Grizzled Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2022

[Wurzel]

Grizzled Skipper - Favourite Photo of 2022

Week 7

Here we are at Lucky Week 7! With the Winter Social been and gone hopefully these threads will help keep us going until the next season.

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

[millerd]

Almost all my best sightings of this species came in the second half of April. I haven't in the past come across many pairings of this species, but this year I was treated to two. The first was on 24th April at Ivinghoe Beacon whilst looking at Dukes. No courtship appeared to be involved; they encountered each other, plonked themselves down on the ground and coupled.

The other pair, at Pitstone on 30th April, were already together when I first spotted them. However, they were much more restless as they were buffeted by a strong breeze and decoupled as I watched.

Earlier on the same day I had seen good numbers of the species at nearby Incombe Hole, including this brief encounter with a Dingy Skipper which I failed to get very close to before the smaller butterfly displaced the larger.

At the same spot another one posed rather nicely among the cowslips.

Dave

[Wolfson]

I encountered Grizzled Skipper at several sites this year, my first sightings were in late April when I watched a female alternating between feeding on a dandelion and laying a few eggs. I also had a pleasant day looking at Grizzled Skipper with BC Cornwall branch in May. However, the most were seen when recording Chequered Skipper in late May, on one day I saw 4 species of Skipper.

[Stevieb]

Excellent numbers at Cotley Hill, Wiltshire this year. This is my favourite out of many taken.

[bugboy]

On the sites I visit, this was a particularly poor year for the Grizzled Skipper. On a rather cool, cloudy day trying to find PBF this one provided some welcome distraction in the otherwise mostly butterflyless day.

[Neil Freeman]

Another species that I saw on my visits to Butser Hill/Rake Bottom in April, with this turning out to be the only time I saw Grizzled skippers this year.

Grizzled Skipper - Butser Hill 18.04.2022

My favourite is this pair showing a good size difference between the male and female although that is probably exaggerated by the diferent positions of their wings.

Grizzled Skipper pair - Butser Hill 18.04.2022

Cheers,

Neil

[Padfield]

Back in May, I flew out to Switzerland for a few days to give some maths talks at an international school in Leysin. Following my father's death, I intended to move back to Switzerland and Leysin was on my list of possible places to live. The weather wasn't great, but on 22nd May, while going for a walk between lectures and private lessons, I came across a little field with Dukes of Burgundy, Glanville fritillaries, marsh fritillaries and lots of skippers, including grizzlies and alpine grizzlies. Yes, I could definitely live in Leysin, I thought.

This beautiful little taras was one of the butterflies that helped me make up my mind:



I now live in Leysin.

Guy

EDIT: Both grizzled skipper, Pyrgus malvae, and southern grizzled skipper, Pyrgus malvoides, fly in Switzerland, but they are postcode butterflies - indistinguishable except by knowing which species flies where. I've never seen taras in malvoides, but in any case, according to the maps, this must be malvae.

[Allan.W.]

Very nice Guy !! Allan.W.

[David M]

...This beautiful little taras was one of the butterflies that helped me make up my mind:

....I now live in Leysin.

That truly is a beauty, Guy. No wonder it helped persuade you relocate to that village.

[Phil Bowler]

I encountered very few Grizzled Skippers this year but of the few I took pictures of, this is my personal favourite - perched on meadowsweet atop an arched grass blade. This was in early June at Fineshade Wood, Northants. whilst seeking out the even scarcer Chequered Skipper.

[Allan.W.]

I,ve been very lucky with the local Grizzles over the past few seasons with several small colonies close at hand .Unfortunately things now seem to be changing ,with at least 3( of 5 ) sites now becoming very overgrown and un-managed ,the sites are mainly in private hands and its a bit of a job trying to find out who actually does own them ! my best count on any of these sites was only 4 .
Likewise Orlestone forest ,my local patch only produced 2 or 3 all season.............and none for me !
One of the sites where in the past it was more unusual to see a "normal " Grizzle , the majority being abberant ,with Taras actually quite common ,the individuals that did turn up this season in very small numbers were mainly Taras (5),Intermedia (3) and 1 Scabellata. I dread to think what the 2023 season will be like .All this said i have been looking in some likely looking areas in Orlestone that i,ve rarely visited ,but have held Grizzles in the past,
so i live in hopes .
The one bright light on my grizzle sites ,have been the numbers at Dungeness this season ,where i had my best visit count of 9 ,beating my previous best by 7,and the Obs ; warden had a day count of 30 !...................so things aren,t all bad ! Anyway these are some of my favourite shots.

[David M]

My annual Grizzled Skipper pilgrimage at Merthyr Mawr, near Porthcawl, was on 17th April this year:

[Wurzel]

Grizzled Skipper

My favourite shot this year came from my second sighting of the year. I’d traipsed and trooped around Martin Down staring at the ground in the hope of spying a little grey blur unsuccessfully for most of the morning when in a break from photographing courting Adders I found what I’d been seeking when a little grey blur did indeed appear flying low to the ground and resolving into my first Grizzlie of 2022 when it dropped the very short distance to earth.

There was a keen breeze blowing and so for lunch I sought a little shelter and so made my way to the little island of shrubbery in the middle of the lower slopes of the Down. A little narrow track leads into a small clearing where the sun beams down but the wind can’t reach and so I relished the warmth almost as much as my hot lime pickle sandwiches. While I was munching and my cheeks were still burning my second Grizzlie showed up (butterflies often do while the chilli eats through my cheeks). I took many shots of it using my sandwich free hand and this one became my favourite of the day and managed to hold onto this position throughout the year because of its hairy knees. I’d not noticed this feature before and neither had another UK Butterflier but luckily Adrian Riley identified them as ‘erectile pencils of scent scales found in males and used for chemical communication during courtship’.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

... I relished the warmth almost as much as my hot lime pickle sandwiches...

Glad to hear someone else enjoys hot lime pickle sandwiches! As an aside, most biting insects avoid me (except ticks, which aren't insects, of course) and I have wondered if it's because I eat curry every day and have chilli in my bloodstream 24/7. Mosquitos won't go near me.

Guy

[David M]

As an aside, most biting insects avoid me (except ticks, which aren't insects, of course) and I have wondered if it's because I eat curry every day and have chilli in my bloodstream 24/7. Mosquitos won't go near me.

I'm sure it helps, Guy. Eating lots of chilli and garlic keeps them away from me too.

[Wurzel]

I remember reading somewhere that Marmite also has a similar effect Guy. I inadvertently tested this back in 2018 in the Dordogne - no bites for a few days and whilst the sachets of Marmite lasted and then when they ran out (and there was a distinct lack of Lime pickle) I was bit to blazes

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Vince Massimo]

A late entry from me. This from one of the Gatwick transect routes on 5th May. It would be the first of 5 recorded that day, which was an all-time record for the site.

Grizzled Skipper - Gatwick Airport, Sussex 5-May-2022

Vince

[Allan.W.]

And that ones a Cracker !! Vince ..............Very nice . Allan.W.

[Vince Massimo]

Thanks Allan, it was a bit of a lucky shot .

Vince