A butterfly survey at a town’s nature site threw up an unexpected and exciting find, organisers have said.
Middlesbrough Environment City found 10 butterfly species at its 22 acre plot on the former Nature’s World site in Acklam.
They included an Essex Skipper, a predominantly southern species rarely spotted as far north as Teesside.
“We were very excited when we we saw it,” the charity’s project manager for environmental development Jodie Sawbridge said.
The Essex Skipper is similar to the Common Skipper and it was only by closely observing pictures taken by volunteer Jordan Protano-Byrne that they were able to confirm the sighting.
Sawbridge said: “The only thing that tells it apart from the Small Skipper is that its antennae, right at the top of them, it looks like they’ve been dipped in black ink.
“Because it’s quite a small butterfly it was really really difficult to spot.”