Originally posted by h4yn0nnym0u5e I think the first one is actually a Gatekeeper...
That was actually my first thought, but I was "corrected" by the rangers in the reserve. They said that the meadow brown and hedge brown/gatekeeper populations were not distinct.
They would only have had the camera screen to look at,.(ISO 2000 BTW).
I'm happy to edit the ident to Gatekeeper..
---------- Post added 07-18-18 at 02:12 AM ----------
Originally posted by h4yn0nnym0u5e How did you find a Marbled White settled like that?! There's a field with them local to my workplace, but I spent an hour there and never once saw one stationary.
Cheers
Jonathan
Luck.......and botany. According to Butterfly Conservation the Marbled White "flies in areas of unimproved grassland" and "shows a marked preference for purple flowers such as Wild Marjoram, Field Scabious, thistles, and knapweeds. Adults may be found roosting halfway down tall grass stems".
Arne is a heathland reserve. Just a few metres into the long grass was a patch of thistles. This individual was roosting exactly where I would have expected it..
All of those photos were taken 5-10 metres off the paths. I rarely get a butterfly photo I like without standing in long grass or thorns.