Dingy skipper



The Dingy skipper (Erymnis tages) isn't like our other brighter, flightier skippers. Perhaps because of the more sober (hence dingy) colours it probably is confused as a moth rather than an uncommon butterfly (maybe a mother shipton moth).



Combined with the localised distribution (mostly chalk or limestone soil where the larval food-plant of bird's foot trefoil grows) this is, for me, an uncommon species and it is a joy to find one and take pictures of it sunning itself alongside the Duke of Burgundy in the Chilterns. The angle of the wings gave me some real challenges in getting a good enough depth of focus for both wings to be sharp.

These pictures were taken on an Olympus E3 camera with a Sigma 105mm macro lens and olympus EC-14 teleconverter (to increase the working distance).

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