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Skipper Butterfly

Picture of skipper butterfly resting on a zinnia flower.

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Appearance:
It has a rusty orange colour to the wings, upper body and the tips of the antennae. The body is silvery white below and it has a wingspan of 25–30 mm. This butterfly is very similar in appearance to the Essex skipper (Thymelicus lineola). In the small skipper, the undersides of the tips of the antennae are yellow orange, whereas they are black in the Essex skipper. The black area on the lower edge of the upper wings also differs. Like the other orange grass skippers the male has a distinctive black stripe made up of scent scales.

Life cycle and food plants:
Eggs are laid loosely inside grass sheaths of the caterpillars food plants from July to August. The newly hatched caterpillars eat their own eggshell before entering hibernation individually in a protective cocoon of a grass sheath sealed with silk. In the spring the caterpillar begins feeding. The favoured food plant is Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus), although other recorded food plants include timothy (Phleum pratense), creeping soft grass (Holcus mollis), false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum), meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) and cock's foot (Dactylis glomerata). The caterpillars pupate near the base of the food plant in June with the first adults on the wing at the end of June, a week or two before the first Essex skippers. They are strongly attracted to purple flowers such as thistles and knapweeds.

Distribution:
This butterfly's range includes much of Europe (east to the Urals, including Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia, and includes north Africa and the Middle East. It is typically occurring where grass has grown tall.

This Picture is made during a Long Weekend in the South of Belgium in June 2019.

A Silver-spotted Skipper nectaring on Swamp Milkweed.

Butterflies (Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae): 1) Marbled white (Melanargia galathea); 2) Scotch argus (Erebia aethiops); 3) Woodland ringlet (Erebia medusa); 4) Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina), female; 5) Wall brown (Lasiommata megera); 6) Great banded grayling (Brintesia circe); 7) Brown hairstreak (Thecla betulae); 8) Purple hairstreak (Favonius quercus); 9) Small copper (Lycaena phlaeas); 10) Scarce copper (Lycaena virgaureae); 11) Adonis blue (Lysandra bellargus, or Polyommatus bellargus); 12a+b) Common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus), male, female (12b); 13) Large blue (Phengaris arion); 14) Arctic skipper, or Chequered skipper (Carterocephalus palaemon); 15) Silver-spotted skipper (Hesperia comma); 16) Large grizzled skipper (Pyrgus alveus). Hand colored lithograph, published in 1881.

At present, Hesperia comma is a quite rare resident in the Netherlands. The species has been declining steadily since the beginning of the 20th century. There are now only 35-45 populations left, and it is now categorised as endangered on the Red List.

Close-up of a skipper butterfly in the forest. Pelopidas assamensis, the great swift, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae

Skipper butterfly in front of white background

Sunning himself, a tiny Western branded skipper butterfly about the size of a fingernail perches on a leaf in Reynolds Park in Jefferson County, Colorado.

Close up of male fiery skipper butterfly, Hylephila phyleus, feeding on stevia, Stevia rebaudiana. Sunnyvale, California, USA.

A common checkered skipper butterfly on a meadow

Abstract of a Small copper butterfly and a Large Skipper butterfly over Oregano plants.

Small orange butterflies.

Borbo Cinnara, also known Rice Swift or Formosan Swift belonging from butterfly family. Its mostly found in India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Australia.

A bright orange butterfly (Lycaenidae - Lycaena virgaureae) drinks nectar on a flower.

Large Skipper butterfly on Oregano flower.

Pyrgus malvae, the grizzled skipper, is a butterfly species from the family Hesperiidae. It is a small skipper (butterfly) with a chequered pattern on its wings that appears to be black and white. This butterfly can be found throughout Europe and is common in central and southern regions of England. The butterfly prefers three major types of habitat: woodland, grassland, and industrial. Eggs are laid on plants that will provide warmth and proper nutrition for development, such as A. euphoria. As larvae, their movement is usually restricted to a single plant, on which they will build tents, unless they move onto a second host plant. Larvae then spin cocoons, usually on the last host plant they have occupied, where they remain until spring. Upon emerging as adult butterflies, grizzled skippers are quite active during the day and tend to favour blue or violet-coloured plants for food. They also possess multiple methods of communication; for example, vibrations are used to communicate with ants, and chemical secretions play a role in mating. Exhibiting territorial behaviour, males apply perching and patrolling strategies to mate with a desired female.
Habitat:
Although grizzled skippers occupy three major forms of habitats, they tend to settle in environments with spring nectar plants, larval food plants (agrimony, creeping cinquefoil, wild strawberry, tormentil), ranker vegetation, and edges with scrub or woodland. Host plants are from the family Rosaceae with a focus on Agrimonia eupatoria as well as Potentilla.
Flight Season:
Grizzled skippers produce one brood per season and are in flight from the middle of March to the middle of July.

This Picture is made during a Vacation in Bulgaria in May 2018.

Small Skipper butterfly basking on grass

Large skipper butterfly on grass in a nature reserve. Stukeley Meadows Nature Reserve Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

A small skipper butterfly perching on grass and looking up at the camera.

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