Large Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2016

[Wurzel]

Large Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2016

Week 9

Week nine and the countdown to Christmas has started in earnest - I think that BC have missed a trick - an advent calendar with butterfly shaped chocolates - that would certainly draw in a few more initiates Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos - just to make it easier to organise and keep everything on track so that we can enjoy this throughout the winter months? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

8th June, Crymlyn Burrows on the Swansea Coast:

[downland boy]

In June, I came across this fresh looking female during a late afternoon walk along a field edge near Cartmel in Cumbria. I do like a 'noisy' background sometimes to give the image some depth.

[Goldie M]

I took my shots at Hall-Lee-Brook on the 27th June and 10th July, the LS were few and far between this year
Goldie

[IAC]

Maybe not one of the finest photographs I have ever taken of the species however, the Large Skipper continues to expand at a much slower and more methodical pace than its cousin the Small Skipper. The Large Skipper has a very patchy history in the Scottish Borders though this past ten years it has been on the rise and can be found along lowland riverbanks, hedgerows with grass margins and quarry sites. The species has now managed to get a very firm foothold among the higher altitudes of the Lammermuir Hills by following burns and wet flushes were concentrations of such plants occur that seem suitable to there tastes ie Marsh Thistle, Ragged Robin, Hieracium sp, Dactylorhiza sp. and various Vetches and Clovers. This one was from a recently discovered site in the Scottish Borders at Gordon Community Woodland. A humid pocket of mire surrounded by a mix of planted native trees. The Marsh Thistle here is used almost exclusively.

[millerd]

Another species I found in lower numbers this year on my local patch. One reliable spot has become rather overgrown with brambles so I hope they are able to relocate nearby. Here is one from that area taken on 21st June.

Dave

[bugboy]

Compared to last year, this species had a disastrous year on my travels. However I started a second transect at work this year, a 10 minute walk around our car park which has been deliberately left to grow wild over the past 10 year or so, and I was pleasantly surprised to end the season with a count 50 individuals, I wonder how many there is in a good year!

[celery]

This one from Risby Common, near Scunthorpe on a trip to see Grayling. Nowt much to say about it except I like the way the legs and proboscis mirror the pink stamens on the Viper's Bugloss.

[Neil Freeman]

This was another species that turned up at all the places that I would expect to see it, albeit mostly in lower numbers than previous years.

A male from Ryton Wood...

Large Skipper male - Ryton wood 13.07.2016

...and a female from the park just down the road by my Moms house,

Large Skipper female - Langley Hall 01.07.2016

I also like this shot of a couple of females on bramble blossom buds, also taken at the park by my Moms house.

Large Skipper females - Langley Hall 24.06.2016

Cheers,

Neil

[Chris Jackson]

Here are upper and under shots from July 30th, south of France.
I originally had them down as being the same individual, but I am now having doubts.

Chris

[Wurzel]

Large Skipper

This was my favourite shot of a Large Skipper from 2016 many due to the comic effect produced from the abdominal hairs. From the angle that I caught it at they remind me of a Pom-pom or more seasonally, a bauble.

Taken back in the first week of July at my Larkhill stop-off it was in great condition, practically glowing in the afternoon sun.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[MikeOxon]

Another photo showing the marvellous flexibility of the proboscis - what an amazing feeding tool!

Bernwood, Oxon - 8th July 2016
Olympus E-M1 with 100-400mm lens - 1/320s@f/6.3 ISO 640

Mike

[Allan.W.]

Sitting looking through my 2016 shots this evening,and found a Large Skipper shot that I was quite pleased with,
unfortunately can,t remember where I took it......but somewhere in Kent ! regards Allan.W.