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Silver-spotted Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2022

Week 15

From incessant rain to freezing temperatures; roll on spring! And whilst we wait let the sights from the 2022 season warm the cockles.

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

These seemed to, unsurprisingly, cope quite well with the heatwave last year and were plentiful on Box Hill and Denbies

Quite a scarce micro in the first picture there as well - Pyrausta nigrata.

Whilst down visiting our daughter early in September, I visited Old Winchester Hill to see second brood Adonis Blue and hopefully Silver-spotted Skippers. Although by then the weather had turned and there had been some thunderstorms, including a spectacular one during the night before, I was unsure how the previous hot and dry period of weather had effected them.
A cloudy morning to start with gradually brightened up and during some spells of warm sunshine I found half a dozen Silver-spotted Skipper still flying. Not as many as I saw here at the same time the previous year when a cooler summer had led to a later and more prolonged flight period.
Cheers,

Neil

The only examples I came across this year were in France, where they were feeding on a species of sunflower. It was strange to be pointing the camera up to take photos of this species as if they were hairstreaks, when in Britain they never make it above knee height.

Matsukaze wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:18 pm Quite a scarce micro in the first picture there as well - Pyrausta nigrata.

Yes, I took several pictures trying to get them both in focus. P. nigrata is relatively common where I go to find SSS so they obviously like the same habitat.

Silver-spotted Skipper

For the last couple of years I’ve been visiting Perham Down for my Silver Spots. It’s normally meant a lung bursting and vertiginous climb up the side of the Down followed by an ankle breaking descent on the return OR yomping across seemingly unsuitable habitat before still having to make a climb to get to the Hotspot. However this year I found them at the very foot of the Down practically on the flat and within a 2 minute amble from where the car was parked! To make me slap my forehead and exclaim “Doh!” even more loudly they were all over the place; in the best numbers I’ve ever encountered here! Mind you this made selecting my favourite quite tricky but in the end there was actually only one choice – a lovely heavily marked individual whose spots looked more like silver blocks confluent. A very striking individual to be sure and this was the reason for its selection.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

This was the only image I took of this species in 2022. In the French Pyrenees in mid-July this individual with bright, bold, silver spots basked invitingly on a rock:

I took quite a few shots of the Silver-Spotted Skipper last August at Aston Rowant. I have chosen this female just for the fun element. Let the force be with her! This male was very approachable despite (or because of) the heat.