On one of the longest days of the year, a walk through Warwickshire countryside near Birmingham airport revealed a remarkable sight: hundreds of meadow brown butterflies dancing beneath the roar of jumbo jets. The experience, shared by a mother and daughter, underscored a strange season for butterflies, marked by extreme weather and delayed emergences.
A walk beneath the flight path
The walk took place along tracks worn by time, people and wildlife, shaded by gnarled oaks and flanked by un-flailed hedges bursting with life. The landscape felt peaceful, bucolic and ancient—until the sky filled with a jumbo jet, bringing the present crashing down with a bang. Planes were loud enough to pause conversation as they thundered overhead, a jarring contrast for the visitor but second nature for the local resident.
Amid the din, the pair could still make out chiffchaffs, great tits, robins and yellowhammers. Grasses reached up to shoulder height, sometimes obscuring the shorter mother from view. The writer got lost in the grasses as well, stopping to greet each meadow brown butterfly that danced for a mate.
A strange year for butterflies
It has been an odd year for butterflies so far, according to the writer. The weather has been alternately too hot or too wet and windy for them to fly well. A May heatwave raised hopes that some butterflies might come out of hibernation, but when the wind returned, all hopes were dashed. On the allotment, where long grass abounds, only a smattering had been seen—until this walk.
“A smattering isn’t enough: this is a species to be seen and enjoyed by the hundred,” the writer noted. “A meadow isn’t a meadow without a party of brown butterflies bouncing around the fescues, bents and meadow grasses the females lay their eggs on.”
The meadow brown moment
Walking through past and present on an early day of summer, the writer finally had a meadow brown moment. Following one butterfly in its never-ending dance, she rejoiced when it stopped for a sip of bramble nectar. Creeping up slowly, she took photos as she moved, each time achieving a closer shot. Later, at her mother’s home, she checked the image: it was perfect. “Worth being lost in the grass,” she concluded.
The account appears in the Guardian’s Country Diary series. A collection, Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024, is available now.
