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.

Butterfly Review pt3 july 11th - 31st august 2011

Continuing the review of my butterfly adventures,  another trip to Oversley wood hoping to see more Purple Emperors,  just as i got in the car park, Gill arrived which was unexpected, so i had good company for the day :)    unfortunately no Emperors were to be seen, and very few butterflies considering it was such a warm sunny day!!!!   i did shoot a ringlet Lol

then a stunning Peacock :)

As there where so few butterfies showing , Gill suggested we take a look at a place called "Deans Green "  which is near Henly in Arden.  not too far away, evidently there are good numbers of Marbled whites there!

She was correct, there were loads of them along with Gatekeepers

It ended up another great trip with all the other species of insect shot that day :)

My next trip was july 19 th , back up at Arnside Knott in Cumbria hoping to see freshly emerging Scotch Argus :)

First a walk down to the lower terraces to see if any High brown fritillaries were showing!  here is one of the rarest uk butterflies on my finger!   how cool is that !

And my target species , the Scotch Argus.  another extremely rare butterfly, only found in Cumbria at 2 or 3 sites and in Scotland.

My next trip was july 23 again at Arnside

a beautiful Common blue

and a Northern brown Argus laying eggs!

The next day i went back to Oversley wood , but only managed a few Silver washed fritillary shots, here we have male and female shots

Next trip was back yet again to arnside on the 25 july

on the lower terraces this beautiful Painted lady landed right on the path in front of me :)

1st August i was at Whixall moss in Shropshire, where i shot the beautiful Small copper:)

and a Speckled wood.

The next trip was on the 14 th August, a long trip down to Grafton wood in Worcestershire to hopefully see another of uks most elusive and probably one of the most beautiful species, the Brown Hairstreak :)

first i found a Brown Argus

and a Small Tortoishell

Finally after over 3 hours i saw my first ever Brown Hairstreak,  WOW! they are absolutely stunning!

Definitely one of the most beautiful uk butterflies!

And a male feeding! note he is quite dull in colouration in comparison to the females.

 a White !

after seeing 6 Brown Hairstreak i went back to Grafton wood  the following sunday 21st  and had an amazing day, eventually seeing 9 individuals!!!!!!!

                          My last butterfly shot in 2011 was at whixall moss, a small copper!

                                                   That trip ended my 2011 Butterfly Adventures

                                             all images shot with canon 5d2 and 100mmL macro lens

                                                                           And finally
       I would like to thank Gillian Thompson for all her help , advice  and good company on so many trips in  2011,    many of this years butterfly images would not have been possible without her help.

                                                                        Thank you Gill :)      

                                     Looking forward to many more great butterfly adventures in 2012

                                                                                  Phil.

  

Arnside Knot Butterflys july 2011 pt3

The final part of the arnside knott butterfly adventures,   i travelled up to hopefully see yet another new species, the  Scotch Argus, a very rare butterfly only found in scotland and at arnside in cumbria.  a late species emerging end july early august.

firstly though i went down to the lower terrace to see if any late high brown fritillarys were still on the wing ,  but as i got to the lower path this butterfly landed infriont of me, at first i had no idea what it was.   dont think i have ever seen the underwing of a Painted lady , Vanessa cardui.   i managed to get flat on the ground to get a few shots before she flew off!    stunningly beautiful!  it has been a very poor year for this species, only spotted a few all year!

After a long search around the bracken i soon found a few high brown fritillarys , one feeding with nice back lighting

And then a rather co-operative specimen that was quite happy to pose on my finger!!!!   wow!

a few common blues that looked recently emerged finished off this part of the day

Then i made my way over to the northern slopes to see if any Scotch argus ,Erebia aethiops had started to emerge.

this is a view from the area looking towards the cumbrian fells.

Luckily after just a few minutes looking i found a newly emerged scotch argus,  absolutely stunning !
 yet another new species for the year   #36   Wow! 

This one was still drying its wings!

And a finger shot to end with !

They are such a wonderful rare butterfly, it was great to photograph a couple of pristine specimens , unfortunately as with all very dark species they fade quite quickly with age.

and to finish off the arnside adventures,  a few shots of a Northern Brown Argus , Aricia artaxerxes.   shot on the southern slopes  .

Female egg laying

The egg shot at x5 magnification with mpe-65 macro lens  and cropped!

This ends the Arnside knott adventures for this year,  the next butterfly adventure will be .......The elusive BROWN HAIRSTREAK !