Cooler for Easter

The weather for our Easter transect was cool, overcast, and a bit reluctant to play nice. For much of the afternoon, the butterflies stayed tucked away, presumably sipping hot nectar indoors. But just when we thought we’d missed out, the sun peeked shyly through the clouds … and out they came!
Among the brave flutterers making a fashionably late entrance were the Dingy Skipper, the Grizzled Skipper, and the Green-veined White – names that sound like they come from a woodland fairytale, but are real-life characters now appearing in a meadow near you. And that meadow is Fames Rough, where most of this week’s butterfly action was recorded.
As the figures show, butterfly numbers are doing their own weather forecast – rising and falling in step with our current temperature rollercoaster. It’s a delicate dance between sunshine and wings, and this week the rhythm was definitely a slow one.

​Count details:
24 Brimstone
11 Dingy Skipper
  6 Peacock
  6 Green-veined White
  4 Comma
  3 Grizzled Skipper
  2 Green Hairstreak
Total: 56 butterflies from 7 species.

Click on butterfly names for more info from Butterfly Conservation.

Butterflies of the week

Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) – more charming than its name suggests.

• Despite its dull brown colour, it’s actually a member of the fast-flying, sun-loving skipper family.
• It prefers warm, open habitats like chalk grasslands and brownfield sites – often basking with wings spread wide like a moth.  
• Its caterpillars live in a self-made shelter by folding leaves of Bird’s-foot-trefoil, their main food plant.

Dingy Skipper, Fames Rough - Duncan Jennings

Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) – a tiny speedster with a chequered charm.

• Its distinctive black-and-white ‘grizzled’ pattern helps it blend perfectly into stony or gravelly ground.
• It’s one of the earliest skippers to emerge in spring, often zipping low over the ground in quick, darting flights.
• The caterpillars feed on wild strawberry and other plants in the rose family, hiding in cleverly folded leaves.

Grizzled Skipper, Fames Rough - Liz North

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) – a master of disguise in the meadow.

• Unlike the similar-looking Small White, its underwings have delicate greenish veins that help it vanish among foliage.
• It prefers damp, grassy habitats like meadows, woodland edges, and riverbanks – often overlooked despite being widespread.
• Females are picky egg-layers, choosing only the freshest wildflowers like cuckooflower and garlic mustard for their caterpillars.

Green-veined White - Graham Kenward

Survey by Brian G, Liz North, Duncan Jennings and Graham K submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS). ​Report by GK & AI.