There is exciting news that a colony of Dingy Skipper has recently been found at Danes Moss. The photo above shows one from the colony and as can be seen, although brown,  they are far from dingy with amazing patterning on their wings. There are no known local sites where this butterfly can be found in Cheshire East and so presumably it has existed at Danes Moss undiscovered for a number of years. Loss of habitat leading to fragmented populations hamper the ability of this species to recolonise areas where it once lived and sadly has seen massive population declines of over 60% since the 1970s.

It has a number of statuses and protections across the UK including the following which highlight how much conservation priority this species has been given:

• Section 41 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in England
• Listed on Section 7 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016
• Northern Ireland Priority Species 
• Scottish Biodiversity List
• UK BAP status: Priority Species
• Butterfly Conservation priority: High
• Fully protected under the Northern Ireland 1985 Wildlife Order

(Source: Butterfly Conservation)

The colony lives on a sheltered area bordered by woodland. It’s favourite food plant, the Common Birds Foot Trefoil (which has yellow flowers), is distributed along the bank of the boundary ditch of the proposed development area and has also been found within the boundary of the proposed development area itself. This leaves it very much at risk from the development. Further investigation is needed to find out how widespread it is across the whole Moss.