Probably the most common butterfly you will see in the meadows, you can see them on a warm sunny day flying around in large numbers. Coloured brown as their name suggests, they are one of the larger UK butterflies. They love the purple flowers on the thistles.

Unusually, the male is more drab than the female in colouration, more of an all-over brown. The female has a splash of orange around the single spot on her wing (which is sometimes a double spot).