Arnside Knott july 21st 2012 Scotch argus time

It was time for my last trip to Arnside knott this year , the Target species was the rare Scotch Argus , only found in a few locations in Scotland and in Cumbria.  they might be just starting to emerge, so since the weather is looking very good for a change, ie dry warm and sunny  Shock Horror!   its worth the trip.
the Cumbrian fells are looking good this morning!

to start a quick look down on the lower tiers to see if any High browns or Dark Green fritillaries are showing , down on the large lower level there were a few old looking Dark greens and not much else.
 This is a female, just fading slightly on the forewings.

                        so a walk through to the next field and i found a mating pair of DGs

 

Time to take a look at Heathwaite meadow , a wonderful area full of wild flowers, and numerous insect species .  Northern Brown Argus usually in good numbers.  but not today :(   never mind, i managed to shoot them last two visits, but look at the flowers :)

        There were numerous tiny Hylas bees, ( i think)  really struggled to shoot them , they were just too active, this is the best i could get.  about 5mm in length , shot with mpe-65 macro lens.

                                                                   and a small skipper :)

making my way round the knott to have a look near the top, where a large patch of thistle flowers might have a few nectoring butterflies.

near the top i found a few common blues feeding , i have seen very few of these this year which is quite unusual as they are usually fairly common.

                                                 a meadow brown in the undergrowth :)

                                                               and a camouflaged Grayling :)

             a couple of views looking from near the top of the Knott looking towards Cumbria

 Most of the thistle flowers had gone over so there were very few feeding butterflies to be seen, but did manage this Dark Green image.

Then a very dark butterfly flew past me quickly!  a Scotch Argus Yay!!!    i had to chase it down a steep embankment , it kept stopping for a few seconds before taking flight again.   i ended up chasing it down, around and up the hill three times before i eventually managed this image!  i was knackered by this time.   Not sure if the dam thing was playing games  lol

after all this i sat down!   and then i noticed a pair of speckled woods sitting on a low conifer, really like the composition i got in this frame :)

Then another Scotch Argus flew past , another chase was on the cards, and i was already tired after the last one!!!!!!!!     but it had other ideas and just settled down on a leaf long enough for me to get my final image of the day.   perfect:)   they look stunning when freshly emerged like this one, so dark and velvety.

the end of a good, but difficult day.  always a special place to visit, will be next year before i visit again now.

Meathop Moss and Arnside knott july 7th 2012

After a failed trip to Whixall moss to shoot Large Heaths , i decided to combine at trip to the lakes , and visit Meathop Moss in the morning , then go Back to Arnside Knot in the afternoon.
I arrived at Meathop about 9 am , was fairly warm which makes a change and forecast was for a warm sunny day!!!!!  it had rained quite heavy overnight and the main track onto the moss was very much flooded! 

                                                                    the warning sign :)

I made my way to the wooden boardwalk and almost immediately found the Large Heaths flitting around the heather and long grass .  as usual they just don't perch on a clear stem to be photographed , and only stay still for a very short time before flying off again,  they have to be the most frustrating butterfly to shoot!!!!!!!!   i walked along the wooden structure and then made my way onto the moss, it wasn't too wet actually . chasing the butterflies was quite tiring but eventually managed this reasonable image.

                                                       a view looking across the moss

walking further onto the moss i got the chance of another well perched Large Heath, this is the final image i got.

Now i will make my way over to Arnside knott , to hopefully shoot the High brown fritillaries.

   by now the sun has come out and it is getting very warm , makes a change to say that this year!
i make my way down to the 3rd lower level and find High Browns straight away, very active in the sun and feeding on bramble flowers.  this was going to be a challenge to photograph them!
first image one feeding on thistle flowers , and a low level image taken against the blue sky :)

this is the area they are found

High Brown Fritillary

 as a comparison, here is a Dark Green Frittillary .  note no red circle spots on rear edge of wing

                             as you can see they are quite similar unless a close view is taken

                                           here are a few more views of High Browns

The end of another good day fluttering , but with Arnside being probably the worst place for ticks, i had a few hitch hikers come home with me!!!!!!  Arghhhhh    counted 18 crawling up my jeans while driving home!

                                                         this one has had a huge meal!!   NOT ME!

Red colouration from blood!

             Tomorrow i will be climbing Green & Great Gable in cumbria with the twitterati group

Arnside Knott Butterflies pt 2 july 3rd

My second visit to Arnside knott to shoot the beautiful fritillaries . Hopefully might see my first High Brown of the season, but weather has still been cold so not holding my breath!   it looking quite misty but is forecast to warm up considerably which is just what the butterflies need to fly :)
The view looking towards the cumbrian fells shrouded in mist.

I start off walking up the shale path towards the area where i was shooting the small Pearl Bordered fritts the previous week.  Grayling should be out now, amazing camouflage they have and sit on the shale soaking up any warmth , almost straight away i spot one sitting on the rock, my first of the year. i could spend ages watching them , they have so much character ( for a butterfly anyhow! ) flitting between rocks changing there wing angle to face the sun.

i search all the usual bracken looking for High Browns but only Dark Greens are flying , thistle flowers give a good nectar supply so those areas the best to concentrate on.  a very damp bumble bee is first subject i shoot!

Moving up to the top of the Knott there is a large abundance of thistle, with plenty of Dark Green Fritts and Grayling  all feeding , i must say i have never seen a Grayling feeding before so spent quite a long time watching and shooting them:)

i then noticed an odd looking Dark Green frittilary , i chased it all over the place before getting this image , an aberration where one wing is almost white , with no colour! very odd.

then a female Dark Green , slightly larger than the males with white spots around the wing edges.

there is a steep shale scree  nearby which looks very promising for High Brown with tall trees all around

 but after quite a long time i have only spotted Dark Greens . but i did find a really beautiful jumping spider ,about 4 -5 mm in length ,  they are so cute with their big eyes.   time for the canon MPE-65 macro lens

a nice view from here , but really need to find a High Brown, there must be one here somewhere!

I make my way down to the opposite side of the Knott where i saw my first ever High Brown fritillary last year so i know its a good area.   And would you believe it, A High Brown straight away!   newly emerged this morning by the look of it. absolutely stunning.

i follow this one and make the most of a pristine specimen , taking quite a few images on different surroundings.perched on the shale really shows off the colours well :)

and on a white thistle flower, what a superb butterfly :)

after this shoot the cloud came over and the light levels dropped , i found a Dark Green perched up which happily sat for over 15 minutes while it had its picture taken .  you can see it is very similar to the High Brown, but the 3 rd spot on the fore wing is off line in the HB , more central in the DG. and of course the HB has spots on the rear under wing , which are clearly visible in the above image.


                                                              Dark Green Fritillary

What a super couple of hours i have just had , now its time to take a look at Heathwait meadow to find a few Northern Brown Argus .  through the gate and make my way around to the meadow.

And here is where i found these tiny butterflies , it is quite windy so really struggled to shoot these images , they are definitely not sharp enough , much more detail should be showing.

the end of another superb day on Arnside Knott , a really special place , except for one thing!

Ticks!!!!!!!!!!!!

                          images shot with canon 5d2, 100mmLmacro & mpe-65 macro lens