Priority Species | Insects | Dingy Skipper
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Latin name: Erynnis tages
Family: Hesperiidae
Description of the Dingy Skipper
The Dingy Skipper is a rare and understated, but beautiful butterfly. The females and males are very similar in colour and size, they are both marked in subtle shades of brown and grey with a row of little white dots along the base of the wings. The females are slightly darker in colour with more distinctive white markings than the males.
This species starts life as a bright orange egg, laid singly on the Dingy Skipper’s main foodplant, bird’s-foot-trefoil. When the eggs hatch the young green caterpillars will both live on and eat these plants. They make a shelter or tent from the leaves of the plant by spinning them together at the base of the plant. When these leaves have been eaten a new shelter is then made to replace it.
The caterpillar begins hibernation at the end of August and stays there until the following spring. Here it will stay in a silken case, made from spinning more leaves together, and the caterpillar will not emerge from the case during this hibernation period, not even to eat.
Once hibernation is over it will then emerge from the silk casing as the lovely grey and brown butterfly. The males and females are in full flight from May to June and in Ireland only a single generation each year is known of at this time. Some colonies can be very small and consist of less than 50 adults during this flight period.
The Dingy Skipper, is the only skipper butterfly now to be found in Ireland.
Size
The wingspan of this butterfly is between 27 and 34 mm for both the males and females.
Historical Info
The Dingy Skipper was much more widespread in the past, but is declining rapidly.
The Dingy Skipper's Habitat
The Dingy Skipper likes to spread its wings flat and bask on warm, overcast days. On very sunny days they can be seen flying around a few inches above the ground searching for nectar from nearby plants. At night they will roost on flowerheads, wrapping their wings around them like no other local butterfly.
They are mostly found in warm, open grassland habitats and are a widely distributed species across Europe, Asia and China. However, across the island of Ireland the population is declining and found mainly around the limestone areas and roadside verges in County Fermanagh where they have been recorded at 19 different sites in the past. The species is now thought to have become extinct at many of these sites with more more currently at risk.
Diet
Common bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and, less often, greater bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus pedunculatus) and horseshoe vetch (Hippocrepis comosa)
Threats to the Dingy Skipper
In Nothern Ireland, the Dingy Skipper is fully protected under the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. This prevents the species from being bought or sold and must be protected at all times. Threats to this species include; undergrazing and overgrazing - both of which result in deterioration and loss of habitat. This has a direct effect on the success of the butterfly.
Climate change is also a threat as the Dingy Skipper is only found in small isolated colonies and may not be able to migrate.
