Small Skipper

Thymelicus sylvestris

Species ID / Small Skipper

Andrew Cooper

Peter Eeles

Iain H Leach

Bob Eade

Peter Eeles

Jim Asher

Identification Tip

Skippers rest with their wings pointing backwards, which makes them resemble moths rather than butterflies. Small skippers have bright orange wings that lack the brown markings of the larger Large Skippers.

What do they eat?

Caterpillars munch on:

Yorkshire-fog grass (favourite)

And may occasionally use other grasses such as:

Timothy
Creeping Soft-grass
False Brome
Meadow Foxtail
Cock’s-foot

Adults feed on a range of flowers including:

Brambles
Common Fleabane
Devil’s-bit Scabious
Red Clover
Self-heal

Where does it spend the winter?

Small Skippers spend the winter as tiny caterpillars, tucked up inside a tube of grass. Hatching from their eggs in the late summer, they barely move before spinning a silk cocoon around themselves and hibernating until the following spring.