The Wildlife of
Croome

 
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Butterflies - The Essex Skipper

First seen on Sunday 2nd July 2017 at Croome

There are around 8 different type of Skipper butterfly. The Large and Small Skipper are by far the most common, but there is a third that you could see at Croome called the Essex Skipper. The problem is that it looks very similar to the Small Skipper, found in similar places, and you have to look very closely to see the differences. The male Essex skipper has a smaller line on his wing (called the sex brand). You can see the Small Skipper's clearly in the inset photo, it is longer and not quite inline with the wing. The Essex Skipper has more pointed wings, but when folded, this is very difficult to judge. Finally, and probably the most obscure difference is the underside of the tips of the antennae are brown or orange on the Small Skipper, and black on the Essex Skipper, rather like they have been dipped in black ink.