So, the butterflies which are all over the meadow are Meadow Brown Butterflies. I did see in passing a Red Admiral, or possibly Peacock, and there are a few common whites, which I think are Cabbage White.
The Meadow Brown likes the nectar from thistles. It mates in July and lays its eggs in grasses. This leaves me with a dilemma about when to cut the meadow. I had planned to cut half of it at the start of July. However, doing that, I am likely to remove grasses bearing the butterfly eggs. Perhaps I should not do anything until October. By then, all the plants will have seeded and I expect that the insects will also have gone through their life cycles.
But one thing I have noticed is that bees and butterflies and a host of other insects love thistles. So if you have a patch of thistles, especially those with the purple heads, in a patch which is not too inconvenient, it is worth keeping them.
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