Tag Archives: dingy skipper

A blue butterfly with a white fringe to the wings on some green vegetation

Common Blue. Photo: Brian Arnold

A brown butterfly with some lighter markings on some green vegetation

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Brian Arnold

Two photos from Brian sent in telling us:

On our Durlston transect count today, 01/05/2026 we saw the first of 3 species this year. We were surprised to see a male Common Blue as it seems quite early for this species – we were certainly not expecting to count any. We also counted our first Dingy Skipper and Small Copper. In our own Harmans Cross garden today we also saw a Painted Lady, and noted online that several have been seen locally. However, despite having fingers crossed we did not find any during our Durlston transect walk.

Two dull brown butterflies with white markings, in mating position

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Shona Refoy

Shona spotted her first Dingy Skipper on 9 April on Fontmell Down, then found these two mating the next day on Hod Hill; she reports she also saw two other males basking in the sunshine.

An orange and brown butterfly with black markings on a plant seed head

Small Copper. Photo: Brian Arnold

A brown butterfly with pale markings on a yellow flower

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Brian Arnold

Two photos from Brian sent in with the following comments:

I have been out of the Butterfly thing for the last 2 weeks as we were away on holiday in Germany. We were expecting to see lots of butterflies there, but despite seeing many areas of wild flowers we counted just 6 Small Whites, a single Wall Brown, and a single Blue that I could not see clearly enough to identify. All very strange.

Back in Dorset today, 31/05/2024 we did our Durlston transect and were pleased to see lots of butterflies – 13 species including Small Heath, Small Blue, Common Blue, Dingy Skipper, Small Copper, Small Skipper, Meadow Brown and Green Hairstreak, all of which are the first I have seen this year.

A brown butterfly with pale markings

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Penny Hawes

A brown butterfly with pale markings

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Penny Hawes

Penny sent in these photos saying:

I set off with my daughter this afternoon, 25/05/2024 intending to go to Holme for Gardens, but she suddenly suggested we go on to Durlston for the orchids instead, so we did. I think this is a Dingy Skipper.  It was very tiny, and the photos are probably not the same butterfly – there were lots of them there.

Side view of a butterfly with light brown underwings marked with orange round the edge, plus black circles with white edges further in

Brown Argus. Photo: Sharon Towning

Butterfly with wings in shades of brown and cream

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Sharon Towning

Both of these butterflies were seen by Sharon on Giant’s Hill, Cerne Abbas on 11 May. She reports there were plenty of Dingy Skippers, which is encouraging, as neither the Dingy nor the Grizzled Skipper did particularly well last year.