Home UK English hedge brown

Meaning of hedge brown in English:

hedge brown

noun

another term for gatekeeper (sense 2 of the noun)
‘Butterflies on the wing included a pair of marbled whites, several hedge browns, a comma and a ringlet.’
  • ‘The larvae of butterflies have characteristic food plants: the orange-tip feeds on lady's smock, the speckled wood and hedge brown on various grasses and the tortoiseshell on nettles.’
  • ‘A butterfly of open woodlands, hedgerows and lanes, the gatekeeper or hedge brown has a brownish-orange upperside with dark brown margins and a twin pupilled eye-spot.’
  • ‘Later, along our hedges and amongst trees hedge browns, speckled woods and ringlets seek out sunshine and dappled shade.’
  • ‘This widespread butterfly is the male of the hedge brown, or gatekeeper, with its brown brand marks in the middle of the forewings.’