Essex Skipper, patch lifer !

I undertook a walk on my local patch on Monday. There were no great surprises, the most notable and pleasing thing being plenty of Yellowhammer activity. However , I did notice a a Skipper species butterfly, which was not a Large Skipper..only 1, and it skedaddled before I could confirm what it was.
So, on Thursday evening, from 6-7pm , I returned to do a bit of mooching . Whitethroat and Yellowhammer noted, Large and mall Whites finally in some numbers, Gatekeeper and a Comma. Plenty of micromoth activity.
Spotting a non-Large Skipper sp I started the 'butterfly dance' well known to those that try to stalk these creatures. To my surprise , from a small area , around 10 took to the wing ! Over the course of the next 40 minutes I managed to locate and study 2 separate individuals as well as photograph them.
On returning home, the images on my screen confirmed my hopes , Essex Skipper !! This is a patch lifer and very encouraging news about the further spread of this species into the area. I had a beer to celebrate.

Essex Skipper

In other news I have been trapping moths and trying to catch up with a  Whinchat down at JK's patch in Shenstone. I will save the moth news for a round up, but at the second attempt I bagged the Chat on a windy Friday evening.



Whinchat

A bit of after work therapy