The Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris

Small Skippers are very similar to Essex Skippers. Those with more club-shaped antennae with black tips to the undersides are Essex Skippers, those with more curved, pointed antennae with orange (or buff to dark brown) patches just below the tips are Small Skippers. These are best looked for with close-focusing binoculars.
Male Small Skippers also have large orange areas on the lower (ventral)/ inner surfaces of the antennae from just below the tips.
The male wing stripe is broader and more diagonal on the Small Skipper.
The wings generally have narrower black borders with more distinct edges on the upper sides, and the fore-wing undersides have more buff, less orange-tinted tips.

The adults are on the wing from late June to early August with a peak in July.

The preferred larval food plants are Yorkshire Fog, not uncommon in meadows and wild grassy places.

The Small Skipper over-winters as a larva in small cocoons in grass sheaths on the stems of Yorkshire Fog. If you are lucky enough to have undisturbed grassland with Yorkshire Fog it is important not to cut the long grass where it can be avoided. 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.

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.