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Gatekeeper
Consistently the most numerous of all Latchmore's butterflies, the Gatekeeper emerges in large numbers in July. It appears to be one of the few species happy to tolerate bracken, but is also seen in abundance on flowering bramble bushes. In 2020, Gatekeeper numbers held up in Latchmore, whereas there was a significant reduction in numbers elsewhere in the New Forest. The heatwave in 2022 led to both the earliest emergence, and by far the earliest finish, to the Gatekeeper season.
total seen
maxima
first seen
last seen
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
... the stats box
659 218 28th June 14th August
632 200 2nd July 6th Sept
1,045 288 3rd July 30th August
1,110 305 4th July 27th August
550 190 2nd July 23rd August
599 155 7th July 6th Sept
303 98 14th July 26th August
1,161 287 10th July 2nd Sept