Meadow Browns and Ringlets

I used to think that the Meadow Brown was probably the most common butterfly in East Lothian. I had memories of seeing hundreds of them on grasslands on the coast, along field edges and up in the hills. However, over the last few years I haven't seen many at all. Possibly I have been out and about at the wrong time, or maybe my memory is letting me down.

Last year numbers of Meadow Browns were lower than average, despite what seemed like favourable weather. However, as I commented previously the dry weather and easterly winds may have resulted in these lower numbers.

Looking at the figures that I have been gathering for the last 14 years, numbers seem to vary quite a bit from year to year and if anything have been showing a slight increase.

The number of the other grass-feeder, Ringlets also vary quite a bit from year to year, but they do seem to show a downward trend.

At home in the Borders I have certainly seen an increase in numbers of both species, but since we took over the place ten years ago, we have created a couple of areas of wild flower meadows and felled an area of Spruce woodland, replacing it with native broadleaf trees, with grass growing under them. I think I can put the increase in Meadow Browns and Ringlets here down to there being a lot more suitable habitat for them.

I had a look at my notes from when I had been surveying Northern Brown Argus in the valley above our house, but there was nothing conclusive as the numbers of Meadow Browns and Ringlet were really variable and they were based on only a couple of visits a year.

However, last year colleagues in East Lothian and the Butterfly Recorder in the Borders also commented that they had noticed a reduction in the number of Meadow Browns and Ringlets. This caused me to look for any other records I had.

I was able to look at the transect figures from Aberlady Local Nature Reserve going back to 2008. Both Meadow Brown and Ringlet numbers have been really variable, but both show quite an obvious down turn in numbers.

The other long-standing transect in East Lothian is at John Muir Country Park. It was set up in 1995, but unfortunately there are quite a number of years when it hasn't been walked. However, it shows a similar decline in numbers.

It is really interesting to note that Ringlets weren't recorded there until 1998. It is easy to forget that they only made their way up to East Lothian in the early 1980s.

I will certainly keep an eye on how numbers do both here in the Borders and in East Lothian over the next few years. I would be interested to hear how these two species are doing elsewhere across the UK.

East Lothian Butterflies 2025 part 2

For all of the winners in 2025, there have to be some losers! Unfortunately, Holly Blue numbers crashed even further than last year. This year we only recorded 22 in total. Way down on the 377 seen in 2023. I hope we are seeing the boom-and-bust pattern that is seen in England resulting from the effects of the parasitic wasps on the Holly Blue population. Only time will tell.

Small Heath numbers were down on their average and this year was the lowest count since I have been collating the records.

Other species that didn't do so well were Meadow Browns. We only saw about two thirds of the normal numbers.

And Ringlets were the same, although it was notable that some sites did better than others.

Dark Green Fritillary numbers were a little lower than average.

We recorded 41 Large Skippers in East Lothian in 2025. I am sure this must be the best year they have had here, but because we normally see so few I haven't added them to my spreadsheet. I'll sort that over the winter!

Small Skippers had a better year than average, although they have only been seen in East Lothian since 2011. Their numbers peaked in 2021 and have fluctuated since then.

Common Blues did a little better than average.

So, it seems as though many of the grassland species didn’t do so well in 2025. Could this be because they also tend to emerge later in the summer, by which time the vegetation had become very dry? This may have resulted in their caterpillars perishing. However, by the time the vegetation dried out the caterpillars would have been fairly well developed and forming chrysalises.

Could it be because of the easterly winds that hit most of the coastal sites? Many of our best grasslands are on coastal sites.

Of course, it maybe isn’t as simple as that, because the butterflies we saw in 2025 would have been laid as eggs the previous year, when the weather was less favourable.

There were quite a number of other species seen, but they tend to be found in more remote sites, so were only recorded in small numbers. These included Purple Hairstreak, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Grayling, Northern Brown Argus and Green Hairstreak.

There was great excitement when a Clouded Yellow was spotted at John Muir Country Park in August. Another was seen at Skateraw a couple of weeks later. A good number of them migrated over from the continent in 2025 and there were records from all over the UK. 

So, on the whole, 2025 turned out to be a fantastic year for butterflies. Between the ad hoc records and the transects we recorded a grand total of 17,229 butterflies.

One thing I always wonder is if we have great weather are there really more butterflies, or are people out and about more and therefore seeing more butterflies!

To round the year off I received reports of three different Peacocks being spotted in coastal towns in the middle of December. This means that for the first time I can remember we had butterflies recorded in every month of the year! Maybe a sign of climate change?

East Lothian Butterflies 2025 part 1

I collect the butterfly records from the East Lothian Countryside Rangers and about 40 volunteers. At the end of the season I put together an annual round-up that I send to the volunteers to let them see how their records fit into the big picture. Below is an edited version.

2025 was pretty dry and sunny in East Lothian, but there was often an easterly wind keeping the temperatures down. The general lack of rain and the wind caused the vegetation to dry up, particularly in coastal areas.

We had a couple of very early records. Firstly, a Speckled Wood that was seen on 15th January in Butterdean Wood. I can only assume that it had crawled into a nearby greenhouse as a caterpillar last autumn and was tricked into thinking that spring had arrived.

The next butterfly was a Small Tortoiseshell, which was seen on 28th February. Maybe this wasn't such a surprise as they spend the winter hibernating as adult butterflies, so can make an appearance on a mild day.

There was then a flurry of Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks on 6th March. Both species had a fairly average year, but at least Small Tortoiseshells bounced back from last year's low numbers.

There were a few Red Admirals seen in March, indicating that they may have survived the winter here. They went on to have an amazing year, with us recording about three times the average number.

The first Comma was seen on 15th March. They went on to have a great year, particularly later in the season, and I received the highest number of records since I started collating them in 2008.

A few days later a Painted Lady was spotted in North Berwick. They also had a good year, with 220 records - a big improvement on last year's 14! Their numbers can be really variable. I would suggest the normal annual average is under 100 records, but the figures are skewed by the 2019 invasion when I received 5395 records!

All four white species had an amazing year. For Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites and Large Whites it was by far the best year since I started recording the butterflies. 

Small Whites also had a fantastic year, way above average, but not quite as high a number as was seen in 2018.

Speckled Wood numbers picked up in April and they also had a very good year. I received records of 1608 of them, which is the second highest number since they reappeared in East Lothian in 2009.

Small Coppers had a fairly average year.

The same could be said for Wall Brown. Their numbers look fairly average, but when you look at when they were seen, they were almost exactly two weeks early and there was a small third generation towards the end of September, with the last one being seen on 7th November.

I will continue this on my next post.