For the last few years the plan (Covid restrictions allowing) if I did this has always been to go on the spur of the moment if I knew the weather would be right. With two regular Oxon wildlife colleagues holidaying in the Cairngorms this week I now learned conditions were indeed favourable. So I jumped on a plane and went.

Chequered Skipper

After a 70-minute morning flight from Luton to Inverness, the drive through the Great Glen was in the expected sunshine denied to me through a week up here last July. So Loch’s Ness, Oich and Lochy and the surrounding mountain scenery were all beheld as they should be. Then after reaching Allt Mhuic butterfly reserve (see here) around 3pm, I quickly found what had brought me. Remembering a spot that the 2022 tour guide had cited as good for my quest, I started seeing them as soon as I reached it.

This is a classic site for Chequered Skipper, sitting above the north shore of Loch Arkaig (PH34 4EJ – NN121912). But pre-booking group tours to observe them is always a risk and many people just do not get the required weather, including myself last summer. Now I watched these tiny, hyperactive Skippers along a winding track through bracken on the steep hillside for the next two hours. They were tricky little things to get pictures of, rarely settling in a full-on way. Easily spooked, they would then dart some distance away like the Chiltern Silver-spotted Skippers at home. These (below) were my better pictures.

Chequered Skippers at Allt Mhuic butterfly reserve

The butterfly ranges across much of northern, central and eastern Europe but in the British Isles is now restricted to the area of Scotland I was visiting, where it is locally common. It became extinct in England from1975 until the recent re-introduction in Northants (see here). The fiercely territorial males perch on prominent vegetation such as sapling leaves with wings draped back and open, to dart out and buzz any passing intruder, such as I witnessed here. And I also noticed how they were especially fond of settling on Bluebells, that are acknowledged as a favourite nectar source together with Bugle.

On Thursday (25th) I spent three hours from 1pm at Glasdrum Wood NNR (PA38 4BQ – NN006460) that is said to be better for CS than Allt Mhuic, and they fly earlier here. The prime area is a strip of open bracken habitat beneath power cables at the foot of the steeply sloping site, access to which is just a stone’s throw from the car park. I was directed there by a couple who were leaving as I arrived, so once again the connect was almost immediate. But these Chequered Skipper seemed disinclined to settle so I set off to explore the entire reserve and see what other hot spots might be available.

The ancient woodland site is a prime example of temperate rainforest produced by the Scottish west coast’s mild, wet Atlantic climate. Nationally important ranges of many lichen species thrive here, coating the trees below which as significant collections of ferns and mosses abound. This all supports a hugely diverse invertebrate fauna including 20 different butterflies that benefit from the south-facing aspect’s small glades and larger areas of open ground that act as sun traps. But the habitat is all very dense and steep, striking me as seriously off-piste to seek out more CS in. I found one or two here and there but opted for the easier alternative of concentrating upon the place where I had started.

This time I walked much further along the corridor below the power lines (pictured above), crossing paths with more and more Skippers as I progressed. But I was walking into the sun, so most of the subjects I encountered would settle looking away from me and needing to be got around which was highly unlikely. Not so on the way back when as anticipated I found the same butterflies posing head-on and being generally more approachable, with these agreeable results (below). It was amusing to see the miniscule entities sometimes aggressively challenge passing Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries that also fly here.

Chequered Skippers at Glasdrum Wood NNR

And to round things off there was this

It was now time to start thinking about getting back to the airport and heading home. The re-introduced colony in Northants just didn’t do it properly for me a year ago. By contrast I left site today feeling completely satisfied with the outcome of these impromptu two days in Scotland: relieved to have experienced the real kosher deal at last, and secure in the knowledge that this so tricky British straggler had been put to bed properly. Now I need not think about travelling to observe them ever again.