Essex Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2012

[Vince Massimo]

Here is the opportunity to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2012 (or the last time you saw one!).

This is part of a series of topics which will grow over 20 weeks throughout the winter until all 59 UK species have been covered. The intention is to showcase three species per week (in alphabetical order), so please wait until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos. Our overseas friends are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants.

Details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome and please feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, stories of personal encounters, anecdotes or other interesting points.

Vince

[Wurzel]

Essex Skippers certainly seemed to appear later than usual and weren’t around for as long as last year. This could have been because the unsettled weather kept me from getting out and looking for them but I still have this feeling that Essex Skippers didn’t have a good year, round here least ways. When they did appear I seemed to spend an awful lot of my time trying to look at Skippers from above to see if they had the distinguishing ink pads on their antennae. That was how I got my favourite shot of Essex Skippers this year from Five Rivers. The reason that I like it is that it that it reminds me of a Teddy bear.

Have a goodun
Wurzel

[millerd]

One from my local patch on 15th July. The discovery three days earlier of a colony right next to a busy main road on top of Heathrow was heartening this year. It's obviously worth looking wherever you are...

Dave

[Vince Massimo]

Since moving to Caterham a few years ago, I have been monitoring butterflies at some of my local reserves. Only a couple of miles from home is Quarry Hangers in Chaldon, which is on a south-facing slope on the North Downs overlooking the M23/M25 interchange. I had found a few Essex Skippers mixed in with the Small Skippers, but only on a very specific and small part of the reserve. This species was not listed on the notice board and I discovered that the transects were not recording them, despite being in one of the survey sectors. One thing led to another and I am now sharing transect duties with another recorder. This has led me to other parts of the reserve which I had previously dismissed as "unremarkable fields", but turned out to be prime Essex Skipper habitat. The first Essex's appeared on 30th July (mixed in with Small Skippers of course) and this is one of the record shots I took on that day.

Male Essex Skipper - Chaldon, Surrey 30-July-2012

Although transect duties are over until 1st April next year, there is still some monitoring to be done. There are presently 5 cows on grazing duty on the flat parts of the reserve and sheep will soon be introduced to the steeper areas. When they arrive, someone has volunteered to check and count them once a week

Vince

[badgerbob]

For the last few years there has been a small localised colony of Essex Skippers near the Elms that I monitor for White Letter Hairstreaks. This year was pretty depressing with lots of Elms falling victim to Dutch Elm Disease, however, the colony of Essex continued to show well along the long grass near the river bank. This pic was taken on 17th July.

[Mark Colvin]

Alder Platt Meadow, 15 July 2012

The only way is ...

Sadly the light had all but disappeared when I found this solitary pristine male; the following photograph being taken at 7.45pm.

A Sussex Essex at roost ...

[David M]

Classic shot that, Mark. There's no mistaking an Essex when you get to see it from that angle.

[Neil Freeman]

Lovely shot Mark, the photo I hoped for this year and failed to get.

Essex Skippers were the bane of my life for a few weekends back in the summer. I had been visiting what was to me a new local site, Babbs Mill LNR, and knowing that Essex Skippers could be found at a couple of sites close by, was determined to find them here. So determined in fact that I let my hopes get the better of me and posted a photo of one in my dairy which proved to be a Small Skipper ( after a bit of good debate ).

Just to show how awkward the weather was this year, due to work and family stuff, the chances that I got to visit this site again over the following couple of weeks proved to be warm and sunny afternoons when the skippers were in full flight mode.

Nevertheless, along with many shots of Small Skippers, I did manage to get the photos of the female below, including the all important head on view which is a crop from a quick record shot before she took off again.

Essex Skipper female - Babbs Mill 27.07.2012

Essex Skipper female - Babbs Mill 27.07.2012

Cheers,

Neil F.

[essexbuzzard]

Well i live at the heart of Essex Skipper country (namely Essex) and they can be seen by the dozen on the Common near my home-i've even had them in my garden!
Essex Skippers,though still common,appeared to have another year with below average numbers,i think they prefer warmer,drier conditions to be honest-don't we all!
This adult was near my home in July,as i took a walk one morning before work;

[David M]

Only knowingly saw this butterfly once in the UK last year, but I spotted quite a few in the French Pyrenees between 22 and 28 June: