Despite its name, the Large Skipper is quite a tiny butterfly, but larger than its cousin the Small Skipper. Skippers are named after their quick, darting flight pattern. As well as being larger, Large Skippers have more colour variation in their wings than the Small Skipper. Male and female are similar, but the male has a black bar (the sex brand) on the forewings.

They can be found flying on and in the grass in the meadows often near water. The skippers tend to rest with their wings in a 'half open' position, forming a sort of triangle. This leaves the wings partly folded - not very good for spotting wing patterns.