Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages)
2023 photographs highlighted in green. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
A butterfly that lives up to its name when old and worn but can be quite nicely marked when fresh. It can easily be mistaken for a moth, and indeed many day-flying moths are more brightly marked and butterfly-like than tages.
UK specimens seem to vary little and merit the word "Dingy" in its name, whereas I have found that specimens from France, albeit from a wider geographical range and widely different terrain, can vary quite dramatically. Only 29087 of the French specimens could be taken for an English tages. |
The sexes are not easy to tell apart, but size (the female is larger) is a good indicator and the female is more strongly marked especially with a series of upf white marginal dots.
It is usually encountered in singles, I find, but quite frequently, even at high altitudes. |
ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
29087 | M | a male with very little contrast to the markings, so the Dingy description is for once quite applicable. | 185 |
33379 | M | a nice dark fresh male. | 2100 |
45890 | M | a male, rather drab colouring with little contrast. | 220 |
51763 | M | I suspect this is a male from its territorial behaviour. When fresh, they sometimes have this very appealing grey-brown colouring, not dingy at all. | 170 |
49027 | M | a rather colder brown colour, with quite strong markings. | 160 |
49048 | M | a softer brown colour, with less contrast, although quite fresh so not faded through ageing, and typical of UK tages. | 160 |
49054 | M | more contrasted than usual for UK tages, and really not dingy at all. | 160 |
26315 | F | a very fresh dark female. | 600 |
32463 | F | a rather worn female. | 1085 |
35231 | F | a particularly drab pale grey female. | 1080 |
18983 | M |
a male underside, quite a light brown, I feel, but the underside is so rarely seen so it is hard to say whether this is untypical. |
80 |
39220 | M | a male in typical territorial pose. | 100 |
33379_male_Hautes-Alpes_4Jul13
49027_male_UK, Buckinghamshire_24Apr22
49048_male_UK, Buckinghamshire_24Apr22
49054_male_UK, Buckinghamshire_24Apr22
26315_female_Alpes-Maritimes_04Jul11
32463_female_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jun13
35231_female_Alpes-Maritimes_3Jun14
18983_male_Lot-et-Garonne_23Aug09
39220_male_Lot-et-Garonne_26Jul15