Best time to see: Jun to mid Sep
Key facts
Britain's only small, light brown butterfly
Habitat: anywhere where wild fine-leaved grasses grow, such as road verges, hedgerows or heaths
Common and widely distributed throughout Britain and Ireland, but increasingly scarce in Essex
Recognition
Forewing is orange with a white-centered black eyespot; hindwing pale grey-brown; wingspan 34–38mm, 18mm closed
Always settles with wings closed, spending long periods at rest; rapid, weaving flight just above the grassheads
Complicated sequence of broods, so in Essex adults may be seen any time from mid-May to October
Lifecycle
Pale yellow, bowl-shaped eggs laid low down on fine grass blades
Green caterpillars with light stripes feed on grass clumps by day
Early broods pupate to emerge in late summer, others hibernate over winter and pupate the following spring
© Geoff Pyman