I was with Dai and a guy called Adam who spotted a small Skipper by the side of the path where the Grasshopper Warbler was (and still is) reeling. Only it turned out that it wasn't a Small Skipper, it was an Essex Skipper, for reasons explained in the video. RSPBNewport tweeted that somebody else has seen one and in a 437 hectare site the chances of that being the same individual are vanishingly small so I think the only conclusion is that there is a colony. Anyway I didn't have time to take a shot because just as I lined up the camera it flew off but here's the video!
Great info and photos Nigel, nice to see you posting again - I'll pass on the ID though!
David I've never heard of a yellow-legged variety but there are certainly a lot of Tortoiseshells about!
A few Skipper pics!
Essex Skipper pics
John, according to "Collins Butterfly Guide" closest to us has been the Baltic and Eastern European area.
John, ID is quite straightforward, if you look at the top image - on the thorax just in front of where the wings are attached there is a small "spur" of black pointing forward which suggests Azure Damselfly.
The bottom image does not have this "spur" so suggests Common Blue Damselfly.
I use the word "suggests" as there are other diagnostic marks to eliminate other very similar, but rare, species, that are not visible on these images.
The point here is that it is often only from photographs, or examination in the lab/hand that many species can be identified, there is no way I could separate these two insects in the field.
On a related note, it is accepted practice amongst photographers that you should always have the Eye Sharp.
This is often a bad thing when taking photographs for ID purposes, especially when dealing with insects, as the shallow depth of field in these close up images can mean that actual ID pointers may be too out of focus to help ID.
It's better to try to get as good an overall sharpness to aid ID, even if this means a less photogenic image - a small aperture will increase DOF but may mean having to raise ISO to keep the shutter speed acceptable.
So basically wee have to split our artistic images from our ID images as both have different requirements
Best regardsNigel
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