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After a couple of days break from butterfly-related excursions, on Sunday 9th August I set off for a site completely new to me, but highly recommended as the best place in England to see Scotch Argus: Smardale Gill just over the border in Cumbria, but geographically part of the Yorksire Dales. It was mostly sunny, but with sensible temperatures - on arrival at around 1100 it was a comfortable 18 degrees and only rose to about 22 by the time I left in the afternoon. There was a pleasant breeze as well. The nature reserve basically follows the track of a disused railway along the side of a valley, and eventually onto an impressive Victorian viaduct that crosses the stream at the bottom. However, the guardrails on this structure have been ruled unsafe, so you have to divert off along a path along the valley side - which turns out to be a bonus as far as the butterflies are concerned. Signs in the reserve advertise two highlights: the presence of red squirrels, and the presence of the Scotch Argus butterfly. Unfortunately, I didn't glimpse any squirrels, but there were excellent numbers of the highlighted butterfly.
The track from the car park passes under a famous bit of working railway - the Settle & Carlisle Line - and immediately after this bridge, the Scotch Argus started to appear along both sides. In fact they were numerous enough for walkers I passed to comment on how many butterflies there were. The numbers gradually increased as the viaduct was approached, and the track opened out a bit, and then the slope of the hillside down to the stream in front of the structure was full of them - if they had been blues, they would have shimmered, but you were aware of the constant movement. The view... What I found deceptive is that the stream flows left to right (top photo); towards the camera in the other two.
I took a lot of photos. There were only a few other species around: Notably Red Admirals, Peacocks and a single Large White along the initial enclosed path and then Small Heaths and Small Skippers on the open slopes. I couldn't ignore this bright new Red Admiral. Now for the main attraction. Both males and females were present, with the latter somewhat fresher on average. A few behavioural shots:
This female appears to be egg-laying, a fact I didn't notice until I went through the photos that evening. A bit of context! An indication of abundance. A couple of males puddling. A female (l) and male (r) sharing a scabious. It was an incredible day, with some great butterflies in ideal weather at a terrific spot to visit (and of course no lengthy discussions about which species of Erebia they actually are...
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