The only way is Essex

An Essex Skipper, one of the hardest butterflies to identify. It wasn't 'discovered' until the 1890s and was originally called the New Small Skipper or Scarce Small Skipper, finally becoming the Essex Skipper in 1906. The problem is that it is almost identical to the Small Skipper and the two are often found in the same habitat flying together. The differences are that the underside of the antenna tips are black in the Essex and orange-brown in the Small. And, in the male Essex skipper the sex brand is much shorter and straighter. To see these distinguishing features you have to get really really close or take photographs from the right angle. That is difficult to do because this is one of those small darting butterflies that seldom waits around. As a result it is probably under-recorded and the Small Skipper may be over-recorded. It is so difficult to do reliably that the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme allows you to record Small/Essex as one. Anyway this one was very obliging and is very much a male Essex Skipper.