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Grizzled Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2023

Week 7

Next week advent begins and so as we hurtle on into the dark and cold winter hopefully these Favourite posts will offer up a bit of much needed cheer!

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

Grizzled Skipper

Despite this shot being of a Grizzlie slight past its best it still came out as my Fave. It was taken at Middle Street at the start of June so in the later part of their season and it wasn’t the quality or pose of the butterfly that was the deciding factor for its selection but the geography. I’d seen both Dingy and Grizzlies at Middle Street in the past but it had been a year or two since I’d last seen either here hence its selection as the Fave this year as it had turned up again.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

One of the first I came across this year comes straight to mind. I was at Incombe Hole on the Chilterns on a sunny but chilly May morning and had spotted one or two Grizzlies darting around, but none stopped nearby. I was taking a break from gently wandering up and down the sheltered path along the bottom of this dry valley, looked to my right, and there on the hawthorn at about head height was a fresh Grizzled Skipper. No chasing or muttering under the breath required.This one from Cotley Hill later in the month also posed nicely. Dave

I didn,t have to look through too many shots this season for my "favourite " Grizzle .Two words can describe the Grizzles locally to me this season ..............Absolute Disaster !!
I,ve been very blessed over the past 7-8 seasons or so ,having 5 good Grizzle areas close at hand ,with the majority of the Grizzles.. being Abberant .But bit by bit the sites,have become. very overgrown and unsuitable. I suppose i had around ten visits to these sites at prime times ,and only managed Grizzles on one visit 3 in total . At another site a bit further afield ,at Dungeness ............never found 1 ,apparently they also had a very poor year there also.
Heres two of the three . Allan.W.

Lots of Grizzled at Hutchinsons Bank and Chapel Bank this year and Taras as usual
here are a few of the best shots

In the indifferent spring weather, we didn't see many Grizzled Skippers until a trip to Denbies in late May, when they were around in reasonable numbers. This one is from that visit.

This is one of the few species that I managed to photograph this year. On 19th June, the transect at the North-west zone at Gatwick Airport produced a surprise late Grizzled Skipper in a new sector. Most of the skippers seen in this local population are aberrant to some degree.
Vince

What a lot of taras ! In my experience, this is very much a geographical thing. When I lived in Barboleuse, I found them quite frequently, but when I moved just a few kilometres to Huémoz, I saw none. I'm happy to say my present home, Leysin, seems to be a taras locality. I saw one in 2022, when I visited on a recce, and found two here in 2023. This is my favourite, photographed on 13th June:



Guy

MrSp0ck wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 8:08 pmLots of Grizzled at Hutchinsons Bank and Chapel Bank this year and Taras as usual...

Great variety there, Sp0ck.

Yes not many visitors were looking at Grizzingy Skippers, Glanvilles, Small Blues etc at the end of may and Early June, so a lot were overlooked. We will be over-run with Glanvilles in 2024 hopefully.

But we always get a few taras grizzled every year.

Most of my Grizzled Skippers this year were seen during our few days down to our daughters in May when a couple of visits to Butser Hill/Rake Bottom and Old Winchester Hill produced a dozen or so at each spot. I also spotted a single Grizzlie at Stansted forest.
A similar pose from OWH.
Back home later in May I found a couple at Bishops Hill, something I am always pleased with as the population here is quite small.
Cheers,

Neil.

Saw plenty on the continent, but just one opportunity domestically, at Merthyr Mawr dunes on 12th May:

A strange season for these. I can normally be sure of seeing them in the first half of April (sometimes at the end of March) but I had to wait until the start of May this year before the first ones showed themselves to me. Freshly emerged ones were still appearing a month later at the start of June as this one from Denbies illustrates.