Hello Andy,

I think those you saw on 25th May were unlikely to have been Meadow Browns. The first ones recorded on the three butterfly transects I walk here in Cambridgeshire did not appear until towards the end of June (25th was first date), though odd ones and twos were seen in the meadows at Monks Wood from 15th June. In 2000, Meadow Browns began to be recorded on national Butterfly Monitoring Scheme transects (there are 125 plus transects UK-wide in the scheme) the second week in June which is about normal - butterflies were generally later appearing in 2001 (however I don't get the data in for this year until October). Some years a few are recorded on transects during the first week in June but very rarely during the last week in May (as some did in the very hot year of 1990 for example).

Hope that helps

Regards
Nick

Mr J Nick Greatorex-Davies
(Butterfly Monitoring Scheme co-ordinator)
Biological Records Centre
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
(Formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE))
Monks Wood
Abbots Ripton
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS  UK

Tel: (+44) (0) 1487 773 381
Fax: (+44) (0) 1487 773 467
E-mail: ngd@ceh.ac.uk
Web site: http://bms.ceh.ac.uk