Pyronia tithonus   Gatekeeper or Hedge Brown

Pyronia tithonus upper Pyronia tithonus under female

The Gatekeeper or Hedge Brown feeds on various grasses like Festuca ssp and Poa ssp but at this site it flitted amongst the flowers of the bramble and often settled on bracken or bramble leaves. It is an agressive butterfly and was often seen chasing off Red Admirals, Ringlets, Large Whites and Meadow Browns.

The female on the right seems quite interested in the bramble flowers and wherever we saw flowering brambles we found Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns.

Pyronia tithonus

Pyronia tithonus Gatekeeper

Path from Mevagissey to Goran Haven, Cornwall 21st July 08

Previous   Next
Pyronia tithonus

Pyronia tithonus Gatekeeper

Frodsham marshes, Cheshire, Cornwall 28th July 08

Previous   Next
Pyronia tithonus Gatekeeper upper Pyronia tithonus Gatekeeper under

Path from Mevagissey to Goran Haven, Cornwall 21st July 2008

Added on 27th June 2008, 28th July 2008, Nov 6th 2008, updated June 9th 2010

Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict