Success in Cumbria.

Following our fabulous trip to Mull, Lisa was keen to add to her butterfly list, so as we would be driving south through Cumbria, we decided that we would have a few days based in Kendall to see if we could see some of the specialist species that occur in that area.

I had only seen the butterflies here once before, when Nigel and I visited the area back in 2011. The species we were to target were the Large Heath, Mountain Ringlet and Northern Brown Argus. 

Once again, the weather forecast was not particularly brilliant, but as we had such great success in the Fort William area in poor weather, this didn't put us off.

After the drive south from Mull, stopping briefly to see my brother, who lives near Glasgow, we got to Kendall quite late in the day, so all thoughts were on the following day, and a visit to Meathop Moss. This is the same reserve that Nigel and I visited in 2011. After such a long time, it was good that I still recognised the parking area, although the footpath to the site didn't seem familiar. However, once we reached the boardwalk, it all came back to me. 

The weather was, as forecast, pretty awful. As we walked around the boardwalk I somehow spotted a very fresh Large Heath in amongst the Heather. Just after spotting the butterfly a very heavy rainstorm, complete with a single, very loud clap of thunder hit us. After sheltering for around 40 minutes the rain eased enough for us to venture back out, hoping that the Large Heath would still be there. Not that it was likely to have flown away in the rain!!

It was still where we had last seen it. An absolutely stunning butterfly, and so much nicer marked than the last Large Heath I had seen in Scotland. Large Heath have 3 different forms in Britain. In Scotland the form scotica have very few wing spots and looks like a large Small Heath. Further south is the form polydama which have more wing spots, and finally, the form we were looking at, davus, which have even more distinct wing spots, and is the most impressive form.

Large Heath. 

I guess neither Lisa or I expected to find any butterflies on such a horrible day, but as we had found it, and it wasn't going to fly far, we could get several photos!!

Such a stunning butterfly.

Large Heath. (Form davus).

A couple of days later, in better weather conditions we returned. This time we saw several Large Heath, but all were very flighty and difficult to approach and none of them were as fresh as this individual, so we realised how lucky we had been to find this beautiful specimen.

After Meathop Moss we headed to Arnside Knott, but after arriving in yet more heavy rain, and eating lunch in the car watching the rain getting even heavier, we called it a day on the butterfly front and headed to the nearby Leighton Moss RSPB reserve. Here we were amazed at the masses of Swift that were feeding above the reed-beds. We also heard a booming Bittern.

The following day we headed back to Arnside Knott, in the search of Northern Brown Argus. The weather was today, much improved, although quite wet in the long grasses. It wasn't long before Lisa and I saw our first Large Skipper of the year. This was followed by a few Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, as the sun had started to appear through light cloud.

After a couple of hours of searching I spotted our first Northern Brown Argus. This superb butterfly was extremely fresh, and quite flighty, but at least it was keen on nectaring on the few flowers in the small hillside meadow. It was also very loyal to the immediate area, so we had several opportunities to photograph it. I must confess, I wasn't confident that we had a Northern Brown Argus, as it looked very much like the Brown Argus we get in Sussex. However, I have been assured that the normal Brown Argus, that is gradually heading north, hasn't got to Cumbria yet, so it has to be a Northern Brown Argus!!

Northern Brown Argus nectaring.

Northern Brown Argus.

After spending some time with this beautiful butterfly, we continued our search for more. It certainly took a while, but eventually we did see 2 more Northern Brown Argus, and these 2 were without doubt the Northern variety. Although they were not particularly fresh.

On the way back to Kendall, we called into Latterbarrow, a delightful small reserve that was filled with wild flowers. However, it was disappointing that there were not that many butterflies on the wing. Another enthusiast there said he had seen 3 Northern Brown Argus, so we started another search. By now the day was moving on, and it looked as though we may not see much. Just a single Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary was seen, until I disturbed a Northern Brown Argus.

Northern Brown Argus.

Not long after this the weather once again went downhill, and light rain started to fall. I was still keen though to keep searching to see if I could find a roosting Argus. 

No Argus were found, but I did find an absolutely fantastic Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly. This was one of my highlights from the whole trip, as although these are quite a common dragonfly, this individual was an amazingly beautiful individual which gave us some lovely photos despite the fact it was drizzling as we took the pictures.

Four-spotted Chaser.

On our final full day in Cumbria, we headed to Irton Fell to hunt out the Mountain Ringlet. I had never been to this site before, but I was told it was the most reliable site for the species. Back in 2011 Nigel and I had gone to a site in Langdale for the butterfly, but to be honest, I would find it difficult to remember where to go there. On the plus side, there had been sightings at Irton on the Cumbria BC sightings page already, so we at least knew that the butterflies were on the wing.

On the walk up the fell, we did struggle, after going wrong a couple of times, but eventually we did make it to the grid reference, where the previous sighting had been made. As we approached the area I spotted a Mountain Ringlet. Wow, that was easy!! Lisa managed a couple of grab shots, before we watched it fly around 30 metres away, only to vanish in the deep grass tussocks. We then spent the next 4 hours or so, wandering around hoping to see it again. Now it didn't seem so easy!!

In the end, we decided we didn't have the strength to go on, so we descended back down to the car, rather disappointed, but also trying to be positive as we had at least seen one. We saw 2 other couples whilst we were searching, and neither of them had even seen one, so it could have been much worse!!

As I didn't get the chance of a photo of this butterfly, I am including a photo of a female from way back in 2011. 

Female Mountain Ringlet from 2011.

On the way back to Kendall we called in for a walk around the boardwalk at Meathop Moss. This is when we saw up to a dozen Large Heath. Although they were very difficult to approach. It was encouraging though, to see the species still doing well at the site, thanks to some excellent management there.

The following morning, we were reluctant to leave, so we treated ourselves to one final visit to Latterbarrow. To get back to Sussex at a sensible time, we allowed ourselves a couple of hours. As it was better weather and earlier in the day from our previous visit, there were more insects active. However, it was still a while before we got lucky. By this time, we had been joined by another enthusiast, Mark Holmes, who was visiting from Norfolk. After a short chat he had just started to wander off when I put up the first Northern Brown Argus of the day. I quickly called Mark back to where I was watching the butterfly. It was quite amazing really, as Mark had only seconds before said to me, 'Give me a shout if you see a Northern Brown Argus'.

A Latterbarrow Northern Brown Argus.

All 3 of us enjoyed watching and photographing this lovely butterfly, before it was joined by another one. We then had the choice of 2 butterflies to watch.

Northern Brown Argus.

And so ended over 3 glorious weeks away with Lisa. To say it was a successful trip would be a massive understatement. All our main targets were achieved, apart from perhaps the White-tailed Eagle, although we did at least see some of these.

As we left, Mark Holmes was at the beginning of his few days in Cumbria, and he reported to me later that he saw lots of Mountain Ringlet higher up Irton Fell than where we had been. If we hadn't seen that Mountain Ringlet as soon as we had arrived, we would also probably have gone higher, and would probably have found this higher colony. Still, on the bright side, we can go back again in a year or two!!