David Element's Wildlife Web Page Butterflies 72

David Element

Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images

_____________________________________________________________________ Butterflies 72 – Silver-spotted Skippers

SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER BUTTERFLY Hesperia comma

· The fast-flying and warmth-loving Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly Hesperia comma is at the northern end of its geographical range in the UK, where it is most likely to be found on the southern facing slopes of chalk downland habitats feeding on flowers including Carline Thistle Carlina vulgaris, Marjoram Origanum majorana, Clustered Bellflower Campanula glomerata, Field Scabious Knautia arvensis or Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea Lathyrus latifolius. The last two images illustrate this species at locations in the South of France. This is a late-flying species in the UK, first appearing on the wing in mid to late July depending on the weather and flying throughout August. Unless the weather is hot enough the butterfly is unlikely to be active and when it does fly it will usually feed quite low down and close to the ground. Good field and observation skills will be required for those wishing to photograph these butterflies, firstly by spotting them at all as they are well camouflaged and then watching to see where they will settle after their rapid bursts of flight. It will then be necessary to approach them slowly and from a low angle without casting a shadow so as not to disturb them otherwise the chance may be lost.

-> Butterflies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 , 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 , 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 , 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100

-> Species Index, Common Names

-> Species Index, Scientific Names

-> Site Index

-> Home