Around here, meadow brown butterflies normally stay in the environment implied in their name: meadows and areas of long grass with wildflowers. So do their somewhat more reclusive relatives, gatekeepers.
This year, both species have been visiting some suburban gardens, admittedly only a few hundred yards direct flying distance from places they hang out every year.
This meadow brown is feeding from the flowers on a buddleia bush in one such garden. It’s a very short clip before the insect decided my mobile was getting to close, so it retreated to a higher flower out of range of filming distance. There had been a gatekeeper around, but it had adopted the more cautious strategy from the start.