This became an extra item on my British butterfly agenda for 2020 after visiting the same site in May (see here). Subtle differences between broods exist in other white butterflies such as Small and Green-veined, and I am broadly familiar with those, but I had not previously made the effort to distinguish them in the enigmatic Wood White. So today was the day.

Wood White (2nd brood male)

Second brood Wood White of both genders are smaller than their more numerous first brood counterparts, and the wings in males are greyer with smaller, darker tips (per Thomas and Lewington). First brood butterflies begin to appear in late April, peak in May then dwindle in the second half of June. A later brood usually follows, flying from mid-July to late August. Adults can live for up to three weeks but most last for between 8 and 14 days.

Arriving on site mid-morning, I chose to start at the southern car park in Bucknell Wood (SP 65842 44752) from where a track runs due west that has been reliable for Wood White in the past. It was one of those frequent occasions on which I left home in bright sunshine to find overcast conditions at my destination. My unease then grew on seeing that my camera battery was low and I had left the spare at home. So I had to make careful and sparing use of the camera and that possibly improved my results.

Today’s first male

Today’s first male

Less than 100 metres from the car I came across a first roosting male Wood White (pictured above), and when it flew the darker wing tips were quite apparent. Something that surprised me was how when it tired of my attentions this insect flew up over the track-side shrubs and even into tree cover. I also noted that behaviour in other of the four specimens I found today, having more usually associated this butterfly with keeping to a metre above ground level.

Today’s second male Wood White

A second male (above) further along the track displayed the more dappled, creamy colouration that is apparent in some individuals, but once again the small dark wingtips stood out. At the five way junction in the centre of this wood I turned right towards the area where this season’s first brood observations had occurred on 23rd May and again on 22nd June (see here). My third sighting today was a pristine female (below), in which like the first brood the less intense grey wing tips are more rounded than those of males.

2nd brood female Wood White (note the paler, rounded wing-tips)

Further along the same track I came across the morning’s fourth individual, another male (below, top row). This one held its wings slightly open and so the dark tips were more visible. At the junction with a track from the main car park I turned around and re-traced my steps. But no more Wood Whites were active in the increasingly overcast conditions, so this visit’s tally was four. I was surprised by how fresh some of the other woodland butterflies here still were, Silver-washed Fritillary, Ringlet and Gatekeeper.

Today’s third male

Today’s third male

2nd brood male Wood White

2nd brood male Wood White

I believe this (above) is today’s second male again that I re-found on the track back to my car. I am satisfied with the images in this post since Wood White is not known for settling and hence posing open-winged. So overall this was a pleasing and effective comparison of first and second brood butterflies, and something to add to my career British butterflying experience.

A window of fair weather over these dates has seen a change in my wildlife focus. With the butterfly season now past its peak (at least for me) and being an authorised contributor to Oxon Dragonflies, I have decided to repay the county Odonata recorder’s faith in me by getting out and doing some local surveying. That will also provide an evolved way of progressing through a season of mainly repeat exercises where insects are concerned.

2020 has been a quite notable Odo year in my home county. Following exceptional numbers of Common Clubtail sightings in the spring, June brought Oxfordshire’s first ever Blue-eyed Hawker records (see here), then the first reported Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (or Small Bluetail) this century. Observing Aurantiaca-phase teneral females of the last-named species in the New Forest (see here) is still the only item on my original agenda for this year that I have converted in the ongoing Covid-19 situation. So when these were photographed twice in recent days I relished the possibility of experiencing more locally.

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (Small Bluetail – male)

The new SBTD colony was discovered by a local wildlife enthusiast on the outskirts of Banbury on 13th June. The site (SP469390) is described as a “storm water pond” adjacent to a large new housing development part of which is already landscaped as a public park, and also close to the Oxford Canal. Fortunately, upon my arrival another county wildlife colleague drew up behind me who knew the exact location and we walked out to what at once struck me as a superb piece of naturally occurring Odonata habitat.

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Small Blue-tailed Damselfly are said to favour shallow water habitats such as here that might occur in the transient situations of active construction or earth extraction works. Three observers from Lancashire were there ahead of us, such is the interest this discovery is arousing nationally. They had located several individuals already that we soon picked out too. These stood out amongst the more numerous regular Blue-tailed damsels by their slighter appearance and weak flight jizz.

The lead picture in this post shows the diagnostic black dots on segment 9 more clearly than those I gained this year in the New Forest, while the “blue-tail” also extends over a portion of segment 8. The sequence below shows regular and Scarce Blue-tails for comparison.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (adult male)

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (adult male)

Blue-tailed Damselfly (imm male)

I soon realised welly boots would definitely be an advantage both to wade in a little from the pond margin and get the light behind me, so I went back to retrieve my own. Thus equipped I found the ground below the shallow surface water to be firm, quite unlike a valley mire in the New Forest, and so became more than usually adventurous. But most of the insects then encountered were regular Blue-tailed Damselfly (or Common Blue-tail). The sequence below shows some of the Odo observed at this site. There were no Aurantiacae on the day … done that this year anyway though more would have been welcome.

Blue-tailed Damselfy (fem rufuscens)

Blue-tailed Damselfy (male)

Blue-tailed Damselfy (mating pair)

Common Darter (imm)

Emerald Damselfly (fem)

Another item being reported more widely in Oxfordshire this season is White-legged Damselfly (or Blue Featherleg). On 10th I surveyed a stretch of the River Thames upstream from Clifton Hampden (SU546952) finding seven individuals of different colour forms in lightly overcast conditions. In late June, 19 were recorded downstream from here and 17 upstream so what I find an attractive species clearly has a presence in the area. Part of that allure for me is the subtle array of colour forms in which WLD may be encountered (pictured below).

White-legged Damselfly (maturing male)

White-legged Damselfly (fem)

White-legged Damselfly (male)

White-legged Damselfly (maturing male)

White-legged Damselfly (imm fem)

This (below) is a picture opportunity I have been wanting for years. Wherever I come across them Brown Hawker invariably see me approaching first and fly off out of cover. But on my home patch at Stadhampton Meadows (SU594987) on the afternoon of 10th I found a seemingly unconcerned male just hanging in the riverside vegetation to one side of where I was standing. I look back on the spring national lock-down as a meaningful time now because of it’s opportunities for re-evaluating perspectives, developing friendships and appreciating my local countryside. Continuing to walk the right of way network where I took daily exercise then is something I do not wish to lose sight of, especially if it produces rewards such as this.

Brown Hawker (male)

Brown Hawker (male)

On 11th I paid my second visit this year to Decoy Heath (SU 613634), near Aldermaston in neighbouring Berkshire. Though one of my favourite Odo sites, it can be quite variable in terms of the rewards offered and on this occasion it was not on form. A year ago (see here and here) I was pleased to find impressive habitat management work undertaken by BBOWT, but now the hidden gem of a reserve is becoming more difficult to move around again. One thing that never changes is the grey stuff will roll in on my arrival at site a proportion of the time when going to observe insects, and this was such an occasion. The following images once edited eventually made what at the time seemed a frustrating visit more meaningful.

Emerald Damselfly (male)

Emerald Damselfly (fem)

Ruddy Darter

Common Darter (imm)

Something that especially intrigues me about Damselflies is the array of colour forms in which images of them might be captured. Birders often deride these insects to me as boring, while disregarding their own blather concerning tertiaries, scapulars and coverts that apparently isn’t. I of course cannot get my head around plumage topography in birds so perhaps am biased, but I never tire of seeking out variations in Odonata. Here (below) are two more of the different forms observed over this weekend.

Azure Damselfly (imm green form)

Blue-tailed Damselfly (imm form)

So although I have recorded every English species of Damselfly and Dragonfly it still seems there is always scope for witnessing something a little different. Throughout this post I have cited the British Dragonfly Society names for Damselflies with which visitors will be more familiar, with standard international names in parentheses.

Essex Skipper is possibly one of the easier butterflies to overlook in a British season unless the observer is going for the full species set, since it is both rather nondescript and tricky. To my mind closely examining every brown Skipper I might come across in high summer, except at known Essex sites is a bit of a chore. But being in need of a wildlife project on this mainly sunny morning I set off for a regular local site in order to present a first appreciation of the species in this journal since 2015 (see here).

On the way a profusion of bright pink flowers caught my eye at a field entrance besides the Wallingford southern by-pass (SU 592901), and I stopped to investigate. They turned out to be Sweet Pea, presumably of cultivated origin, but then I noticed my season’s first Gatekeeper butterfly and went to retrieve my camera for a record shot. Close to where that insect had been was now none other than a perfectly posed Essex Skipper that allowed a point blank approach, so I was able to capture (below) a diagnostic image.

Essex Skipper at Wallingford, Oxon

Several years ago now I was advised by the former Butterfly Conservation Upper Thames Branch then national chair Dr Jim Asher to look at brown Skippers head on when attempting to separate Essex. The lozenge-like antennae are inky black tipped and shaped rather like Cotton Bud swab sticks. A thin black line through the centre of the fore-wing in males, parallel to the leading edge is a further diagnostic. In Large Skipper the antennae can also appear black when viewed from a certain angle, but the tips are sharply down-turned and pointed. The following pictures illustrate this, but being point blank macro lens studies the intent is to highlight the diagnostic and not for the whole insect to be in focus.

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

Feeling pleased with having recorded another 2020 butterfly locally at a new location I then drove on to the regular annual site of Hagbourne Railway Embankment (SU 521882). A brisk wind was blowing but at the first sheltered spot I reached walking south from an access point near East Hagbourne cemetery I came across three more Essex Skipper that also enabled close scrutiny (pictured below).

Essex Skipper

Here there were also Large and Small Skipper for comparison. In Large (below left) the antennae are black below and golden brown above, and as stated earlier the tips are markedly hooked. In Small Skipper (below right) that brown toning is more noticeable and the antennae tips though still quite pointed appear less hooked. The upper wing patterning of Large Skipper is also much bolder than the other two species with a prominent black sex-brand in males on each fore-wing, and the flight and all round jizz is just heavier.

Large Skipper

Small Skipper

So there it is … a brief and simple Rn’S guide to brown Skipper ID. It is presented in anticipation of less seasoned butterfly watchers accessing this post via web searches, and does not attempt to preach to the converted. For the former it’s all a matter of practice and once the observer has their eye in things become much simpler.

Why this butterfly has its name is one of those entomological anomalies surviving from the 19th century. It was first recognised as a separate British species from Small Skipper in 1889 and the last resident species to be described, but has no special association with the English county of Essex. The complete range is from southern Scandinavia through continental Europe to north Africa, and east to Central Asia. ES was introduced into north America in the early 20th century, where it now occurs across southern Canada and several northern US states and is known as the “European Skipper”.

In the British Isles Essex Skipper is found over much of the southern half of England below a line from Lincolnshire to Dorset. Flying in July and August, it can be very common locally, typically forming colonies varying from small numbers up to several thousands. Preferred habitat is in a variety of open sunny situations, especially roadside verges, woodland rides and grasslands as well as coastal marshes.

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

National distribution is acknowledged to have more than doubled in the last few decades, a spread that is thought to be assisted by trunk road embankments acting as wildlife corridors. This butterfly was first recorded in Wales in 2000 and reached south-eastern Ireland in 2006. But due to the similarity with Small Skipper, Essex has always been under-recorded so I have not been alone in neglecting this butterfly over the years.

Hagbourne Railway Embankment (see here) formerly carried a line from Didcot to Newbury and Southampton, and is now a focus for both recreational activity and wildlife study. A designated and well-used cycle route, it also starts from a large housing estate and so is something of a playground for local people. But despite all that the site is exceptionally wild flower rich along its entire length, a route between the villages of East and West Hagbourne, and Upton to the south.

Common seasonal butterflies are all present in good numbers, amongst which are site specialities of Essex Skipper and Small Blue. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours that I spent in this wildlife haven today. And with most remaining Covid-19 restrictions having been lifted in England a day earlier the general public too seemed in ebullient mood. Devoting a little attention to an often overlooked British butterfly proved to be a very worthwhile exercise indeed. They are out there to be found if looked for.