www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

... that this is an essex. It was docile enough to climb onto my finger where I got a good look at the antennae tips, which were completely black. But the buff underside extends further towards the tip than I would have expected. Comments appreciated.
This is the same individual
Crop of the above
Both taken with Sony A700 with Minolta 'Big Beercan' 75-300 zoom at 300mm. 1/250 f8 and 1/160 f8 iso200. Available light, hand held, pattern metering, image stabilisation on.

definitely an Essex Skipper... it looks well 'ard

charles

Thanks Charles. I found it in a patch of scrub and long grass very near where I live. I had a tentative visual sighting of a single individual at this location two years ago, then a positive photo last year, so it's nice to see at least one there again this year. The fact that it's a female is encouraging too. I shall have to get a GPS reading of the spot so I can notify the local environmental records office as there's marbled white there as well.