Butterfly Identification, Browns next page back to first page

There are just three of these that you will commonly see in North Wales - the Meadow Brown, the Gatekeeper and the Speckled Wood.
 

Browns; (The Satyridae family) Medium sized butterflies, generally brown in colour. Most species have a characteristic black and white 'eye-spot'. The 2 common ones you will see are the Meadow Brown and the Gatekeeper . The Speckled Wood is a species that has actually increased northwards in the last 20 years or so, so that it is now quite common. But you're still quite lucky to see a Ringlet or a Wall Brown in North Wales. All the caterpillars (larvae) of this group can only feed on our old fashioned native meadow grasses (and not on Italian Rye Grass nor on ornamental garden grasses)	Meadow Brown, female (Maniola jurtina) All brown male or orange blotched female, with large eye-spots in the top corners. This is one of our most common butterflies, but still does not come into gardens very often - you will find them in grassy places. .	Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) This butterfly's name is said to come from its habit of flying up and down the sides of hedges - often either side of a gate. Sometimes it is called the Hedge Brown for the same reason.   It can be confused with the Meadow Brown - but look for the broad brown band round edges of all its orange wings.
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) The Speckled Wood has many creamy-white splotches on chocolate brown wings. It often flies in the dappled shade of orchards or woodland edges	Wall Brown (Lasiomata megera) Often called just "The Wall", this butterfly looks rather like a Fritillary on the top with brown straight markings on orangey-brown wings. But if you look at the underwing you will know instantly that it's not a Fritillary. However, you could confuse the underwing with an even rarer species, the Grayling! See the "Advanced Browns ID Workshop" for a comparison of the two.	Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) If you're lucky you might see a Ringlet - all dark brown with rings on all top wings and 8 on under wings. These tend not to come into gardens, but you may see lots of them amongst long wild grasses in fields or nature reserves.