Gatekeeper
Males patrol territory along sunny hedgerows and often perch on gateposts waiting for females, which is how the species earned its common name.
| Where | Hedgerows, scrub, woodland edges |
|---|---|
| Size | 38 to 47 mm wingspan |
| When | July to August |
It is a brown butterfly with large orange patches and a black eyespot with two white pupils near the forewing tip, males also showing a diagonal band of dark scent scales.
It is a short-lived, high-summer species, appearing from the start of July and mostly gone again by the end of August.
Traits
Habitat
Farmland
Colour
Brown, Orange
Active
Day
To people
Harmless
Activity through the year
Often confused with
The meadow brown is larger, duller brown with less orange, and its forewing eyespot has only a single white pupil, not two.
Questions
Is the Gatekeeper dangerous to people?
The Gatekeeper is harmless to people.
When can you see the Gatekeeper?
The Gatekeeper can be seen from July to August, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Didier Descouens, CC BY‑SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
The plate on this page is shared under the same licence as its source, CC BY-SA.
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Butterflies and moths›Brush-footed butterflies›Pyronia
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.