New Ferry Butterfly Park Skippers

There are four species of ‘skipper’ (Family Hesperiidae) butterflies that may be found in New Ferry Butterfly Park. This aim of this blog post is to catalogue them and provide enough information for the visitors to identify them.

Dingy skipper (Erynnis tages)

The first to appear is the dingy skipper (Erynnis tages) which flies from early May until mid-June. The species was first recorded in the butterfly park in 2022, the first iRecord observation on the Wirral since 2017 (Royden Park) and before that 2014 (Wirral Way, Caldy). It was confirmed as breeding in the butterfly park in 2023 and has been seen every year since. It has also been recorded recently in Prenton Dell Claypit and Port Sunlight River Park. Some rare good news on the butterfly population dynamics front.

By butterfly standards it is very plain with a spotted brown colour scheme giving rise to its common name. Identification is relatively straightforward as there is virtually nothing else that looks like it in the reserve. The only species I can think of that could possibly be confused with the dingy skipper is the burnet companion moth (Euclidia glyphica) that does fly at about the same time. However, it is a very different shape providing the butterfly opens its wings.

Burnet companion moth (Euclidia glyphica),
which could possibly be confused with the dingy skipper

The second species of skipper to appear is the large skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) which flies from early June until as late as early September. It is a common butterfly throughout England and Wales and has been seen in the butterfly park for as long as I can remember.

The hooked antennae of a large skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)

The name ‘large’ skipper is something of a misnomer. It might be slightly bigger than a small skipper but it’s a small butterfly compared to species like the meadow brown and speckled wood. Identification involves distinguishing large skippers from small or Essex skippers and is based on two characteristics. First, the large skipper antennae have obvious hooked tips. Good eyesight can pick this up in the field but a pair of binoculars (or a telephoto lens) help. Secondly, the wings tend to be more heavily marked with pale spots and dark patches than the other two species. However, a word of warning is required as the markings of all three of the ‘orange’ skippers can be very variable. The photo shows a male. Gender can be distinguished by the shape of the abdomen (females are more pointed at the tip) and by the black sex brands running across his wings.

A male large skipper

The other two orange skipper species are the small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) and the Essex skipper (Thymelicus lineola) that fly from July to late August. These have very different histories in the butterfly park. The small skipper, like the large skipper, has been there for as long as I can remember. However, the Essex skipper is one of many insect species migrating northwards as the climate warms. It is a little uncertain when it was first recorded in the reserve. My first record was in June 2023, but I think Chloe Aldridge saw one in 2022 and they may have been around in 2021. The uncertainty is because telling the two species apart is challenging and it takes a little while to convince people that Essex skippers have arrived in sites where they had not been recorded before.

Small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)

Essex skipper (Thymelicus lineola)

There are two characteristics that I’m comfortable using plus a third that I’m unsure about so I’m not going to describe it. The first is the sex brand. Small skipper males have bold sex brands that can be curved or wavy running obliquely across the forewings and are unmistakeable on fresh specimens as in this picture. Trouble is butterflies have a hard life and they can become faint or even disappear after a few dozen rounds of aerial combat, but if they’re clearly visible then the butterfly is undoubtedly a small skipper.

Essex skipper sex brands are shorter, fainter, straight and run parallel to the forewing leading edge. I sometimes use their presence for identification if the specimen is fresh and I’m sure it’s a male from abdomen shape but I’m never totally confident.

The second characteristic is the colour of the antenna nudum, which is orange for a small skipper and black for an Essex skipper. The first challenge is understanding what the antenna nudum is. I was amazed at how poorly documented it is on the internet. I expected to find annotated diagrams or photographs but could find neither. This has led to a riot of confusion with attempts to use antenna colour for skipper identification. Some say ‘use the colour of the front of the antenna’. Others say ‘use the colour of the antenna tip’. Both are half right as the nudum is a small bare patch on the tip of the front of the antenna. The small skipper in the photo above is displaying an orange nudum, which is the minute bright orange dot at the very end of its left antenna. This can be seen more clearly in the enlarged image. The colours of the rest of the antenna are highly variable. I’ve even seen one small skipper where the antenna was all black except for the orange nudum.

The orange nudum on the antenna of a small skipper

Knowing what nudum means is only part of the problem for identification. One has to both see the nudum and then find a way to show it to others in an identification record. Once again, binoculars become a most helpful tool for field identifications. Getting the nudum in a photograph involves taking a view from below or a face shot such as this Essex skipper photo which clearly shows the black nudum of each antenna. Getting these shots isn’t too difficult. All that’s required is a little patience because the insects tend to go around in circles when feeding on a flower.

Getting the right angle to photograph the black nudum
on an Essex skipper

Blog post and photos - Roy Lowry

June at New Ferry Butterfly Park

Almost every day, on the New Ferry Butterfly Park Facebook page, we feature amazing photographs taken by Roy Lowry on his regular visits.

We know that not everyone uses Facebook so we have selected some of the images he has taken and shared with us in June.

Here are two busy bumblebees photographed at the beginning of the month.

Red tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

Common carder bee (Bombus pascorum)

However life will be less easy if they are spotted by a ferruginous bee-grabber. This fly lives up to its name by grabbing hold of bumble and honey bees to lay an egg from which a larva emerges and proceeds to eat the host alive.

Ferruginous bee-grabber on a bramble flower

Close up of Sicus ferrugineus - the ferruginous bee-grabber

On most sunny day visits to the Butterfly Park Roy will photograph butterflies.

Common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)

Green veined white (Pieris napi)

Both photographs show how the underside of the wings differs from the upper surface.

Recent star of the butterflies for Roy Lowry was a dingy skipper that posed on the lime waste. This was the first he had managed to photograph since 2023.

Say hello to the dingy skipper!

Dingy skipper (Erynnis tages)

Also present at the Butterfly Park this month - small coppers, speckled woods and brimstone caterpillars.

Small copper (Lycaena phlaeas)

Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria)

Caterpillar of the brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni)

Day flying moths are good to build a story around. Roy reported “The narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths were in a frisky mood in Saturday’s warm weather”.

Two's company for the narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths

Three’s a crowd...

But four?????

The pond is a good place to find dragonflies and damselflies. Here are paired azure damselflies expertly photographed egg-laying in the pond.

Male and female azure damselflies (Coenagrion puella)

The male azure damselfly is blue and the female is green

Roy also photographed two male broad bodied chaser dragonflies on the pond.

They had distinctively different markings - one had much more brown colouration on the thorax and base of the abdomen, but this might change as it ages.

Broad bodied chaser dragonfly (Libellula depressa)

A Broad bodied chaser dragonfly with more brown colouration

Here’s a hairy shieldbug.

Dolycoris baccarum - or the hairy shieldbug

As the name suggests, they're covered in tiny hairs - though you may have to look closely to spot them! They are also known as sloe shieldbugs, because they're often found around blackthorns, where they use their piercing mouthparts to feed on the fruits - called sloes. They also feed on the leaves, seeds and fruits of a wide range of other plants.

Hairy shieldbugs spend the winter as an adult, emerging in spring to mate. Females lay clumps of brownish, barrel-shaped eggs that stick firmly to the chosen plant. The young, known as nymphs, are smaller and rounder than the adults, but still covered in pale hairs. They go through several stages of growth, before maturing into their adult form in late summer or early autumn.

Dock bugs - a northerly migrating species - are now very well established.

Dock bug (Coreus marginatus)

The trivial plant bug is a Mediterranean species that was introduced into the London area on imported plants and has now got this far north. Roy first saw them last year.

Trivial plant bug (Closterotomus trivialis)

This year they are joined by the cabbage bug which Roy had not seen on the Wirral before.

Cabbage bug (Eurydema oleracea)

Roy’s favourite subjects are hoverflies, especially Chrysotoxum festivum (hook-barred spearhorn).

These are specialists with larvae feeding on ant-attended root aphids. He noticed a couple of males - one had territory on the path to the lime waste and the other on the path about halfway along the lime waste, and both territories were being defended.

The territory along the lime waste was also defended last year.

Hook-barred spearhorn (Chrysotoxum festivum)

Here’s Melangyna sexguttata sensu lato which he doesn't see very often.

This name is much longer than the actual hoverfly!

Melangyna sexguttata sensu lato

These mating craneflies make an interesting image.

Cranefly courtship

Not everyone likes spiders but here’s a zebra jumping spider with its prey. 

Zebra jumping spider (Salticus scenicus)

Visitors to New Ferry Butterfly Park can also look out for beetles.

Roy photographed thick-legged flower beetles plus several spotted longhorn beetles. These were flying around the bramble flowers looking a bit like self-propelled aliens.

 Thick-legged flower beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Spotted longhorn beetle (Rupeta maculata)

June is a good time to admire flowers at the Butterfly Park, with the red poppies and marsh orchids being particularly eye-catching.

Poppies in the wild flower strip

A marsh orchid in the limewaste

New Ferry Butterfly Park is extremely lucky to have someone of Roy’s photographic and identification skills creating a monthly visual record of its wildlife.

Cleaver Heath Update

John McGaw is the Volunteer Warden at our Cleaver Heath nature reserve in Heswall and passed on some good news.

He has seen significant growth of new heather seedlings across the burnt areas of Cleaver recently, following the fire in August last year.

Heather seedlings on burnt ground

There is also some new heather growth within the experimental regeneration area that was cleared by contractors last year (reported on February 4th).

Heather regeneration

Let's hope the new heather can compete successfully with the birch and gorse seedlings which are unfortunately also growing vigorously!

Cleaver Heath was also a focal point at Cool Heswall in May. John had a selection of plants that grow at Cleaver Heath to show visitors. 

Heathland plants found on the reserve, as seen at Cool Heswall

He also took some Cleaver Heath spiders along!

New Ferry Butterfly Park Opening Day 2026

No butterflies but still lots of fun

New Ferry Butterfly Park held its 15th Opening Day on the Sunday of the first May Bank Holiday. This event marks the start of the park’s 31st open season to the public.

Guests of honour were the local Bromborough ward councillors Jo Bird and Ruth Molyneux. The councillors said how valuable this well-loved asset is to the community and thanked all the volunteers who keep it open and ensure its continual improvements. They also talked of the importance of biodiversity to everyone.

Bromborough ward councillors Jo Bird and Ruth Molyneux opening the new container

Then the councillors declared the new container ‘open’ by pulling a red ribbon bow attached to the doors. The new container will enable the volunteers to run community visits more efficiently. Each of the three local ward councillors, including councillor Keiran Murphy, contributed £300 to the container from Wirral Borough Council funds. This, along with a crowd funding project, a grant from Vitalflo and funds from plant sales together enabled the purchase of the container, material for the associated ground works and the addition of a sloping roof, guttering and water butt to harvest rainwater. The new container will act as an art tableau in the future as an artwork will be attached to the side with money from a legacy from the late Howard Gibson.

Mike being made Honorary President of the Butterfly Park. He never likes a fuss and is in the navy blue coat with his back to the camera.

A special presentation was given to volunteer Mike Maher who has been at the forefront of the plant sales at these opening days since 2012 and in the last four years extending to weekly plants sale throughout the season, constantly renewing the stocks. The money raised is important - over £4,000. But just as important, Mike made it an opportunity to engage with the park’s visitors, swap stories and learn a little more about wildlife. Mike even charmed a couple of his plant customers into joining the wardening team. A new team will continue with the plant sales. Mike Maher was made the First Honorary president of the park and given a certificate and a president’s trophy, a miniature of the butterfly bench that many butterfly park guests have sat on. This miniature of the bench was created by Ian Ramsay, whose wife Carol created the original bench.

Presentation of the model bench to Mike

Despite the unpromising weather, the 1,118 guests enjoyed a tempting BBQ, delicious homemade cakes, a tombola, local craft stalls, plus wildlife exhibits allowing close encounters with spiders, newts, slow worms, owls and a skunk.

BBQ

The Owl Man (with owls!)

A slow worm, brought along by Wirral Amphibian and Reptile Group

Sophie Lewis shared her pond dipping pleasures (see her blog post). RECORD was there to help guests hone their recording skills of plant and animals and informing people how to contribute their records. You could make newspaper pots and sow seeds in them to take home, and of course you could buy plants lovingly grown by volunteers. There was a stall about honeybees and honey from the Park was also available.

Sophie at the pond dipping table

Sewing seeds in pots with Steve of Wirral Countryside Volunteers

Honey from very local bees

A quieter spot was the storytelling gazebo where the children were spell bound by the storyteller and entered a world of calm. They made up their own stories about butterflies and they all knew about their life cycles. This year there was a special stall from the Cheshire Guild of Spinners and Weavers. They brought four spinning wheels and samples of various fibres such as alpaca, camel, possum, plastic before they were spun. A blanket had been made up of squares of all these various materials which you could feel.

Cheshire Guild of Spinners and Weavers

Examples of woven yarn

Although the Park had more spring flowers than ever there were no butterflies on the wing due to the unpromising weather. However, Alistair Noakes of Butterfly Conservation was on hand to show the milk bottle shaped eggs of a brimstone butterfly, so at least some butterflies were seen but without their wings yet.

Phil Putwain, chair of New Ferry Butterfly Park, said,  “The success of Opening Day, year after year, is a testament to the incredible hard work and commitment of so many of the park’s volunteers and Wirral Countryside Volunteers, often including spouses, partners and children, not only in organising, preparing for and then running the Opening Day but clearing up and returning many items back from whence they came. I thought this year was a lovely local community occasion, so relaxed and friendly and sometimes meeting and re-acquainting with people that one has not seen for a while and not too overcrowded. An experience of the best of local community culture at work.”

RECORD stall

Plant sale

Thanks to Bebington Tesco for donations to the BBQ and tombola, to the Refreshment Rooms, Rock Ferry, for sponsoring 100 burgers and more importantly use of a large chest freezer, to The Easter Lily for ribbon and to New Ferry Village Hall for the loan of gazebos and tables. Thanks to the team of 42 volunteers involved in the day; the team gets stronger every opening day.

The tombola

The Park is now open every Sunday between 12 noon and 4 pm until mid-September.

So do come back on a quieter Sunday and enjoy the succession of wildlife as the season progresses. The plant sales continue throughout the season.