Brown butterflies: meadow brown, gatekeeper & ringlet
These three species are all very common and widespread in Hampshire and the rest of southern UK. The gatekeeper and meadow brown are common throughout the New Forest, but the ringlet is scarcer.
Gatekeeper and meadow brown are open grassland and meadow species while the ringlet prefers woodland edges. They are more common among the fields, hedgerows and woodlands around the edges of the New Forest than in the central areas of heath and wood.
Almost any meadow will hold meadow browns, with gatekeepers along the surrounding hedgerows and ringlets in the adjacent woodland. All three will occur in open grassy areas within woods and all are on the wing in July and early August; the meadow brown can also be seen in June and September. The area around Roydon Woods near Brockenhurst is a good spot for them all.
