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!!

Mull Birds.

 At this point it would have been good to be able to go on about the Eagles of Mull. However, unfortunately, the boat trip out to see the hunting White-tailed Eagles, was unfortunately cancelled due to a breakdown the day before our trip. This meant a spare part was needed for the boat which took a couple of days to come in. We were hoping for a rescheduled trip, but time unfortunately ran out. We did get some nice views of the White-tailed Eagles during our stay, but mostly distant. One however, did fly right over the first cottage we stayed at.

We did however, see a few decent birds, and we got close enough to some for some photography. Before we caught the ferry across to Mull we spent a bit of time with the famous Black Guillemots in Oban harbour. 

A pair of Black Guillemot getting passionate.

On Mull it was great to see many species breeding, that we only see on migration in the south of England, such as Wheatear and Whinchat. Stonechat also seemed to be doing very well there.

Female Wheatear with food.

Wheatear fledgling.

Whinchat collecting food.

Another bird that was very numerous was the Common Sandpiper. All around the lochs there appeared to be pairs of these birds. We also loved watching the little bundles of feathers, that were the chicks, as they wandered around the banks of the lochs, with the parents keeping a watchful eye on them. One family were right outside our cottage.

Adult Common Sandpiper.

Common Sandpiper chick.

Common Sandpiper chick, just metres away from our cottage.

On one of the rivers we also had some close views of a juvenile Dipper.

Juvenile Dipper.

Finally, a long walk down to one of the isolated beaches gave us a few waders, other than the Common Sandpiper. I was particularly pleased with some images of Ringed Plover. These were very approachable at this location. The Oystercatchers, were not so keen on us getting close, but one or two photos were still taken.

Ringed Plover.

Oystercatcher.

We also spent a very windy day on Iona, hoping to hear the call of the Corncrake. Iona is particularly well known for Corncrake, but it was quite late in the day before we heard them. A fantastic sound, and one I would be happy to listen to a lot more. The windy day probably didn't help us as the birds were probably keeping their heads down!!

Puffin Day.

 I don't think I ever got over the day that Matt and I had many years ago, when, during our trip to Wales, we got up early and headed to Pembrokeshire to get close to the Puffins on Skomer. Matt was still a very keen young birder, and when we arrived to learn that the trips to Skomer were full for the day I could feel how upset he was too. We did still get on a boat that sailed around the island, so at least we still got to see Puffins, but not super close, which is what we had really wanted!!

One of the days on Mull I was looking forward to most was during the 2nd week, after we had moved to the southern end, was the trip to Lunga, to see those Puffins close-up that I had missed all those years ago with Matt. The boat trip also had the additional bonus of visiting the amazing Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa. So on the boat trip the music of Felix Mendelssohn kept going through my head. The Hebrides Overture that was written by Mendelssohn in 1830 after inspiration from visiting Staffa and seeing Fingal's Cave.

After several days of a stiff breeze, Lisa and I were not sure the boat would be running, but fortunately, on the day we had booked the trip, the breeze was slightly lighter. The sun was also shining well, so for the hour or so of the trip to get to Lunga, we were getting pretty excited. After mooring we followed others across the rocks, to climb up the steep section of the path to get to the area where we would see the Puffins and other Auks. On the way we saw Eider ducks with chicks, Oystercatchers, Wren and Wheatear families. With both of us being pretty fit, it wasn't long before we reached the top of the cliffs and started to see the Puffins. We only paused a short while as we wanted to get to the large rock at the end of the path that some of the other Auks were using, mainly Razorbills, but also several Guillemot. It really was amazing how close the birds came to us, with absolutely no fear of us at all.

Razorbill.

Guillemot.

Close-up of Razorbill.

Close-up of Guillemot.

However, it was really the Puffins that Lisa and I concentrated on the most, and after getting the photos of the Razorbills and Guillemot, we headed back to the main Puffin area. We had been told by Brian, our Otter guide, to do this, otherwise you could use all the 2 hours we had on the island photographing and watching the Puffins, and run out of time for the other birds. We are really glad we listened to him too as we could quite easily have got distracted by the lovely comical Puffins.

We certainly filled our boots when we got back to the Puffin area. We both tried to get some flight shots too. Pretty mixed results with these though. We were both also hoping to get shots of them flying in with beaks full of Sandeels, but we didn't get lucky there.

How could anybody not LOVE a Puffin!!

A Tufted Puffin??

Coming into land.

A ringed Puffin looking around a corner that isn't even there.

Puffin looking out to sea.

All to soon it was time to head back to the boat. The fun had not stopped though, as we were now off to Staffa. The geology of this island is totally amazing, and although I'm not particularly into geology, it really was something to admire, and you can see why so many people over the years have found inspiration from Staffa, and particularly, Fingal's Cave.

As the boat disembarked, nearly everyone went straight to the cave. We decided to do that after a walk away from the cave. We had lovely views of a pair of Great Skua and lots of Shag. When we got back towards the cave, everyone was leaving that area, so we actually had the place to ourselves. Perfect!! Well, it was just us and a handful of divers that were mostly under the water.

Fingal's Cave.

Selfie in front of Fingal's Cave.

Isle of Staffa.

We then had a 40 minute ride back to Mull, and as the wind was now behind us, the sailing was a lot less rough. As we approached the water between Iona and Mull, we were greeted by a small pod of Dolphin that performed well for us all. We were not in the best area of the boat to see them, but we did get a few views of them swimming fast and jumping out of the water very near.

When we got home, pretty tired from a full on day, we enjoyed dinner listening to the Hebrides Overture by Felix Mendelssohn  (several times).

Bee-hawk and Marsh Fritillaries.

 On our 2nd day in the Fort William area, during our searches for the Chequered Skippers, Lisa found what was possibly the find of the holiday. She spotted what she thought was a large bee, looking very odd. She called me over, and I immediately knew it was a beautiful Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth. One of my favourite species, and one that I hadn't really managed to get any decent photos of before. The moth was obviously just emerging from the pupa. Looking back, I should have searched for the pupa, but as it had just started raining pretty hard, we quickly took a few photos before retreating to shelter in the car.

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.

Underneath view.

After an hour or so, the rain stopped, so we headed back to where the moth was, and it was still in the area, pumping up its wings and looking even better than before.

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.

I have always enjoyed watching the Bee Hawk-moths, ever since I used to cycle out to a wood several miles from my childhood home to watch the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moths. Unfortunately, the moths have not been seen at that site now for many years, so the Narrow-bordered is the one I see more often when I'm searching for Marsh Fritillaries. The Narrow-bordered and the Marsh Fritillary use the same larval food plant, Devil's Bit Scabious, so they are often seen in the same locations. Having said that, the nearest site to home for both the moth and fritillary is around 100 miles from home, so no chance of cycling there!!

For Christmas Matt had got me the superb book 'Much Ado About Mothing' by James Lowen. I was planning on reading bits from the book during the year, but as it was, I enjoyed the book so much that I read it all in a little over a week. Whilst reading the book, I came across the bit where James was looking for the Slender Scotch Burnet moth. A very rare moth, with a subspecies only found on Mull. As Lisa and I were having 2 weeks on Mull, I was determined to hunt the moth out while we were on the Island. We actually searched for it 3 times during our stay, but due to the cold spring the moth was late appearing this year so we missed it. However, James had also hinted that there were Marsh Fritillaries at the same site. However, it was still a surprise when I spotted a Marsh Fritillary almost as soon as we had arrived. This was one of the butterfly species that I thought I wasn't going to see this year, as I normally go to Wiltshire for it, but had decided against going this year due to the long trip to Scotland. It soon became apparent that there were good numbers of the butterfly here.

Male Marsh Fritillary.

We were quietly walking along one of the narrow paths, when we saw two Fritillaries take off. It was obviously a male and female. I watched them briefly, but Lisa had other ideas. She watched where they flew to and headed over to see if they had joined up to mate. Meanwhile I headed away from the area, when I spotted a Narrow-bordered Bee hawk-moth nectaring on the Bird's Foot Trefoil. I looked over to Lisa to beckon her over, but she was waving me to where she was. I realised straight away that she had found the two Marsh Fritillaries. Indeed they had joined up and it was brilliant seeing them mating. Good for Lisa for finding them.

Mating Marsh Fritillaries.

After telling Lisa about the Hawk-moth, we continued searching. There were some nice warblers and pipits about as well as the insects. While Lisa was concentrating on them I continued to search for the Burnet moths, although it was already clear that we were probably too early in the season. I did however, find a nice female Marsh Fritillary. This species lays lots of eggs and the female abdomen is very large to hold the eggs. It is very easy to tell the sexes apart due to this.

Female Marsh Fritillary.

As the afternoon warmth slowly built up the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moths started to become more evident, and we both enjoyed the challenge of photographing them as they nectared on the wing, on the Bird's Foot Trefoil. At one point, one of the moths actually settled right in front of us and rested on the ground for a couple of minutes. This was a bit easier than photographing them on the wing!!

Resting Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.

As it was we did both manage a few half decent photos of them nectaring. It really was a fabulous day spent in such a lovely setting of Duart Castle. Even though we didn't see the Burnet moths. We had thought we would only be there a couple of hours, but in the end we were there nearly all day!!

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth feeding.

As far as the Burnet Moth goes, I will have to try and get to Mull again one day. However, I have just returned from a butterfly tour of the Dolomites, and amazingly I got to see the Slender Scotch Burnet moth there. Okay, not the mega rare subspecies, but it was crazy after all the hunting on Mull to see it, only to find it in Italy!!