The meadow brown is one the most widespread and common butterflies in European. It is medium sized with a wingspan of up to 5 cm. Females are usually slightly larger than males.
Female meadow browns lay eggs either on blades of grass or in vegetation close to grasses. The eggs hatch after around three weeks and the caterpillars feed throughout the day, retreating down into the grasses in spells of cold weather. They overwinter among the grass stems and feed at night the following spring. The pupae are attached to grass stems during May, and adult butterflies emerge in around a month, starting the whole cycle again.