The Essex Skipper is very similar to the Small Skipper. Those with glossy black tips to the antennae are Essex Skippers, those with orange to dark brown areas below the tips of the antennae are Small Skippers. The male wing stripe is longer and more diagonal on the Small Skipper. It is easier to tell those apart with the darker antennae tips if they are males with the wing brand line visible; in the Essex Skipper the brand lines are more in line with the leading edge of the wing - not so diagonal.

In Great Yeldham it is one of our more common species.

There is only one brood per year. The principal food plant given is Cocksfoot, though other grasses are mentioned. Essex Skippers overwinter as eggs layed in the flowering stems of the grasses - so it is important not to cut long grass where it can be avoided. The eggs hatch in spring to become larvae feeding on the same grasses for a few weeks, before pupating and then emerging as adults in mid summer. Most are seen on the wing in July.