After getting the Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown mixed up in an earlier post (now corrected thanks to Bill Gregory) I decided to make the most of a brake in the rain this afternoon to try and photograph both species down at Brockholes Nature Reserve. The Gatekeeper flies between the end of June to the begining of September and can be found south of Cumbria in England and mainly coastal areas in Wales. The main distinguishing features between the two species is the Meadow Brown is a duller butterfly and the Gatekeeper has 2 white pupils in the eyespots of the forewings.
ABOVE GATEKEEPER BELOW MEADOW BROWN
NOTE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE EYESPOTS
The Meadow Brown has a longer flying season starting from the begining of June and going through to the end of September and can be found through out Britain below 300m.
TOP FEMALE GATEKEEPER BELOW MALE GATEKEEPER,
NOTE THE SEX BANDS ON THE FOREWING OF THE MALE
ABOVE A NEWLY EMERGED GATEKEEPER WITH ITS WINGS YET TO EXTEND
ABOVE A FEMALE MEADOW BROWN
There were several white butterflies flying but I only managed to photograph these Green-veined Whites the most common of all the whites. It can be found through out most of Britain and flies between the beginig of April and the end of September, being such a long flighing period it is one of the species of buterflies that has 2 broods.
ABOVE & BELOW GREEN-VEINED WHITE, NOTE THE GREEN VEINS
ON THE UNDERSIDE OF ITS WING THAT GIVES IT ITS NAME
1 comment:
The photos have come out very well considering the poor weather. Some of our local Meadow Browns also have two white dots in the eyespots which can be a bit confusing, I saw some this week. Also, a quite scarce photo of a newly emerged Gatekeeper. Mike.
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