HClaireB

By HClaireB

Female Gatekeeper

Thanks to my brother John for alerting me to this butterfly.  I thought all those little brown jobbies were Meadow Browns, but some of them are Gatekeepers!  When their wings are closed it's not easy to tell Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers apart.  But the Gatekeeper tends to sit with its wings open so you can see the lovely orange and brown markings and the double pupils on its eyespots.  Several of them were basking on a steep south-facing slope on the edge of my garden where I had strimmed the long grass a few days ago.  They lay their eggs on, and their caterpillars eat, coarse meadow grass.  So another beneficiary of #nomowmay!

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