Lessons from a meadow brown butterfly

A flock of starlings lift up from the damp grass and swerve in the harebell blue sky as I cycle by. It’s a mellow morning with a hint of a breeze. Ox-eye daisies and buttercups adorn the hedgerows, nodding their heads. There are big clouds of feathery white meadowsweet; I can smell its marzipan scent. To my left and right, jackdaws are flying over open fields drenched in light, the sun buttering their edges. A plaintive, cat-like mewling: a buzzard is circling.

The university grounds are practically deserted. I freewheel across the bridge. Below, the rippling brook glints like tiny pieces of bottle-green glass. Midges skim the surface and an iridescent dragonfly. There is a wasps’ nest in the far bank.

When I reach the conservation area I get off my bike and push it along the track worn through the trees, a short cut. I wave to Don, one of the porters, taking a tea break, and stop for a chat. We are distracted by chocolate-orange, tatty wings zigzagging tipsily between branches and leaves. It’s a meadow brown butterfly, Maniola jurtina. The butterfly’s eye spots puzzle birds, tricking them into pecking its wings rather than a vital organ in the abdomen, so it’s less likely to be eaten, explains Don. This one has had a lucky escape; with more than half of its wings gone, it’s surprising it can fly at all. Butterflies may look ethereal and fragile, but, we agree, they are survivors.

We watch the meadow brown flutter towards the greenhouse. It alights on the honeysuckle looping and twining its perfume round a tree trunk, spiralling clockwise towards the light. The red berries are food for bullfinches and thrushes, while the ivory-pink, trumpet-shaped flowers are nectar-rich nourishment for butterflies: “flowers that fly and all but sing”, according to the poet Robert Frost.

As Don saunters over to the mail room, I lock my bike in the shed, thinking I’m glad we took time out to celebrate the here and now – a lesson to be learned for when term starts and the days are not so leisurely.

Jonathan Elphick gives this year’s William Condry memorial lecture (thecondrylecture.co.uk) on the Birds of North Wales at Tabernacle/MoMA, Machynlleth, 1 October, 7pm for 7.30. £5 including refreshments (no need to book)