In search of the Essex Skipper - Sat 1st August 2015

Essex Skipper butterflies in Scotland are quite a rarity so Butterfly Conservation have an organised walk in Birkshaw Forest every year to check on their numbers. We have been on this walk for the last 2 years and have been successful in seeing Essex Skippers - if not photographing them! The weather this year has been very unpredictable so we were not too optimistic. The forecast said we would have some sun but showers and wind were also likely. Arriving in the cloud and wind wasn't promising but our group of 10 set off in eager anticipation.

 

Within a few minutes of setting out we did glimpse the sun, albeit only for a short while but enough to bring out the first butterflies of the day - Ringlets, Meadow Browns and a Small Skipper. Excitement began to build......

Alternating cloud and sunshine, still with a good breeze, continued as we walked along the track. Other discoveries began to be noticed - fungi, hoverflies, bees, cinnabar caterpillars on ragwort, grasshoppers, common darter and a few day flying moths as well as other butterflies.

 

Birkshaw Forest was used as a mass burial site for sheep slaughtered in the fight against foot and mouth disease in 2001. A programme of health and environmental monitoring continues today to ensure the site does not pose any problems.

As we continued our walk we came to the fence that has been erected to keep the public away from the actual site of the burials. 

 

This is where Essex Skippers have been seen previously so we were hoping.....

 

....... and we were successful!! Essex Skippers are still here!!
 It has been suggested that the Skippers may have been transported here with the straw and carcases but this has not been proven.The Essex Skipper is a small butterfly but it dashes and darts about making it difficult to identify. It is a bright orange-brown colour and very similar to the Small Skipper except that it has black tips to the underside of the antenna. Difficult to see unless you catch a specimen and look very carefully! Catch a specimen we did though - and then another - and then another. The more we looked - in the now brilliant sunshine - the more we saw.

Photo from Butterfly Conservation

 

A lovely wander in the sunshine with a grand total of species seen.