Male warming up his flight muscles on a cold day, Switzerland, May 2012
May 2005, my garden (Switzerland)
May 2005, my garden in Switzerland
May 2005, my garden in Switzerland
Distribution
Chequered skippers are found locally all over Europe, flying in damp
grassland and woodland clearings from the valley to 1800m. Near me, at
a little over 1000m, they are often on the wing by the end of April,
though more commonly in May, and can still be seen well into July. In
the UK it has been restricted to Scotland since the last English
colonies were declared extinct in 1976, but there have been repeated
reintroduction attempts and I believe the species now flies again in
Northamptonshire.
This is an instantly recognisable butterfly. Males sit prominently on
grass or flower heads, often in the half-open position typical of
skippers but sometimes with wings fully flat, and frequently return to
the same place if disturbed. The brown and gold, chequered upperside is
unmistakable, though beginners should note that Duke of Burgundies
behave similarly and are superficially the same colour scheme. As soon
as it flies, of course, it is obviously a skipper. The underside is a
very toned-down version of the large chequered skipper, with large,
yellow, oval spots on a darker ground. In Scandinavia and the Baltic
states, the similar northern chequered skipper, Carterocephalus sylvicolus,
flies. This has much less dark above, especially in the male, which has
a largely straw-coloured upperside, the female being closer in
appearance to the chequered skipper.
Eggs are laid on a wide variety of grass species, the caterpillars
feeding in a tube formed from a blade of grass, secured by silk. They
spend the winter in a hibernaculum constructed from dead grass and
pupate in this in the spring, before flying in a single generation from
April or May, depending on altitude and latitude, through to July.
