Find what you're looking for...
Small Skipper. Photo: Caroline Stringer
Common Blue. Photo: Caroline Stringer
Caroline sent us these two photos both taken on 22/07/2025 – the Small Skipper she saw at Lydlinch and the Common Blue she saw by the side the Badbury Rings road.
Small Skipper. Photo: Brian Arnold
Small Skipper. Photo: Brian Arnold
Brian says:
Today (12 June) in our garden at Harman’s Cross we saw our first Small Skipper of 2025. This brings our butterfly species total for 2025 to 15. The lower photo above is a head-on shot shows that it is a Small Skipper, not an Essex Skipper. We expect to get both species in our garden so I like to check – assuming they oblige for a head on or underside photo which is not always easy! This one is a male.
The most reliable way to tell an Essex Skipper from a Small Skipper is by the black tips to its antennae: they must show a clear cut offs which are visible from the underside too. If the antennae are greyish, brown or patchy black, they are not Essex.
Small Skipper. Photo: Roger Peart
Roger says that he doesn’t think he’s every seen a Small Skipper before, but he spotted this one at Longham Lakes on 9 June.
Large Skipper. Photo: Matt Cooper
Small Skipper. Photo: Matt Cooper
Matt spent a couple of hours on Lydlinch Common on 11 June, seeing his first Meadow Brown, Large and Small Skippers and Silver-washed Fritillary.
His great photos of the two Skippers give us a good idea of how to tell one from the other: the Small is much plainer. Of course, there are also Essex Skippers and Lulworth Skippers, but we won’t complicate matters further!
Small Skipper. Photo: Mark Pike
Red Admiral Egg. Photo: Mark Pike
Two photos from Mark sent in with the following comments:
Another quick walk over a barren Motcombe Meadows today, 22/07/2024 with very little (of anything) about. However I did come across this unusually marked Small Skipper with pronounced black veins, and I also spotted a Red Admiral on the very top of a stinging nettle that took flight as I approached. Closer inspection revealed this wonderful single egg hanging from the nettle like a Christmas decoration!
Small Skipper. Photo: Jill Franks
Jill sent in this photo saying:
I thought all the butterflies might have drowned – however today, 14/07/2024 a little more fruitful. Photographed this Small Skipper at lunchtime in the Kingcombe reserve.
Lulworth and Small Skippers. Photo: Brian Arnold
Brian sent in this rather special photo showing a female Lulworth Skipper and a Small Skipper sharing the same flower – photo taken 11/07/2024 on his Durlston transect.
Small Skipper. Photo: Brian Arnold
Common Blue. Photo: Brian Arnold
Two photos from Brian sent in with the following comments:
At Durlston today, 02/07/2024 I photographed several Skippers in my search to find an Essex Skipper, but no luck, so here is one of the Small Skippers I photographed in my search for an Essex. We also saw this very blue female Common Blue, sadly missing part of an antennae.
Silver-studded Blue. Photo: Donald Simcock
Small Skipper. Photo: Donald Simcock
Donald sent us these two photos with the following comments:
Last night Val and I went on a guided Nightjar walk over Creech Heath with James, one of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation rangers. He showed us the roosting Silver-studded Blue’s and we also found a roosting Small Skipper.
Later as it got dark we started to hear the Nightjars “churring” and saw some in flight but no wing clapping. A really good evening.
Red Admiral ab ocellata. Photo: Mark Pike
Small Skippers. Photo: Mark Pike
Two more photos from Mark taken at Motcombe Meadows on 05/07/2023 and sent in with the following comments:
The top photo shows a fresh Red Admiral ab. ocellata (note the two white dots in the red of the forewings) and the other photo shows two Small Skippers – a male (bottom) and female (top) which might be handy to show the difference between the two.