Bugboys mission

[millerd]

Congratulations on the Scotch Argus, Buggy! They are a lovely butterfly with a deep chocolate shade like no other. And Arnside is a great place all round for species.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Fantastic shots Bugboy a species I've yet to see

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

I can feel some mrgreens coming on ! .

[Pauline]

Smashing shots of the Scotch Argus Buggy -your efforts to see some of the more far flung species are certainly paying off.

[Goldie M]

Hi! Buggy glad you got the Scotch Argus and looking forward to seeing the rest of your report The weather here this week has been awful so very glad you got some Sunshine whilst up here. Goldie

[bugboy]

Thanks Dave, it is indeed a subtly beautiful butterfly, particularly the velvety fresh ones!
Thanks Wurzel, definately worth making the effort to see them, and such a beautiful part of the world as well !
maybe Trevor, you'll just have to be patient, lots of photo's to trawl through
Thanks Pauline, I do feel like I've travelled to the four corners on England this year...
Thanks Goldie . Looking at the Weather since I've left I think I got very lucky to get a bit of sun on my visit up there

Arnside Knott part 2

Grayling:

Other than Scotch Argus there were 4 other Browns flying, Meadow Browns, Speckled Woods, Gatekeepers (they’ll get an entry to themselves later) and Grayling. The Meadow Browns weren’t in numbers I’d have expected, but on a par with everywhere else I’ve been this year and I saw most of them whilst chasing Scotch Argus so I didn’t really pay them much attention.

The Speckled Wood, as you would expect were enjoying the shadier areas of the Knott and were mostly in quite good condition

The Graylings on the other hand did catch my eye. They weren’t actually on my radar until I saw my first on my first afternoon, walking down a slope with two other butterfliers who were taking me to where they’d seen a High Brown Fritillary earlier in the day.

As we walked down the scree slope a pale butterfly settled nearby and I was struck by just how pale my first ‘northern’ Grayling was. The day before I had been on Chobham Common getting my seasons first Grayling so these dark ‘southerners’ were very fresh in my mind.

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I didn’t see many over the few days, perhaps half a dozen at most but I managed a few close-ups to compare to those taken on Chobham

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I also noticed they seemed smaller than their southern cousins although perhaps I was seeing all males up here and all females down south

[bugboy]

Arnside Knott part 3

Gatekeeper:

This butterfly caught my attention for a couple of reasons, firstly they were out in numbers I’ve not seen anywhere since last season, they seem to be doing rather well on the northern limit of their UK range. Interestingly I found out from a local that they weren’t even here 10 years ago, they’re certainly making up for lost time. The other thing that caught my attention was the percentage of Excessa I found, at a rough estimate I’d say 30 or 40% were varying degrees of extra spottage and I probably paid as much attention to these as to the Scotch Argus!

A selection of the ‘extra spotted’ I came across:

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The female here was excessa as well as having some elongated under hindwing spots. The male never revealed himself to me!

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This male caused me a double take, he never settled nicely for me long enough but he looked more like a dwarf female Meadow Brown than a Gatekeeper.

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And this female I suspect is an ab with an enlarged forewing ocelli.

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Why they should have a higher proportion of excessa and related abs up here is anyones guess but perhaps being on the northern limit of their range, and presumably a bit cooler they need to spend more time basking to keep body temperatures up, so extra spots help with survival against predators? Alternatively, again due to being in the cooler north, the ones with extra spots, and therefore overall darker wings, warm up just that little bit faster and so this gene gets passed down more often than down south? Anyway it’s all fascinating stuff to ruminate upon

[millerd]

That male Gatekeeper is very unusual, Buggy. Much less orange than normal. It is interesting to think that this species is a recent arrival here, as I've seen significant numbers most times I've visited.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Fantastic selection of Hedge Browns abs Bugboy - I'd have been there for another week at least just looking at them! The relatively high numbers of excessa could just be that the starting stock that migrated/redistributed North had a higher proportion of excessa genes in the local gene pool. I've noticed something similar when I visit my Outlaws in Wales - the hedgerows near to their house have a much higher proportion of excessa than back home.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[peterc]

Bugboy, your reasoning behind the extra spotting on Gatekeepers in the cooler regions is spot on .

An article in the Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 2012 (4) relates to the extra spotting of Gatekeepers (i.e. ab excessa). The cloudier regions in the north and west (including West Devon and Cornwall) have a much higher proportion of excessa Gatekeepers because the extra spots on the upperside could be a response to increased risk to attacks by birds since the butterflies bask for longer in these areas as you pointed out.

ATB

Peter

[Goldie M]

Hi! Buggy, you've certainly seen a great variety of Butterflies at Arnside, some times we even get Clouded Yellow up there, can't wait to see your Fritillaries Goldie

[peterc]

Yes, Mr Bugboy is keeping us in suspense for too long. I don't want to spoil the fun but I think he has seen the special one

ATB

Peter

[Neil Freeman]

Hi bugboy,

Just returned earlier today from a few days at Arnside so got some catching up to do myself. You were right about the weather turning, at least I got enough windows to see some butterflies

Glad to see you got your Scotch Argus. It is a beautiful part of the world and one I keep returning to.

Regarding the Gatekeepers, I also see plenty of excessa around here in the midlands, so much so that I now tend to regard differences in 'spottiness' of this species as normal variation. The thing that stood out for me with the Arnside Gatekeepers (as it has on previous visits) is the size, with some males in particular being tiny.

Cheers,

Neil.

[bugboy]

Thank you all. With regard to your comment about Gatekeeper spottiness Wurzel, it would make complete sense, and fits with my theories, about the starting stock having this gene, since the starting stock will always be at the previous northern limit of their range . I would wager a bet that environmental conditions in Wales are closer to those of Cumbria than they are down here in the south, hence the greater Excessa numbers.

And thank you Peter for mentioning the article that adds a lot of fuel to my theory (Not sure what you could possibly mean by the special one though... )

I had a great time Goldie even if the weather wasn't always perfect

Hi Neil, it really is very beautiful and a perfect antidote to London life, I wish I could of stayed longer to be honest, if only for the fantastic fish & chips .
It does seem to me that abs like Excessa are all part of the natural variation of the Gatekeeper, taking into account the article mentioned by Peter.


Arnside Knott part 4

An addendum to a previous post, a fifth Brown was also on the wing, the Ringlet, but they were very much on their last legs here!

Skippers:

There was just the one species about for me, the Small Skipper but like the Gatekeeper, in numbers I’ve not seen since last season anywhere down south. Also like the Gatekeeper, I was told these are also relative newcomers to this part of the world. I did, partly out of habit, check as many as I could for black tipped antennae. I wasn’t seriously expecting to find any Essex but stranger things have happened!

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Whites:

There were plenty of Large White around. This was quite common around town as well as up on the Knott. I don’t think I saw any Small’s at Arnside, it wasn’t until my last full day that I found Smalls, GVW and Brimstone, all at Gaits Barrow.

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Lycids:

Well my ‘least likely to find’ target species didn’t show up in the end so I still have the Northern Brown Argus on my ‘to see’ list. To be honest I’d rather tick that one off over the border anyway, where they actually look a bit different to their southern cousin.
A White-letter Hairstreak was reportedly seen feeding on the morning of my arrival, long gone by the time I arrived and Purple Hairstreak were also seen by others but the only Lycid I actually saw was the (not so) Common Blue. I saw my first one on the lower slopes on my first day but he didn’t settle, it was blowing a bit of a gale anyway so the chances of a good shot weren’t good even if he did.

I had to wait a couple of days before I saw my next one, on the morning of the 30th. Killing a bit of time before my train down to Crewe I disturbed this male under grey skies. Those lunules look rather pale to me, ab?

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Returning on the Sunday afternoon I found another (or perhaps the same one) a short distance away, this time much more active in the sun.

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[bugboy]

Arnside Knott part 5

The Aristocrats:

All expected members of this group were present and correct during my stay. The first to appear to me was a Small Tortoiseshell. It was the only one I was to see and found it on the lower slopes shortly after arriving on my first day, getting blown about on a Ragwort flower head.

An hour later I was up on the top of the Knott, staking out a large patch of Hemp Agrimony and Spear Thistle in the hope of some Fritillary action with some other butterfliers. Whilst waiting I passed the time with some fresh Red Admirals and a Peacock. Even up here RA seem to be having an excellent summer after being virtually non-existent in the spring.

On the Friday the same patch of Agrimony gave me a Comma along with the resident Admirals

and finally, returning from the Wedding on Sunday afternoon, another browse of the Agrimony revealed a Painted Lady had joined the group.

Nearly there guys, only a couple more Arnside posts to go!

[millerd]

Hoping for some Fritillaries, Buggy! keep posting...

Dave

[bugboy]

'ere you go then Dave

Arnside Knott part 6

The Fritillaries:
Well, the other big reason for this trip was to find the last UK Fritillary on my list and probably our most endangered butterfly. I’ll post pictures of every individual Fritillary I managed to capture and if I happen to misidentified anything Dark Green when it is High Brown, please do feel free to point it out, if it’s the other way around… feel free to leave me in my own little world !

Apart from Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns the first butterfly I saw was a rather faded Fritillary. It was flying around a clearing in the Bracken on the lower slopes, feeding periodically. It was whilst walking through the bracken after this, what turned out to be a Dark Green, that I discovered the tick population here really cannot be exaggerated!

Dark Green Fritillary male

Whilst wandering up to the top I had a couple of flybys but not a hope of knowing what species they were.

At the top I chatted to some other Fritillary hunters and found that a female had been seen ovipositing earlier but none had been seen for some time. I also found out that at least two High Browns had been photographed earlier at the bottom on the other side of the car park along with a few Dark Greens. Sadly, when I went down to look around there wasn’t a Fritillary in sight . This was made all the more galling when I checked my facebook that evening to find some Arnside Knott High Brown pictures from that very morning had been posted in one of the butterfly groups and were flaunting themselves on my newsfeed !

So with Thursday a washout and the weekend mostly at a wedding it seemed I was having to pin a lot of hope on the Friday. I got there mid morning and spent my time between the Agrimony at the top and the patch at the bottom where they’d been seen two days previously, but it wasn’t until gone 1pm that another appeared, an egg laying female who just wouldn’t settle long enough for me to ID. Eventually, after much chasing I managed to grab a couple of record shots clear enough to see she was Dark Green.

Dark Green Fritillary female

Thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long for another to appear, this time a rather tatty specimen feeding on a knapweed. I couldn’t get as close as I’d liked so I just crouched down and clicked away hoping I’d get enough underside for a positive ID, pretty sure I was looking at my very first High Brown Fritillary…

High Brown Fritillary #1

After he vanished I walked a short distance and saw what looked like a much fresher Fritillary feeding. I immediately had a good feeling about this one and started to take a run of pictures as I crept closer.

High Brown Fritillary #2

This one turned out to be much more approachable, completely engrossed in feeding, opening and closing its wings as it slowly pirouetted on the flower. And there, the perfect underside picture giving me absolutely no doubt to its identity! Apart from a few nicks this was a really good conditioned individual.

To be honest once I’d seen the pictures on my laptop I didn’t need underside for confirmation, the upper spotting pattern is classic High Brown as well.

A perfectly posed High Brown Fritillary :)

I stayed working this patch for some time, and pretty much had it all to myself as well which was a pleasant bonus, and during this time I managed a third tatty High Brown plus another unidentified egg laying female.

High Brown Fritillary #3

I didn’t see any more Fritillaries after that day but I was very happy with my haul, although tinged with sadness at having to travel so far and search so hard for a species that only 50 years ago I could have found much closer to home. I chatted to a couple of BC peeps doing transects and was told, despite all the management they are still on a downward spiral even here at one of their supposed strongholds, really rather sobering. Hopefully a couple of proper winters will give the population a boot up their proverbial bum.

While I was there they were actually doing some bracken cutting and it was interesting to note that all egg laying, I witnessed was being down in amongst these cleared areas

[Andy Wilson]

Very jealous about the High Browns. It seems that the weather and family commitments have led me to fail in my mission to see all resident UK fritillary species this year. In fact, I haven't even managed to get a record shot of a Dark Green, although I have seen some on the South Downs at a distance

Still, there's always next year!

[peterc]

Well, Bugboy, so you did see the Special One . Well done - you deserve it with all the travelling you've done.

ATB

Peter

[Pauline]

You must be thrilled with those HB shots Buggy, and rightly so! The one entitled 'perfectly posed' is exactly that - great photo!