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Hi All,

I found a couple of Dingy Skippers chasing around on a local hay meadow yesterday. This is a new site for them and I am hoping they have colonised. I know the species needs bird's foot trefoil dreeping over patches of bare ground, which it should have in plenty, but would a July hay cut and winter cattle grazing cause the species problems?

A couple of decades ago, when I was a young innocent in the first flower of my youth, I knew of a couple of colonies in Somerset centred around some long uncultivated hay meadows for which a hay cut at the end of June was an annual event. The tiny larvae would at this stage have been living in loose tents made in the terminal leaf buds, but the act of cutting and then turning the hay over a period of a week or there abouts would, it would seem, have given the larvae the opportunity to descend from the cables of turned hay and into the sward below. It is likely that the resulting close cut sward, baking in the summer sun and rich with juicy new herb growth, would have provided ideal conditions for the young larvae to develop.

The switch made in the early 1970's from an annual hay crop to a bi (or tri) annual silage crop (with copious application of high N, P, K, fertilisers betwixt harvests) has probably done as much to harm our lowland grassland ecosystems than anything else you could care to mention. But I digress...

There is no reason why a winter graze would be detrimental to the habitat, although the accompanying enrichment of the soil could have a negative effect upon the vegetative make up of the summer sward. Ancient hay meadows used to be practically in nutrient deficit (which is why they were so rich in plant and insect species) in the golden age of hay making, much like roadside verges once were for similar reasons. How times have changed. There is a formula for winter grazing in such environments (head of stock per hectare) I believe to ensure maximum grazing benefit against minimum enrichment, but don't ask me what it is.

Having said all that, the species can be quite a wanderer contrary to popular belief. We have them in the garden annually (along with grizzled skippers) as vagrants from the colonies on the Downs. They busy themselves around the borders and the lawns, both species taking advantage of the bare soil and paths on which to bask, but would not be able to breed in the garden with any success.

Piers.

I am sure close grazing or mowing and/or wrong timings can have a profound effect at a local level.
A contractor flattened an area this Spring which my Branch has been supervising and creating mozaics within it of shorter and longer sward with small bushes etc.
Not surprisingly, Dingy Skipper Transect counts for that part are significantly down on previous years....about 1/3rd of last year.
N

That's very disappointing to hear Nicholas, particularly in a year when the species generally appeared to have benefited from a few consecutive favourable seasons with excellent numbers at the best sites.

Piers.

,,,plus ca change