brassicae) have been our most common butterflies in the wildflower meadow this summer! They have white wings with black tips on the forewings, which spreads down the wing edge. The undersides of its wings are cream-coloured with two spots. If you see two spots on the forewings, this is a female.

You’ll see them in gardens and allotments (especially where cabbages are grown; this and the small white butterfly have sometimes been known as “cabbage white” butterflies), but we’ve seen them all over – especially on our spear thistle patches! Adults are out from mid-April-September.

Small White butterflies (Pieris rapae) look similar to large whites, but they are smaller and don’t have the black extending spot on the forewing. They also like gardens and allotments where cabbages are grown, but you can find them in a variety of other habitats. They emerge from the chrysalis in July, and adults can be seen from April to mid-October.

Common Blue butterflies (Polyommatus icarus) are Britain’s most widespread blue butterfly. The butterfly and its caterpillars love bird’s-foot-trefoil, which we have in abundance this year (click the link to read about bird’s-foot-trefoil and other unsung heroes of our wildflower meadow)!

Male common blue butterflies are a bright blue, but females might have almost completely brown upper wings in southern England, or they might be mostly blue in other parts of the country. There are two – sometimes three – generations of common blue butterflies each year, emerging from the chrysalis in April/May, July/August and late September/early October. Adults can be seen from mid-May to mid-October.

Common blue butterflies, like other blue butterflies, have a special relationship with ants! The caterpillars produce a sweet secretion that is a food source to ants, which in turn protect the caterpillars from predators and parasites. This is known as myrmecophily.

You’ll find common blue butterflies in a variety of habitats, especially sunny sheltered areas. We’ve seen lots of them in the paddock where we first started our experiment using yellow rattle to start a wildflower meadow. That’s where we had the ragwort jungle last year, but this year, we’ve had a lot more diversity, with an abundance of yarrow, bird’s-foot-trefoil, clover, and of course yellow rattle!

Small skipper butterflies (Thymelicus sylvestris) have bright orange-brown wings, with the forewings being angled above the hind wings. You can identify the males because they have a thin black line through the centre of fore-wing.

Skipper butterfly

Small Skippers love basking in the sun or resting among vegetation in high summer, but you will see them darting rapidly among long grass. Small Skipper caterpillars almost exclusively uses Yorkshire-fog grass, which we found a lot of in last year’s summer wildflower survey. Their chrysalis phase is June to mid-July and you will see adults from mid-June to August.

Meadow Brown butterflies (Maniola jurtina) are very common, and can sometimes be seen in their hundreds.  You’ll find them most often in grasslands, but also in gardens, parks and cemeteries.

Meadow Brown butterfly

Their chrysalis phase is May to mid-August and you can see adults flying from mid-June to mid-September, even in dull weather (when other butterflies are inactive).

Speckled wood butterflies (Maniola jurtina) are found in woodland, gardens, parks and hedgerows, particularly perching in sunny places – but they do like damp areas with some shade. They feed on honeydew in the treetops, although when there is less aphid activity early and late in the year when aphid activity is low you might see them feeding on flowers.

Speckled wood butterfly

Speckled wood butterflies are unusual because they can overwinter in two forms: chrysalis or caterpillar – so you might see adults flying from March to October. We’ve seen them a lot in our historic Victorian spinney in the trees surrounding the wildlife pond we created and around the trees on the edges of our wildflower meadow.

Do More

For those who would like to take action to preserve our wild spaces, there’s plenty you can do. If you’re in the UK, why not take part in the Big Butterfly Count and help scientists to protect and learn about butterflies?

Find out how we started our wildflower meadow, how we created a wildlife pond and how we are planting a native woodland from scratch! Even if you don’t have a big garden, there are plenty of things you can do to help biodiversity in your area. Why not put up a solitary bee nesting box or insect home, create a woodpile as a habitat for small creatures or leave small areas of your garden to go wild?

Think about your own area and how you can protect vulnerable but important parts of your own environment. You might even want to start your own project investigating the cultural importance of wildlife in your area. Dr. Orton works with independent scholars undertaking their own research for an independent project, people writing a book or simply those who have a personal interest. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to get started!

Find Out More

If you’re interested in conservation and wildlife, we have a blog series on British wildlife and a series on the people and wildlife of South Asia, from the altitudes of the Himalayas to the dense mangrove forests of Bangladesh!

We also offer online private tuition in our interdisciplinary course, Culture and Conservation, in which you can explore the links between our natural and cultural heritage and study wildlife and cultures from across the world! This is a template of a possible study route and can be combined, adapted, or designed from scratch to suit your interests and goals.

Dr. Orton will work with you to design a course of private tutorials tailored to your needs, ability and schedule. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to find out more!

Reach Out

We’d love to see what you’re doing to help wildlife in your area. Follow the Conservation highlight reel on the Orton Academy Instagram to see what we’re getting up to and tag us in to any snaps you put up!