This marker on the Cambridge Butterfly Trail is at Midsummer Common community orchard – see the map above.

The Gatekeeper butterfly is a quintessential British summer butterfly, effortlessly patrolling hedgerows, woodland rides, and field margins in search of nectar-rich flowers such as bramble, ragwort, fleabane, and wild marjoram.

Sporting warm orange-brown wings and distinctive black eyespots, each typically with two white “pupils”, this medium-sized butterfly (wingspan 40 to 47mm) is easy to identify. Males feature a darker diagonal band of scent scales on their forewings, which they use to attract mates.

It thrives wherever short grasses grow beside sunny scrub: its caterpillars feed on bent grass, fescues, meadow-grasses, and couch grass, hatching from eggs laid individually near host plants. Adults emerge in July, peak in early August, and are active for just a few weeks.

Although widespread across England and Wales, its range has been retreating north in cooler regions, and numbers have declined by around 42% since 1976 due to habitat loss.

Conservation efforts emphasise retaining hedgerow margins and long, uncut grass to support its lifecycle, a straightforward and effective strategy that benefits pollinators across the board.

For more information, please visit Butterfly Conservation’s page on this species – Gatekeeper.