End of Year Tally 2017
It was a funny old year for me and one which the weather really played havoc with. There were cold snaps when you didn’t want it just as things were getting going and baking hot days when you broiled in the sun. It felt that every time I was looking to have some time butterflying the weather was terrible; Easter in Wales – freezing and wet, May half term in Dorset – the high pressure broke and we had rain and grey for the four days we were there, August in Wales – windy and wet and not one good ‘sunny all day’ day the entire week and finally August in Devon – nowhere near as good as hoped for. Still you plug away at it and takes rough with the smooth, it would be nice though if there was slightly more smooth in 2018 to make up for all the rough in 2017?
The Skippers
1 Small Skipper, 17-06-2018 Wrecclesham
My first Small Skipper came 11 days earlier this year and was quite a surprise, at the time, finding it as I did at Wrecclesham whilst making a hopeful search for Glanvilles. However this earlier sighting is probably accounted for more by my travelling so far East. I’ve noticed over the years that butterflies emerge between a week and a fortnight earlier on the eastern side of the country and so this earlier sighting isn’t actually that surprising and factoring this in their emergence was therefore about the same time. I was slightly worried last year as they seemed to be down in numbers but they appear to have bounced back with good numbers at all of my usual sites and Larkhill in particular was almost crawling with them and their Essex cousins; so a good year for Small Skipper.
2 Essex Skipper, 21-06-2017 Larkhill
After a later start in 2016 this year it seems like the alarm clocks were turned back to ‘early’ as my first Essex, from Larkhill as in 2016, came a fortnight earlier. I was even more worried about this Skipper last year than its ‘Small’ cousin so it was great to see clouds of them enjoying the long grasses at Larkhill. There were so many it felt like a new county, Smessex, had been formed! As well as doing well on home territory I also discovered them further afield in Dorset during a notable trip which accounted for all four golden skippers in one afternoon.
3 Lulworth Skipper, 08-07-2017 Corfe Castle
Judging whether early or late for this species is really difficult due to their protracted emergence and also because I have to travel to see it, I can’t just encounter it on my way to work like I can Smessex. So even though recorded a month later this was because that was the first time I could get back to Dorset. I’d visited at the end of May but the weather then was terrible so butterflying was minimal and most species spent a week hunkered down and so I had to wait until July before taking the road trip to see them. It was worth the wait as I was handed my easiest year tick; literally spotting it as I got out of the car, four or five steps across the car park and then ‘click, click’. There were probably about 10 or so on the very steep banks of the Corfe Castle car park and most were quite old so they must have been out a good while here. Later that same day at Durlston they were all over the place, in the little picnic area, along the coastal path and in amongst the tor grasses and short cropped turf. It was great to see so many and some still in excellent condition. Because of this I reckon they had a better year this year than last but might not be out of the woods yet…
4 Silver Spotted Skipper, 24-07-2017 Broughton Down
I found this species 5 days earlier this year than last at the ever reliable Broughton Down. However this earlier visit meant that they weren’t as numerous as last year which I hope was down to them not reaching their peak rather than a decline in numbers? The highlight for me with this species came after my annual visit to Broughton Down. I was checking out Shipton for the second time hoping to find some more Brostreaks and I was checking out the area near the hotspot hedge. In amongst a few blues there was something flying faster and more erratically, veering off at acute angles and disappearing momentarily from view. Eventually I managed to track it down thinking it might some type of moth but it was actually a Silver-spot, a species I not encountered or expected to encounter here before. So something to check up on next year – was this a one off last wanderer or is there a colony here or near-about?
5 Large Skipper, 31-05-2017 Middle Street
Only two days later this year than last and from a different site. So a similar start for this species in 2017 and unfortunately the similarity continued when considering the actual numbers. There were many fewer than I can recall from various sites over the last few years apart from last year when I noticed a decline. This ear there were probably a few fewer still actually though I don’t know how they fared nationally? It comes to something when I only saw two females all year – one at Durlston and one in Oxford. Where were they? Did the stop-start and fitful spring mess up their emergence? Fingers crossed that 2018 us a bounce back year like 2017 was for the Smessex.
6 Dingy Skipper, 22-04-2017 Duke Site
A whole eight days earlier this year and also seen on the same day as my first Grizzlie at my Duke site. Both sightings might actually have been a first for the county. Number wise despite not seeing them at either Bentley Wood or Larkhill they seemed to have fared a little better this year as the places where I did find them they certainly put in a better showing. I also managed to get to Martin Down properly this year and they were showing really well along the Dyke. There were a few highlights with this species; my first mating pair, one stealing my coffee at The Hill but the one that topped the lot was finding a second brood Dingy at Shipton in August whilst searching for Brostreaks. All the other enthusiasts present strangely didn’t seem that interested, they didn’t even break from their fourth rotation of photographing the same female Brostreak to see this, in my mind, star attraction…
7 Grizzled Skipper, 22-04-2017 Duke Site
As mentioned above I saw my first Grizzlie on the same day as m first Dingy just like last year however the Grizlie came first…by 23 minutes! I found it interesting that they seemed to prefer slightly different habitat at this site – with the Grizzlie on the shorter turf that bedecked the slopes of the Iron Age fort whilst the Dingy preferred the rockier slopes where the vegetation is patchier and alternates between really short springy turf and tussocks of Cooch grass. Over the season the Grizzlie seemed to hold its own compared to last year so hopefully that will continue into 2018 though it would be nice to see it across a greater range of sites next year.
Have a goodun
Wurzel
I'm still working on 2017 - three more 'Tally' posts to write...and then I can think about opening 2018. I'm treating the retrospective post writing as a mental work out so I reckon this year I've 'mentally' ran several marathons 
Goldie 
