Smaller than most Skippers with more white markings especially on hindwing. Rests with wings open. Both sexes very similar, the male has more angular wings. Two broods except at high altitudes. Flies April-August.
The Grizzled Skipper is a characteristic spring butterfly of southern chalk downland and other sparsely vegetated habitats. Its rapid, buzzing flight can make it difficult to follow, but it stops regularly either to perch on a prominent twig or to feed on flowers such as Common Bird's-foot-trefoil or Bugle. It can then be identified quite easily by the black and white checkerboard pattern on its wings. The butterfly occurs across southern England, commonly in small colonies, and has declined in several regions, especially away from the chalk.
Three main types are used: woodland rides, glades, and clearings; unimproved grassland, especially chalk downland but also on other calcareous soils including clays; and recently abandoned industrial sites such as disused mineral workings, spoil heaps, railway lines, and even rubbish tips. Occasionally, it breeds on heathland, damp grassland, and dunes.
In all habitats it requires plentiful spring nectar plants, at least one of the main foodplants growing in short vegetation usually with patches of bare ground, and patches of taller vegetation and scrub or woodland edges.
