The Large Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanus

The Large Skipper is a fairly common butterfly in Yeldham. It produces just one brood per year and over-winters as larvae on uncut stems of its food plant, Cocksfoot and various other grasses. On my small meadow I control the spread of unwanted tree seedlings and runners and limit the size of the bramble bushes by hand as and when necessary and never cut the grass.

Specimens with paler mottling look rather like Small Skippers. The male brand of the Large Skipper is much broader and more diagonal across the wing. As in the Small Skippers, the antennae inner/lower surfaces below the tips are often quite bright orange in the males.

The adults are on the wing in June and July with just the odd one or two in early August. The 2011 sightings in May were early, after a warm spring. I usually see the first at about the time that the blackberry flowers open on a north facing hedge.

Weather notes:
2011. July - early August very wet.
2012. April - mid July very wet. August to mid September dry.
2013. Winter wet, March and early April, very cold. The rest of the spring was mostly cold. July, mostly very warm. August, warm.
2014. Winter very wet, mild. Spring was early, colder in mid April. Summer to early August, warm without a drought.
2015. Winter normal, March, April - May mostly cold. Sallow flowers opened on March 28 - 29th. Summer, fairly normal.
2016. Winter normal. Sallow flowers opened on April 2 - 3rd. Spring mostly cool and breezy. For a few weeks in late spring there was heavy rainfall and saturated soil and vegetation. Late summer with hot, dry periods.
2017. Winter mildish, hardly any frost. Sallow flowers opened on March 14 - 15th. Warm spells in March. April mostly dry and chilly. First Creeping Thistle flowers open on June 13th, followed by about 7 days of heat wave. Early July was very warm, excellent for counting butterflies. Late summer, autumn normal.
2018. Winter normal with a few days of settled snow. Sallow flowers open on March 26th. March, April mostly cold and wet, May warm. June 11, Bramble flowers opening to greet first Large Skippers. Mid June to early August, very hot and dry. Autumn mostly dry.
2019. Winter normal. Hardly any frost. Sallow flowers seen on March 10th. Spring mostly cool apart from Easter heatwave. May 31, Bramble flowers starting to open. June 1, Buckthorn in full bloom. Dryish summer with some heatwaves.
2020. Mildish winter. Sallow flowers open March 10th. Spring mostly cool. Several warm days in early April and through May. May 28 Bramble flowers opening. Record dry May. June nectar sources mostly Buttercups in the unmown paths, and Brambles.
2021.Winter normal. Very wet, early spring then cold. Sallow flowers opened on March 23rd. Summer with a few hot spells and moderate rain.
2022. Winter, normal. Sallow flowers open on March 18th. Bramble flowers open May 28. Summer, mostly very dry with long hot spells.
2023. Winter normal, some frost. Feb very dry, March very wet. Sallow flowers open on March 21st. Cold wet spring followed by hottest May on record, warm June and wet July. Autumn, mild and wet.
2024. Winter mild and wet. Feb very wet. Sallow flowers open on March 13th. April record rainfall. Late summer, early autumn much dryer.