The news revealing the location of the successfully reintroduced Chequered Skipper butterfly in England has been well received by wildlife enthusiasts throughout the country. After an absence of 45 years, people will now be able to see this small, beautiful butterfly in England.
However, the story of the Chequered Skipper in Scotland is a very different one. It was only discovered there in the 1940s, at a time when English populations were already in decline. While the species later became extinct in England, its existence in Scotland has remained relatively stable.
Under-recorded for many years, surveys carried out by Butterfly Conservation in 2012 – 2014 found the Chequered Skipper across more sites in Scotland than previously known. However, with very few people, let alone butterfly recorders living within its range, plus it being a small and relatively inconspicuous butterfly, maybe it’s unsurprising that the Chequered Skipper had gone undetected in some areas. Many enthusiasts, keen to connect with this enigmatic little butterfly, visit the same few well-known sites near Fort William where they are confident of a successful sighting, leaving much of its range poorly known.
At Butterfly Conservation our work with the Chequered Skipper in Scotland has focused on establishing its status through increased survey and monitoring. This allows us to build up a better understanding of how well the species is faring and what conservation action may be needed now or in the future. We would really encourage people to continue to visit the Scottish populations and send in your sightings, and particularly to venture beyond well-known hotspots, so that your records can make a bigger contribution to conservation efforts.
Currently, it appears that the Chequered Skipper is well adapted to the west coast of Scotland’s coolish, damp summers and mild winters. With numbers and distribution as they currently are, the Chequered Skipper requires less direct conservation action in Scotland.
This doesn’t mean we can become complacent though. The steady decline and extinction of the Chequered Skipper in England does highlight that a watching brief is needed in Scotland to ensure the same doesn’t happen to the species there. Our rapidly changing climate and extensive land use change, such as afforestation, could both spell trouble for the Scottish Chequered Skipper in the long term. While it has been possible to reintroduce the Chequered Skipper to England, this is not a simple solution to the loss of a species and can never be an alternative to conserving and protecting species while they are thriving.
Tom Prescott, Butterfly Conservation’s Senior Conservation Officer for Scotland
Learn more about the Chequered Skipper here.
Read Butterfly Conservation's leaflet about the Chequered Skipper in Scotland here.
Find out about the location of the re-introduced Chequered Skipper in England here.
Read about Butterfly Conservation's work to bring the Chequered Skipper back to England here.