Dolor_Muscas
Gatekeeper protecting the flowers from arthropods
Where i was, there were many insects. This is where i saw many peacock butterfly larvae and my first silver-spotted fritillary. There were many meadow browns on this bunch of flowers, with one gatekeeper, protecting the flowers of course :). It was so beautiful, i just needed to not scare it away. I creeped closer, took my shot and got this beautiful result!
Gatekeeper vs small heath underside:
The underside of the gatekeeper and small heath can be very similar, but there are some major differences if you learn them. Firstly, the size is already a big difference. The small heath is only ~20-30mm in wingspan. The gatekeeper is way bigger then this. Secondly, the brown patterns in general are just slightly different. Thirdly, the big eye spot by the small heath only has 1 white point and by the gatekeeper it has 2 white points. Even though the size can already tell them apart, this can be handy if they are more similar in size (and don't show the other side) and macro shots where it's more difficult to tell the size.
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Species: Gatekeeper, oranje zandoogje 🇳🇱, ❌no common name❌ 🇳🇴 (pyronia tithonus)
Gatekeeper protecting the flowers from arthropods
Where i was, there were many insects. This is where i saw many peacock butterfly larvae and my first silver-spotted fritillary. There were many meadow browns on this bunch of flowers, with one gatekeeper, protecting the flowers of course :). It was so beautiful, i just needed to not scare it away. I creeped closer, took my shot and got this beautiful result!
Gatekeeper vs small heath underside:
The underside of the gatekeeper and small heath can be very similar, but there are some major differences if you learn them. Firstly, the size is already a big difference. The small heath is only ~20-30mm in wingspan. The gatekeeper is way bigger then this. Secondly, the brown patterns in general are just slightly different. Thirdly, the big eye spot by the small heath only has 1 white point and by the gatekeeper it has 2 white points. Even though the size can already tell them apart, this can be handy if they are more similar in size (and don't show the other side) and macro shots where it's more difficult to tell the size.
---
Species: Gatekeeper, oranje zandoogje 🇳🇱, ❌no common name❌ 🇳🇴 (pyronia tithonus)