Essex skipper © Josh Kubale
Essex skipper
This small orange-brown butterfly can be tricky to tell apart from the similar small skipper.
Enw gwyddonol
Thymelicus lineolaPryd i'w gweld
Adults: June - AugustCaterpillars: March - June
Species information
Category
Ystadegau
Wingspan: 2.7-3 cmStatws cadwraethol
Least Concern on the butterfly Red List for Great Britain (2022)
Habitats
Ynghylch
The Essex skipper can be found in a variety of grassy habitats, from chalk meadows to roadside verges. They skip over the grass with a fast, darting flight, stopping to take nectar from flowers. Females lay their eggs on grasses in summer, but the eggs don't hatch until the following spring. The caterpillars feed on grasses, particularly cock's-foot. When they're fully grown, they use silk to attach themselves low down on a grass blade and pupate, emerging as an adult butterfly around three weeks later.Sut i'w hadnabod
A small, orange brown butterfly with unpatterned wings and rounded tips to the antennae. It is extremely similar to the small skipper. The best way to tell them apart is to look at the underside of the antennae tips. On an Essex skipper, the underside of each tip is black. On a small skipper, it is orange-brown. Males of both species have a thin, dark line on the upper surface of the forewing, known as a scent brand. In Essex skippers, this line is straight and runs parrallel to the leading edge of the wing. In small skippers, this line is longer, curves slightly and angles away from the leading edge of the wing.The caterpillars are small and green, usually with a grey head that has two whitish vertical stripes, each edged with brown.