www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

The pictures were taken on 28Th July at Mill Hill Sussex. Both same skipper. The antenna tips jet black with black along the length of antenna. Is this a Essex Skipper please? Cheers Sezar

It's actually hard to tell from that shot.

The defining feature is the UNDERSIDE of the antennal tips, which are sadly invisible here.

To compound matters, you have on film a female, so the abbreviated sex brands of the male Essex are not evident either.

My hunch here is that it still coould be Small Skipper as there is a hint of sandy brown on the underside of the antennae, though I favour Essex slightly. I doubt if anyone (Guy Padfield included) could state with 100% certainty that this is Essex.

I won't claim 100% for fear of contradicting you David, but that's a male and it's Essex!

The abdominal end indicates it is a male - and then if you look carefully you will see there is a short, straight sex brand that doesn't cross the vein.

How about 99%?

Guy

My thanks to both of you. Unfartunatly managed only two pictures. Same day did photo many small skippers under same conditions but these two look so different. Cheers Sezar

Guy, you have eyes like the proverbial s**thouse rat. I still can't see a sex brand and I've blown the pictures up and compared them with my Jeremy Thomas tome.

We need a third opinion, then! But that Basil Brush tail can only belong to a male - and in the second picture I really can see the sex brand...

Guy

I agree with Guy, after scrutinizing both pictures i can see a sex brand in each picture. In the case of a s.skipper the sex brand is bold and curved, but with the e. skipper the sex brand is straight and thin.

Nick.

Hi Sezar,
That's a male Essex Skipper. The short, straight sex brand parallel to the leading wing margin is diagnostic. I'll top Guy's 99% with an additional 1%. To be fair to David it's hardly the best-defined sex brand I've ever seen! But squint and it's there - and this is definitely a male butterfly.
Neil

I'm off to the optician tomorrow!

Thanks to you all, looking at the original high quality raw piture I can just make out the details of sex brand. Cheers Sezar