UK Butterflies
Building a Community of Responsible Butterfly Enthusiasts in Britain & Ireland
Building a Community of Responsible Butterfly Enthusiasts in Britain & Ireland
Wingspan
♂ 29 - 34 mm, ♀ 31 - 36 mm
Checklist Number
57.009
This is one of the largest of our "golden" skippers and, like these other skippers, the male has a distinctive sex brand on its forewings containing specialised scent scales. Although this species forms discrete colonies, it is widespread and can be found in England and Wales as far north as Ayrshire in the west and North Northumberland in the east. This species is not found in Ireland or the Isle of Man, and is restricted to Jersey in the Channel Islands.
This species was first defined in Esper (1777) as shown here and as shown in this plate (type locality: Germany).
| Family: | Hesperiidae | Latreille, 1809 |
| Subfamily: | Hesperiinae | Latreille, 1809 |
| Tribe: | ||
| Genus: | Ochlodes | Scudder, 1872 |
| Subgenus: | ||
| Species: | sylvanus | (Esper, 1777) |
Description to be completed.
The distribution data (2000-2009) has been made available through the generosity of Butterfly Conservation and any subspecies distribution is taken from Riley (2007). Click here to see the distribution of this species together with site information overlaid.
This species is found in sheltered areas of grassland, where grasses grow tall. Typical sites include meadows, hedgerows, roadside verges, woodland rides and woodland clearings. It can also be found in urban areas, such as parks and churchyards.
This status of this butterfly is considered stable and this species is not currently of conservation concern.
The table below shows the occurrence (distribution) and abundance (population) trends, using information from The State of the UK's Butterflies 2015 (Fox, 2015). Any UK BAP status is taken from the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) (2007 review).
1976-2014 (%) | 1976-2014 (%) | 2005-2014 (%) | 2005-2014 (%) |  -12 | -17 |  +12 | +23 |
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The butterfly is on the wing in June and July, with some individuals being seen in August. There is one generation each year.
Like many other skippers, the male of this species alternates between perching, patrolling, basking and feeding. Patrolling behaviour is normally exhibited late-morning, with perching behaviour the norm in the early morning and afternoon. When perching, the males will defend their territory vigorously, and see off any butterfly that intrudes. Typical perches are sunlit leaves at a height of around a metre from the ground. Both sexes take nectar, and are particularly fond of Bramble and Thistle. Egg-laying is normally performed during the early afternoon. An egg-laying female makes a short flight in between laying one egg and the next on the underside of a blade of grass.
Adults feed primarily on brambles (Rubus spp.) and thistles (Carduus spp. and Cirsium spp.). Bugle (Ajuga reptans), clovers (Trifolium spp.), Common Bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), dandelions (Taraxacum spp.), Devil's-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis), Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), knapweeds (Centaurea spp.), Ragged-Robin (Silene flos-cuculi), vetches (Vicia spp.), Wild Privet (Ligustrum vulgare) and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) are also used.
Egg-laying sites are normally sheltered spots in sunlight, where the grass grows fairly tall, up to at least 30cm in height. Eggs are white when first laid, gradually becoming orange and then a pearly white just prior to hatching. This stage lasts around 2 weeks.
"On June 13th, 1911, the author captured a pair at Bexley, Kent; next day the female was placed on a growing plant of grass, slender false brome grass (Brachypodium sylvaticum), and during the following few days about one dozen eggs were deposited on the blades, mostly on the under surface and usually in the middle of the blade. She continued depositing until the end of June. The first eggs laid hatched on July 4th, remaining in the egg state about eighteen days. In a wild state the egg is laid singly on the under surface of a grass blade, quite free, fully exposed, and not in the sheath or fold of the blade. When about to deposit the butterfly settles on the upper side of a grass blade; it then curves its abdomen round and below the edge of the blade and deposits a single egg and flies away. The egg is dome-shaped; its greatest diameter just above the base is 0.80 mm. The centre of the crown is very slightly depressed. The surface is covered with an extremely fine reticulated network pattern, chiefly of hexagonal shape; over the crown they are so shallow that they are hardly visible, and nowhere plainly indicated excepting in high light, where the ridges catch the light and cast shadows. The colour when first laid is pearl-white, which very gradually becomes yellower day by clay, but so slightly as to be hardly perceptible, and when a few days old is only tinged with primrose-yellow; in about a week it assumes an orange-yellow and becomes deeper orange until a few days before hatching, when it turns paler and opaque, and finally it changes to opaque pearl-white with a deep leaden crown produced by the large dark head of the larva." - Frohawk (1924)
The larva eats its eggshell on hatching, before forming a protective tube by spinning together the edges of a leaf blade. In the early instars, the larva feeds on the leaf above the tube. In later instars, several leaves may be spun together when forming a tube and the larva may travel further to seek food. The larva creates new tubes as required, either as a result of the lack of food in the immediate vicinity, or its increasing size. After the 4th moult, the larva forms a stout tube in which to hibernate. In spring, the larvae resume feeding and the larval stage may last a lengthy 330 days in total.
The primary larval foodplant is Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata). False Brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum), Purple Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea), Tor-grass (Brachypodium rupestre) and Wood Small-reed (Calamagrostis epigejoss) are also used.
"Directly after emergence the larva measures 2.5 mm. long; the head is very large, black and shining, with a fine granular surface and beset with a few minute whitish hairs; eye spots ochreous. On the first segment is a transverse dorsal black collar with a few extremely fine white hairs; on the second and third segments are a pair of sub-dorsal ochreous lenticles, almost touching each other. The body is slender anteriorly and slightly swollen about the middle, the segments deeply wrinkled transversely by seven sub-divisions. There are six rows of small brown bristles with blunt tips and bulbous bases, three on each side above the spiracles and two below on the lateral fold, and minute bristles over the ventral surface, including the legs and claspers. The surface is extremely finely granulated and the colour is pale primrose-yellow. The first meal of the larva consists of the empty egg-shell; it then crawls along the grass blade and commences to construct its dwelling by spinning a great number of strands of silk from one edge of the blade to the other in the same spot; the whole become united into a stout cord; it again repeats the same operation at another spot, and so on until five or more cords are spun across at fairly equal distances apart along the blade; in the process of drying the strands considerably contract, which gradually draws the edges towards each other; after a time other cords are spun which still further unite the edges; in some cases the edges are quite united; this forms a short tubular dwelling; the larva spins a little layer of silk on the surface of the blade to rest upon. After resting for a while it crawls out of the tube for about 12 mm., and starts feeding on the edge of the blade; after each meal it retreats to its abode and rests. As the larva grows day by day it now and again spins more cords until the grass forms a complete tube, from which it emerges only for the purpose of feeding." - Frohawk (1924)
"The first moult took place on July 12th, 1911. After the first moult, when twelve days old, it measures 6.3 mm. long. The colour is pale translucent greenish-yellow, darkest internally, caused by the food within the body. The anal segment has a pale olive dorsal disc on which are a few whitish hairs. The rest of the body is densely studded with minute black bristles with black wart-like bases; the head and the dorsal collar on the first segment black. As it grows it increases the length of its dwelling by rolling up the grass blade for 25 mm. or more." - Frohawk (1924)
"After the second moult, eighteen days old, it measures 8.4 mm. long. It closely resembles the previous stage in all respects excepting the colouring of the body in uniformly deeper green with a fine darker green medio-dorsal line. In this stage it usually feeds on the apical portion of the grass blade which forms its domicile. When crawling it progresses with a curious jerky movement, and if disturbed in its dwelling it often becomes greatly agitated, jerking its anterior half violently about. It casts its excreta a considerable distance from its abode." - Frohawk (1924)
"The third moult occurred on July 28th, 1911. After the third moult, thirty-two days old, it is 11 mm. long. The head is deep chestnut colour edged with blackish and the clypeus also black. The ground colour of the body is glaucous-green with a darker green medio-dorsal line and a whitish lateral line. The surface is densely studded with black warts, each bearing a minute hair, and sprinkled with a few lenticles. On the first segment is a fine dorsal collar. In captivity it readily feeds on various broad-leaved grasses." - Frohawk (1924)
"After fourth moult, thirty-eight days old, it measures 12.7 mm. long. The head is chestnut-brown with light ochreous-buff face and brown clypeus; the surface is strongly granulated. The dorsal collar on the first segment is now absent; in other respects it is very similar to the previous stage. Along the side is a pale sub-dorsal line bordered with a darker line. The larvae enter into hibernation during September after the fourth moult. The hibernaculum consists of its tubular dwelling compactly spun together so as to close the ends, and frequently formed of two or three grass blades spun to the original abode, the whole forming a secluded shelter. Complete hibernation takes place, lasting for six months in an unbroken spell, from the middle of September to the middle of March. Larvae kept out of doors throughout the whole of the hibernating period left their hibernacula during the middle of March. After hibernation the larva feeds for about twelve or fourteen days (but only at intervals of some hours for the first few days), and at the end of March it only measures the same as before hibernation, owing to its greatly decreased size during its winter sleep, when it becomes more dingy in colour, but after feeding assumes a rather brighter hue, but not so bright as before hibernation." - Frohawk (1924)
"The fifth moult on March 31st. After the fifth moult and shortly before sixth it measures 2 2 mm. long. It is similar in all respects to the previous stage, the sub-dorsal lines are indistinct and the lateral whitish line of the earlier stages is absent. When about to eject its excreta it crawls backwards, protrudes the anal extremity beyond its dwelling and propels the excrement a considerable distance from its abode. It lives in the tubular shelter and feeds chiefly at night." - Frohawk (1924)
"The sixth and last moult occurred on May 3rd. After the sixth moult, fully grown, it measures 28 mm. long. The head is large and prominent, somewhat conical (frontal view) and rather flattened in front, of a deep brown-black colour on the sides, clypeus and mouth parts. The face is ochreous-buff; the central portion of the clypeus is pinkish-buff; the upper dividing line of the frontal lobes above the clypeus is brown-black; the surface is granular and beset with whitish bristles. The body is attenuated at each end; the first segment is very small, having a strangulated appearance, the second, third and following segments increasing in size. The anal segment is flattened dorsally, terminating in a flap. The ventral surface of the body is flattened. The ground colour is green dorsally, blending into bluish-green laterally and ventrally. A darker dull green medio-dorsal stripe; an indistinct pale sub-dorsal line and a yellowish spiracular stripe anteriorly bordered on each segment with dull green; the lobed lateral ridge is whitish; the spiracles are cream colour. Anal flap pale ochreous; legs ochreous-green; claspers blue-green. Between the ninth-tenth and tenth-eleventh segments on the ventral surface is a patch of white waxy substance. The entire surface is densely sprinkled with minute shining tubercles, each emitting a finely pointed, simple, straight, minute white bristle, which bristles are developed into longish hairs on the ventral flap. On the eleventh segment close to the large spiracle is a black-ringed lenticle, in the centre of which is a minute white retractile tentacle. The larva lives in a tubular dwelling composed of several grass blades spun together, and feeds on the upper portions, eating them down to its abode. On the under surface and in the centre of the anal flap immediately above the anus is a remarkable comb-like apparatus for the forcible ejectment of the excreta. The larva described was fully grown on May 20th, and pupated May 26th." - Frohawk (1924)
"Certain Lepidopterous larvae, which live in tubular dwellings, are provided with a remarkable comb-like apparatus for the forcible ejectment of their excreta, for the prevention of fouling their habitation. This organ probably reaches its highest development in the Hesperidae. The following description of the anal comb of sylvanus will suffice for those of the other British species, which possess combs of similar construction but varying in the number of the teeth or tines; these are liable to vary in different species. In the different species they number from about eighteen to twenty-four. A. sylvanus: Under and in the centre of the anal lobe, above the anal orifice, is a semi-ovate chitinous structure consisting of eighteen asymmetrical teeth, solidified over the greater portion, then separated and turned slightly outwards at the tips; they gradually decrease in length from the long central ones. The middle tooth is dentated, the others having simple points. The colour is pale ochreous-yellow, the four longest having black tips. Just previous to the ejectment of the excrement the larva crawls backwards along its abode until its extremity is either at or slightly protruded beyond the tube, it then raises its anal segment, elevating the flap or lobe, and evacuates the faeces, which remain adhering to the anus. The comb is then brought down to the rim of the orifice and remains so fixed for a moment or two, as if to obtain a firm pressure with the tips of the tines, then, apparently with considerable power, it is suddenly released; spring-like, the comb flies up with a violent jerk, casting the pellet with remarkable force in an upward direction, when it falls to the ground at a distance of two feet six inches to three feet away." - Frohawk (1924)
The larva moults once more before pupating within a tent that is constructed from several grass blades. The pupal stage lasts approximately 3 weeks.
"The pupa measures 19 mm. long; it is slender in proportion, the abdomen almost cylindrical and tapering posteriorly; the anal segment with a projecting compressed flap-like process resembling that of the larva, which terminates in an elongated cremastral point with an ample cluster of amber-coloured hooks at the extreme tip; these are directed in various ways and embedded in an entanglement of silk cords. Lateral view: Head rounded, thorax only slightly swollen, almost in a continuous line with the abdomen, which is slightly curved posteriorly, ventral surface forming almost a straight line; tongue case detached and extending to the middle of the anal segment. Dorsal view: Head truncated, with only a slight conical frontal projection; rather widest across the thorax; abdomen slender and tapering posteriorly. Excepting the abdomen, which is dull grey-green, greenest on the posterior portion of each segment, the rest of the pupa is dull leaden-black covered with a leaden-grey bloom; the surface is roughly granular. Above the cream-coloured spiracles on the anterior third of each of the middle segments is a shining glazed oval lenticle set in a black rim, and a black spot behind on the posterior third; these form a longitudinal series. The thoracic spiracle is prominent, consisting of a tuft of ochreous fibrous hairs. Excepting the limbs and wings, the entire surface is densely clothed with ochreous spines which are powdered over with white waxy particles and fragments of silk. The head spines are longest and embedded in the silk of the cocoon, which is composed of a coarse silken oval structure spun within the grass blades, which are spun together. The pupa described, which pupated May 2 6th, produced a male imago on June 15th, remaining twenty days in the pupal state. Another, which pupated June 1st, produced a female on June 22nd." - Frohawk (1924)
The following links provide additional information on this butterfly.
