Grizzled Skipper ab.taras.

It was the start of my surveying for Butterfly Conservation today in a private woodland. With very high temperatures it was always going to be hard work, but somebody has to do it!! It was a really good day although butterfly numbers were not brilliant although good numbers of very fresh Grizzled Skippers were good to see. As were several Hairy Dragonflies. This woodland occasionally throws up the uncommon aberrant form of Grizzled Skipper called taras and I am always on the look out for them in this wood. It is a very attractive form with much larger white markings and a darker background colouring. After 5 hours of walking around the wood I was just about to pack up when I spotted a Grizzled Skipper flying past. It settled nearby and looking through the binoculars at it I was delighted to see it was a pristine aberrant taras. I lost it a couple of times but did manage a few pictures. Unfortunately it kept landing on messy backgrounds that made it impossible to do this beauty justice.

Grizzled Skipper aberrant taras.