Subject: Skipper population sizes

From: Patrick Roper <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 16:49:09 +0100

Today a Large Skipper, Ochlodes venata, appeared in our garden.  Every year
one or two examples emerge at this time and take up the same territory
between some long grass where they breed and a shorter, roughly mown sward
where they usually nectar.

I do not think I have ever seen more than two example together, but they are
always there at the appointed season.  Clearly they mate and lay eggs, but
why are the numbers each year so low?  If 99% of the offspring don't make it
to adulthood, this would seem very precarious as it would be so easy to lose
the remaining 1%.  I thought that maybe some adults drive others away, so
quite a few emerge, but one only ever sees singletons or pairs.  Another
possibility is that 100% do sometimes fail to make it, but others move in
>from  elsewhere as this patch has all the characteristics of a good Large
Skipper habitat and they are common enough in the area.

Any explanations for this apparently stable, low-level population would be
of interest.  Whatever the case, I wouldn't mind taking a bet that towards
the middle of next June, provided the habitat does not alter, one or two
Large Skippers will once again be in evidence zooming from perch to buttercup.

Patrick Roper
Butterfly Conservation.
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South View, Sedlescombe, Battle, East Sussex TN33 0PE, UK
Telephone:  (01424) 870208; Fax: (01424) 870208
Email: [email-masked]
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