Common Checkered-Skipper at Glenhyrst Gardens, Brantford

[Bill Lamond]

Hello,

Today (3 September) I saw a Common Checkered-Skipper at Glenhyrst Gardens in Brantford. This is the first Hamilton area record since 2012 when six were observed at the Glebe lands in Brantford on 12 September 2012. One individual was also observed at this location on 27 September. 

Prior to these 2012 records, the previous time this species was observed in the Hamilton area was in 1901 in Bartonville (Hamilton).

I note on iNaturalist that this species has been seen in recent times (2025) in London and along the Lake Huron shore area in Lambton and Huron counties. There is also a record from yesterday in Courtland in Norfolk County. So there may be more records in the Hamilton area this summer and fall.

Bill

[james holdsworth]

Hi Bill, when I first moved to Lambton Shores (in 2019) this species was difficult to find but over the past few years seems to have become well established, with a least four locations where they can be reliably found. I’d assume some element of climate change is allowing the species to retain populations farther north than previously possible.

In Oxford, I had but a single record from the big flight year of 2012, but things may have changed quite a bit since then…I haven’t done a deep dive into local inat records to verify.