Best time to see: Jul to mid Aug
Key facts
Small orange-brown skipper of rough grassland
Habitat: any sunny spot where wild grasses, and especially Yorkshire Fog, grow tall
Widely distributed throughout southern England and Wales
Recognition
Orange-brown upperwings with black veins and edges; tips of clubbed antennae are reddish-orange; wingspan 30 mm
Spend long periods perched with wings apart, interspersed with short, rapid flights from flower to flower
Essex skipper is almost identical except tips of antennae are black, as if dipped in ink
Lifecycle
Lays a row of pale yellow eggs in stems of rough grasses like Yorkshire Fog
Pale green caterpillars hibernate together, dispersing in spring to live alone in rolled grass stems
Turns into a chrysalis in May before emerging in June as an adult butterfly
© Tony Gunton
© Ken King
© Tony Gunton