Silver-spotted Skipper (Hesperia comma)
2009 photos highlighted in yellow. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 9449_male_Var_3Sep07 | 9428_female_Var_3Sep07 | 19007_female_Lozere_26Aug09 |
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| 18285_male?_Isere_13Jul09 | 19387_male?_Var_05Sep09 | 4108_male?_Var_31Aug06 |
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| 8650_male_Var_31Jul07 | 14164_female_Var_2Sep08 |
A rarity in the UK but not uncommon in France, where it seems to be far more common at altitude (even at around 2000m), and in fact I'm not sure I've seen it at low altitudes of less than 800m. It seems to emerge in August and is still going strong well into September, and numbers can sometimes be counted in hundreds. The underside spots are white, not silver, and can vary quite significantly.
9449: a male, as indicated by the lighter colouring, the black upf sex-brand, and the body shape. 9449 could easily be confused with the Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) but the slightly concave wing margins point clearly to comma. Altitude 780m.
9428: a female, as indicated by the absence of the upf sex-brand. Altitude 780m.
19007: a female, rather battered around the edges. Altitude 480m.
18285: a male (probably) with a rather pale but warm brown ground colour and yellowish light spots, resulting in little contrast, where the comma underside spots are often strongly contrasted. Altitude 1450m.
19387: a typically dark underside ground colour with rather white spots which contrast nicely. Compare to 18285. Altitude 920m.
4108: a rather worn male, the spots off-white, probably as a result of age. I am not 100% convinced it is a male, and the body shape is quite fat and the male abdomen usually, it seems to me, extends beyond the wings and 4108 doesn't. Altitude 800m.
8650: a male. Altitude 450m.
14164: I'm reasonably confident that this a female, based on the very fat body shape (but how fat are males?) and body length not extending beyond the wings. Altitude 920m.
