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Small heath
The Small heath is the smallest of our brown butterflies and has a fluttering flight. It favours heathlands, as its name suggests, as well as other sunny habitats.
Butterflies
Woodland butterflies
How to attract butterflies to your garden
Provide food for caterpillars and choose nectar-rich plants for butterflies and you’ll have a colourful, fluttering display in your garden for many months.
‘Wild Places to Explore’ – available now!
After months in the planning, our guidebook to our nature reserves and coastal wildlife hotspots is finally here – and there’s a special offer for Wild Weekly readers, too!
Hunting butterflies in magical meadows
Enjoy our showiest insects – and the flowers they depend on – at Cors Goch Nature Reserve
Heath fritillary
The rare heath fritillary was on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but conservation action turned its fortunes around. It is still confined to a small number of sites in the south of England,…
Heath bumblebee
The Heath bumblebee is not only found on heathland, but also in gardens and parks. It nests in small colonies of less than 100 workers in all kinds of spots, such as old birds' nests, mossy…
Small skipper
Often found basking on tall grasses, or buzzing between stems, the small skipper is a small, orange butterfly. It prefers rough grassland, verges and woodland edges.
Small blue
The small blue's name is a little misleading: it is our smallest butterfly, but only shows a dusting of blue on brown wings. It is scarce, occurring on chalk grassland, mostly in southern…
Large heath
This bog-loving butterfly is mostly found in the north of the UK, where it takes to the wing in summer.