Which Brown Meadow Butterfly Did I See?

Summertime brings out the beautiful flowers in Norfolk's summer meadows, a rich palette of deep magenta of Knapweed contrasting with cheery white Ox-eye daisies alongside the vibrant red of Field Sorrel and abundant native grasses. This turning of spring into high summer also brings with it a flurry of grassland and meadow butterflies.

As grassland species, the Brown or Satyridae family of butterflies evolved to survive in roughly similar kinds of habitat. As a result, these handsome, oft brown and orange-hued meadow butterflies can look quite similar, especially from a distance, and so be tricky to distinguish. Most field guides are structured a page or two per butterfly, so here are a few comparative tips to help identify the British grassland butterfly species in Norfolk, supported with side by side photos.

The butterflies covered in this article are:

Small Heath
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Wall Brown
Ringlet
Speckled Wood
Grayling

The Marbled white is not officially resident in the county and is restricted to chalk downland of which there is very little in Norfolk. That said we do occasionally get reports of released individuals, so it is worth bearing in mind particularly when visiting sites such as Ringstead in the west of the county. The chocolate brown and cream checker board markings of Marbled Whites are very distinctive and should not be a source of confusion but images for this species can be viewed in my white and yellow butterfly identification guide. Not covered in this article are the Large Heath, Mountain Ringlet and Scotch Argus, butterflies of our northern moors, bogs and mountains.

Don't rely on Forewing Roundel Spots

In many species, field guidebooks highlight the forewing upper side roundel as a rule of thumb for identification, but it's important to know this is not a definitive identifying characteristic as the number of white eye-spots in forewing roundels in particular can vary. The hindwing underside markings should always be used alongside forewing roundels to confirm butterfly identification.

Eliminate Skipper Butterflies

Since several of the smaller Browns have a splash of orange, there is just a small risk of confusion with Skippers in the field. There are three skippers in Norfolk and although they have slightly different seasons, all do fly around the same time as meadow butterflies in meadow and grassland habitats. Their smaller size, triangular wing shape and markings as well as their characteristic sudden jumping or skipping flight behaviour should help distinguish these even if viewing from a distance. To identify Skipper butterflies check out my separate Skipper identification guide.

Orange-Brown “Confusion” Meadow Species

The three main visually similar Brown family butterflies that can cause confusion are the Small Heath, Gatekeeper, and Meadow Brown although the Wall Brown does also have a pattern with orange markings.

Small Heath

The Small Heath is the smallest butterfly in the Browns family. It rarely basks and feeds with its wings held shut, so very little of it's orange forewing may be on display. Like the Meadow Brown, it usually has a single white eyespot in it's black forewing roundel, but size, behaviour and habitat should in practice readily differentiate the two species. The Small Heath is a much smaller, more secretive butterfly and it excels at camouflage amongst dead grasses on heathland, whereas in fine weather the larger Meadow Brown drifts from flower to flower in meadowlands.

On close inspection, Small Heath butterflies’ hind wings have a wide pale beige fringe, along with a well- defined wavy cream band that contrasts clearly against it's brown base. It also has a variable number of subtle brown roundels. In contrast the larger Meadow brown has very plain grey-brown hindwing undersides with a subtle wide beige band. It's wing edges are more fluted than the Small Heath too.

Gatekeepers

The next smallest butterflies in the Brown family are Gatekeepers, formerly known as Hedge Browns although it's caterpillar host plants are grasses. They are tidy and compact in form and often found dancing higher up along hedgerows or woodland rides as well as nectaring in flowery grassland or visiting gardens. It quite often basks with its wings open, unlike the Small Heath. In the field this cheery, confident vivid orange and brown butterfly is most likely to be confused with Large Skippers or Meadow Browns with whom it often feeds. In size, it is larger than the former and smaller than the latter, with a neat, vivid appearance.

The Gatekeeper’s forewing does usually have two white central eyespots but this is not always a reliable indicator. It's hindwing undersides are a mid-brown with a wavy beige band that, to me, looks like a reversed question mark or an upside down cedilla shape. The Small Heath’s hindwing pale band is paler and more of a cream or ecru. Gatekeepers have small white spots rather than roundels on their hind wing. Male and female Gatekeepers’ gender can incidentally be differentiated by the number of small white spots on their underwings. The male has 3 white spots in the C part of the upside down cedilla whereas the female has 2.

Small Heath Vs Meadown Brown - Side by Side Identification

The Small Heath’s hindwing has a well-defined cream band and small variable brown roundels with pale eyespots. Note the wide buff fringe on the hindwing.

The Meadow Brown’s hindwing is plainer with a wide beige band that blends into it's grey- brown base colour. It lacks roundels and the wide pale fringe.

Small Heath vs Gatekeeper - Side by Side Identification

Small Heath perching on Willowherb leaf — The Small Heath's hindwing is overall paler than the Gatekeeper with the wide grey-white wing fringe and well-defined cream band. It has variable brown roundels.

The Gatekeeper usually has two spots in its forewing roundel but it is the hindwing white spots that are definitive. Note the hindwing’s overall richer brown hue.

Gatekeeper vs Meadow Brown - Side by Side Identification

Gatekeeper nectaring perched on lavender crop — Gatekeepers often perch with their top wings showing their rich orange. Note this female has 3 white spots in the centre of the upside down cedilla.

Meadow brown with a lone white eyespot in it's forewing and a plain buff rear wing underside with it's wide paler band lacking contrast against a grey-brown base.

Orange-Brown Butterfly Confusion Species - Wings Open

When basking with their wings open, Meadow Brown butterfly forewings have a smaller area of orange than Gatekeepers, although the male Gatekeeper has a pronounced dark brown sex band on its forewing. Meadow Brown rear wings are completely brown while Gatekeepers have an orange panel containing a small dark roundel with a single pale eye-spot. The Meadow Brown’s orange panel is often less vivid than the Gatekeepers’ and is a more yellowy orange as it's wings quickly bleach to a faded hue.

Gatekeeper Vs Meadow Brown Forewing Side by Side Identification

Gatekeeper basking on leaf — Female Gatekeeper butterfly with wings open. Note the lone dark roundel on the hind wing with a white eyespot and Forewing black roundel with twin white eye spots.

A male Gatekeeper displaying its forewing gender band for comparison, this bisects it's orange panel diagonally.

The Meadow Brown’s forewing has a smaller orange area and the hindwing lacks both roundel and orange area. Note the hint of a second white spot in the forewing roundel.

The Wall butterfly has a checkered orange and dark brown pattern with clearly defined fore- and hindwing roundels.

Wall Brown vs Speckled Wood - Side by Side Identification

In profile, there are slight similarities in the check placement, and the orange may be more muted from the underwing, but the Speckled Wood is a much richer chocolate brown while the Wall Brown is a paler beige-brown

Wall Brown Butterfly Basking On Pebble — The Wall Brown has a similar marking placement in profile but is a paler beige brown.

In profile the Speckled Wood lacks any orange and displays it's deep chestnut brown and cream checks and wing roundel pattern.

Wall Brown vs Speckled Wood Forewings - Side by Side Comparison

The upper side forewing markings are distinctly different, with the Speckled Wood having cream checks on a predominantly dark brown base whereas the Wall Brown has orange checks. These surround its dark roundels, making them much more visible than those on the Speckled Wood, even though they are positioned similarly.

Speckled Wood butterfly open-winged displaying it's dark chocolate brown and cream checkered markings.

Wall Brown butterfly basking — The upperside wings show the Wall Brown’s well-defined orange and chocolate tiger stripe camouflage pattern

Ringlet

The Ringlet is the darkest of all the brown butterflies and has the most similar hue to a Speckled Wood, however the wings lack any pale markings so confusion is unlikely between the two. The greatest liklihood of confusion is between faded specimens of Meadow Browns and Ringlets as they often share habitat and fly at similar times.

Ringlet Vs Meadow Brown Side by Side Comparison (fresh examples)

Ringlet feeding on hogweed — The Ringlet’s hindwing has a dark chocolate brown background and clear dark roundels.

Meadow brown nectaring on bramble flower — The orange forewing is usually visible but Meadow Brown’s are altogether a paler brown and lack hindwing roundels.

Ringlet basking on bracken — The Ringlet’s upper side is again a dark coffee base colour with a white fringe and roundels on each wing.

The Meadow Brown’s orange upperside forwing usually helps distinguish it even in a darker than usual individual.

Ringlet - faded without most of its roundels — This ringlet has faded to be a closer brown shade to the Meadow Brown and has lost most, but not all of its hindwing roundels.

Meadow Brown Wings Open — This Meadow Brown is lacking most of its orange panel. But it can still be identified due to lacking roundels on the hindwing.

Grayling

As the largest butterfly in this group and being very restricted to coastal dune colonies in Norfolk, the Grayling should be relatively straight forward to identify. It has a mottled chocolate brown to pale grey-beige coloured underside and usually rests with closed wings.

Grayling mating — As this mating pair of Grayling butterflies show, the small amound of orange on the forewing is more of an amber hue.

Size and Wingspan

Distance and sex differences makes size difficult to judge in the field but over time it's possible to develop a sense of bigger than / smaller than between the species that can be useful. For comparative purposes, the smallest to largest average wingsize is listed below.
35mm - Small Heath
43mm - Gatekeeper
47mm - Ringlet
49mm - Wall Brown
51mm - Speckled Wood
52mm - Meadow Brown
56mm - Grayling

Non-visual Characteristics

Habitat and distribution can be invaluable aids to identifying which Brown butterfly you’ve seen, and this comes with practice and experience. Key factors to know are that Grayling and Marbled White are extremely restricted in range and limited to just a few sites in Norfolk at present, and the Wall brown and Small Heath are also less widely distributed than the other species.

Habitat

Small Heath - grassy heaths, lowland moors, coastal dunes
Gatekeeper - lane verges and hedgerows, scrubby heaths, open woodland rides, meadows and grassland
Ringlet - shady hedgerows, damp woodland rides, scrubby grassland
Meadow Brown - dry grassland, verges, woodland rides, scrubland, coastal dunes
Wall Brown - grazed downland, disused railways, field edges, coastal dunes
Speckled Wood - woodland glades and rides, lanes, wooded hederows, gardens
Grayling - coastal dunes, acid lowland heaths
Marbled White - chalkland flower meadows, woodland rides

Flight Times

Just anecdotally, from my own observations in the same locale, Gatekeepers have tended to emerge slightly later than their larger Meadow Brown cousins, but I am sure county level statistics are more trustworthy. In order of appearance, below is a list of Norfolk first sightings from the Butterfly Conservation Norfolk Branch Autumn 2024 Newsletter

Wall Brown - 3/3/23 -17/3/23
Speckled Wood - 25/3/23 - 18/10/23
Gatekeeper - 4/6/23 - 21/9/23
Meadow Brown - 7/6/23 - 16/9/23
Ringlet - 10/6/23 - 24/8/23
Small Heath - 26/6/23 - 25/9/23
Grayling - 26/6/23 - 18/9/23

Host Plants

Small Heath - various grasses including Annual Meadow Grass, Fescues and Bents
Gatekeeper - various grasses including Annual Meadow Grass, Cock's-foot, Common Bent, Common Couch, Fescues and Timothy
Ringlet - various grasses including Cock’s-foot, Creeping Bent, False Brome, Tor-grass, Tufted Hair-grass
Meadow Brown - various grasses including Annual Meadow Grass, Bents, Fescues and Rye grasses
Wall Brown - various grasses including Cock’s-foot, Black Bent, Common Bent, False Brome, Tor Grass, Wavy Hair-grass, Yorkshire fog
Speckled Wood - various grasses including Cock’s-foot, False Brome, Yorkshire fog
Grayling - various grasses including Sheep's Fescue, Red Fescue , Bristle Bent, Early Hairgrass, Tufted Hair-grass
Marbled White - Sheep’s Fescue, Red Fescue, Tor Grass