A Beautiful Butterfly

This is a Gatekeeper Butterfly, Pyronia tithonus. Sometimes called a Hedge Brown but Gatekeeper is better, it sounds important.

Last week he was giving me a hard time and I could not get him to open his wings.  I told you that he was beautiful, today I think that I can prove it.

These pictures are of a few different butterflies, all taken this morning. They are all males. The dark patch on his fore wing (not the spots) is a sex brand, absent on the females. Now I shall have to go and find a female Gatekeeper. I hope that you like the pictures 🙂

PS: When I find her she will look a bit like this.