Silver-spotted Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2018

[Wurzel]

Silver-spotted Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2018

Week 15

With five weeks still to go now is the time to start thinking about choosing your overall favourite! As for this week – it feels like we’re going back in time and just starting winter!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years 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

[bugboy]

A couple for me, a close up from their season debut for me on a warm but overcast day at Box Hill

and a week later I caught this one with his tongue out at Malling Down

[David M]

Due to the fallout from western Europe's late season, I wouldn't have seen this species at all in 2018 had it not been for my joyous trip to Spain in late July.

There were plenty of Silver Spotted Skippers about, although I didn't take many images given the range of far rarer species close by:

[MikeOxon]

I went to Bald Hill at the western end of the Aston Rowant reserve, well away from the roar of M40 traffic, with low expectations. It was cool and quite a strong breeze was blowing across the slope,

After a while, I realised that there were, in fact, good numbers of Silver-spotted Skippers, keeping well down and zipping rapidly from flower to flower. My favourite shot from the day:

Bald Hill, Oxon 31st July 2018
Olympus E-M1-ii with 100-400mm lens - 1/1600s@f/11 ISO640

Mike

[John W]

After unsuccessfully chasing them on a boiling hot day on tiring, steep ground I decided to sit down by a likely flower head and wait for one to settle.
And to my surprise, one did, for about 2 seconds, and I just managed to get this shot. After viewing it on the camera LCD I decided I wasn't going to do any better so I left the site and had an ice-cream!

Malling Down, July 22 2018, 12.51pm

Cheers
John W

[David M]

After unsuccessfully chasing them on a boiling hot day on tiring, steep ground I decided to sit down by a likely flower head and wait for one to settle.

Amazing how often that happens! It's a strategy I regularly employ when in southern Europe - watch which are their favoured perches and then just plonk yourself right by one!

[Wurzel]

Silver-spotted Skipper

I managed to make two trips to Broughton Down this year and so I was able to spend some real quality time with this particular species. This did have the unfortunate side effect of making my selection of my Favourite extremely difficult due to the multitudes of Silver-spots that I saw and the multitudes of shots that I took! However in the end I settled for something different and plumbed for this as my favourite shots as it shows how ridiculously cute this species is but also what terribly messy eater it is!

Have a goodun

Wurzel