Once lost to Cornwall, the Chequered Skipper could yet return to our damp woodland glades, where Bugle blooms in May and purple moor-grass sways in the sun. Conservation work today is shaping the landscapes this woodland jewel once called home.
In the dappled light of a damp Cornish woodland in May, it is not difficult to imagine the quick, warm-brown flicker of a butterfly cutting through a shaft of sunlight. The Chequered Skipper, with its golden-spotted wings and darting flight, once graced woodlands across parts of England, including Cornwall. Today, that sight exists only in memory and in the faded pages of old county butterfly lists. Extinct in England since 1976, the species survives in the western Highlands of Scotland, with careful reintroduction efforts taking place in a handful of English counties.
Cornwall is not among them — yet. But the habitats that shaped this butterfly’s history still echo in our landscape, and with the right care, could again hum with its return.
The Chequered Skipper thrives in the kind of woodland edge that is both sheltered and open, where the air is humid, the soil rich, and the undergrowth alive with flowers. In Scotland, it breeds among the damp, grassy edges of glades and rides, its caterpillars feeding on tussock-forming grasses like Molinia caerulea (purple moor-grass). In historic English populations, including any marginal ones that may have occurred in Cornwall, the larval host grass was likely Brachypodium sylvaticum (false brome).
Cornish woodlands still hold such places: glades softened by moss, edges brightened by carpets of Bugle (Ajuga reptans), and grasslands left long enough to weave the cover in which caterpillars grow. If a reintroduction were ever trialled here, Molinia could also play a role in certain damp lowland grasslands where Scottish-style conditions exist, but its suitability would depend on establishing a new host–habitat relationship. South-facing woodland rides, especially those scalloped to catch the sun, are warm corridors for adults to feed, bask, and search for mates.
In Cornwall, Bugle is the butterfly’s perfect seasonal partner. Flowering from April to July, and peaking in May and early June, it matches almost exactly the Chequered Skipper’s flight period of mid-May to mid-June. Its deep blue flower spikes thrive in damp, semi-shaded glades, offering a rich nectar source at precisely the time the butterfly needs it most.
The synchrony is delicate. A late spring or poorly timed woodland management could mean the Bugle blooms early, before the butterflies emerge, or too late, after their short adult life has passed. In these moments, the balance between insect and plant is broken, and with it, the possibility of breeding success.
If the Chequered Skipper were to return, purple moor-grass would likely be considered for inclusion in breeding habitat design, modelling on its Scottish use. In Cornwall, Molinia caerulea dominates culm grassland — a rare, species-rich habitat found mainly in the north and west of the county. Greena Moor in north Cornwall is one of its finest surviving examples, where wet, acidic lowland soils support a mosaic of tussocks, open rides, wet flushes, and wildflowers.
Once widespread, only about 8 percent of Cornwall’s culm grassland remains. Its loss, through drainage, agricultural improvement, and neglect, mirrors the decline of many specialist species. Where it survives, it offers not just the right structural complexity for breeding, but also shelter and nectar-rich diversity.
Cornwall’s woodland management can make or break the habitats this butterfly needs. Traditional practices — rotational coppicing, ride clearance, selective scrub removal — create the patchwork of light and shadow, short and tall sward, and seasonal flowers that keep glades alive. Without such care, woodlands close in, their glades shaded out, and the Bugle and host grasses replaced by coarse, dominant growth.
The best management is both light-touch and attentive: keeping glades open without over-clearing, maintaining sunny rides, linking open spaces into “butterfly corridors”, and avoiding heavy disturbance during the critical flight and breeding period in May and June. In Cornwall, sites with this balance are not only suitable for Chequered Skippers, they also flourish with other threatened woodland species, from Heath Fritillaries to rare moths.
Though no Chequered Skipper reintroduction has yet been attempted in Cornwall, the groundwork is quietly being laid. At sites like Breney Common, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust has reopened overgrown glades, removed stumps, and encouraged volunteer-led restoration of flower-rich rides. These projects are not only returning light to woodlands, they are restoring the exact structural diversity the Chequered Skipper requires.
Butterfly Conservation, alongside local groups, is also building habitat connectivity — linking pockets of rich woodland so butterflies can move, mate, and spread. While these actions often target other species, they are laying the foundation for a wider return.
Picture this: it is late May, and you are walking through a Cornish glade. The air is warm and still, the ground damp from a night’s rain. Patches of Bugle gleam blue in the sunlight, their scent lifting in the heat. A flicker catches your eye — a Chequered Skipper, small but bold, holding steady in the glade before darting to feed.
It is a sight we have not seen here for nearly fifty years. But with the survival of culm grassland, the careful restoration of woodland glades, and the persistence of nectar-rich flowers, it is not beyond reach. The Chequered Skipper’s absence tells a story of loss, but its return could tell one of restoration.
