Part of our work as a Branch of Butterfly Conservation is to ensure less common species are recorded properly - we need to know whether any apparent lack of sightings are because no one has been out looking for the butterfly, or whether it has disappeared from the area.
Two spring butterflies we’d like your help finding are the Grizzled Skipper (usually out from mid-April to late May) and the Dingy Skipper (from early May to mid-June).
The Dingy Skipper has grey-brown wings with mottled brown markings and two rows of small white spots. It is a small butterfly with a low, darting flight. Grizzled Skipper is similar in size but has brighter black and white markings.
We would like to focus our search all around the Piddletrenthide/Melcombe Bingham area, but there are some places we’d particularly like you to look, which includes areas they have been seen in the past:
Ball Hill and Whatcombe Bottom: ST723032 (DT2 7RL) and ST7102 (DT2 7RQ).
Hog Hill: ST7401 (DT2 7RG)
Highdown and Cheselbourne: ST7500 (DT2 7NR) and ST7501 (DT2 7RG).
A map showing all these points can be found here.
If you see either or both of these butterflies, please report them via our Sightings page. 
A six figure grid reference would be very much appreciated, together with a sketch or any other information to pinpoint the place where you have seen them precisely. This is so we can go back and check that they are still there in the future.
Photos of the butterfly and the site would also be great - you can email more detailed information to: [email protected]
Please also use this email address to tell us if you looked, but did not find these butterflies. A zero record might sound useless, but in fact it is very valuable.