Martin Warren sent in these three photos telling us that he found quite a lot of Lulworth Skipper feeding damage on the ungrazed cliffs by Lulworth Cove and a few larvae.

The first photo above shows an early fifth (final) instar larva with a green head and a characteristic double pale line. It was in a shelter spun from two Tor grass leaves.

This second photo shows a much smaller third (possibly fourth) instar larva found in a tube spun from a single grass blade.

Lulworth Skipper 3rd or possibly 4th instar Larva.

The third photo below shows a Tor grass blade with the characteristic notches made by the larvae below a feeding tube. No one quite knows why they do this, possibly to stop the plants defensive chemicals from reaching the feeding area, or to slightly wilt the coarse grass.

Notches in blade of Tor grass made by the larva

Judging by the size of the largest larvae, they will be flying in 2-3 weeks time. The smaller one may emerge a couple of weeks later maybe early June, but this would still be a month earlier than the norm when I moved to Dorset 45 years ago.

Editor’s Note: My thanks to Martin for these superb photos and the accompanying explanatory information.