David M

[David M]

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th June – Fritillary numbers….

Spent a little time this weekend counting numbers of Marsh and Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries on my local common:

5 June – 15 Marsh Fritillaries (45 minutes)

6 June – 29 Marsh, 9 SPBF (1hr 15mins)

The SPBFs tend to be concentrated in the drier areas amongst the bracken litter, although they do occasionally pop up in the damp, grassy spots where the Marshies fly.

I reckon it’ll be late next week before numbers peak, and they should be all over the ragged robin blooms:

This is the area favoured by the Marsh Fritillaries:

[David M]

Tuesday 8th June – Crymlyn Burrows…

A pleasant, sunny day, so I headed down to the dune site at Crymlyn Burrows in eastern Swansea to check out what was around.

This is a very good site for Small Blue, so I thought I’d try and count them. My tally was a respectable 58, and they were easily the commonest species.
This is one of the few British butterflies that can be relied upon to be seen taking fluids from the ground, and several times I saw scenes like this:

I also came across a mating pair, but the strong sunlight meant that obtaining a suitable image was impossible:

The recent rain together with several warm, sunny days has seen the grasses shoot up here:

There have been works going on lately and I was told that some clearance work was required at the site to create more ‘dune slack’ to encourage certain species. It all looks a bit barren right now but within a couple of years things may start to become suitable for the species the conservation authorities wish to encourage:

There were other interesting butterflies on the wing, not least three male Orange Tips which were still patrolling for virgin females which in early June is surely a hopeless quest. This one was on the damp track which I found a bit unusual:

He then reconvened to a more traditional pose:

Two female Brimstones were flying as well – these must now be at least 11 months old:

I also saw my first Large Skippers of the year; three in fact, all males:

Other species seen were Common Blue, Small Heath, Green Veined White, Brown Argus, Speckled Wood, Large White, Dingy Skipper and Small White.

[David M]

Saturday 12th June – Northern foray….

I’d deliberated for several days as to whether I should travel north this weekend. All the weather forecasts were predicting that conditions should be fine, but I’d seen this before only for everything to fall apart at the last minute so I literally waited…..until the last minute!!

All still seemed fine on Friday 11th, so I went to bed early and got up at 2.30am, checked the forecast again and then got my skates on and left Swansea around 3.20am.

Driving out of Swansea into Monmouthshire didn’t provide much encouragement – cloud was thick and it wasn’t till I was north of Ross-on-Wye that I saw sun and blue skies.

At 9.15am I arrived in Santon Bridge and ascended the steep path to Irton Fell from the old quarry car park.

Once up there, I found that whilst conditions near the coast were favourable and sunny, at 350m things were rather different – cloud was hugging the landscape at elevation and I was piggy-in-the-middle between the clear skies lower down and the grey ones higher up.

This is the view when stepping on to the fell, with Wast Water in the distance and lots of hill cloud:

Towards the sea it was a rather different picture, with blue skies and sunshine:

In spite of the gloom, I fortunately disturbed a male Mountain Ringlet within 5 minutes whilst walking towards this species' favourite hotspot up here:

After I stepped back from photographing him, I saw two more in flight which made me think I was going to see quite a few of them.
Sadly, however, for the next hour the cloud persisted and the breeze picked up. It wasn’t till just before 11 o’clock that I noticed this female roosting on a rock:

Shortly afterwards, I spotted another female and managed to coax her onto my hand for some warmth:

I saw three more, all in the sheltered gully near the forestry wall. This one was the freshest of the lot:

The only other butterflies up there were 40 or so Small Heaths, but it was nice to catch up with epiphron in the UK for only the second time in my life (10 years since the first), and this is probably the easiest site to see them as once the steep 15 minute trek up the woodland path from the quarry car park has been negotiated, it’s a relatively benign walk with some exceptional views.

[Pauline]

What can I say! He who dares wins

[millerd]

Saturday 12th June – Northern foray….
All still seemed fine on Friday 11th, so I went to bed early and got up at 2.30am, checked the forecast again and then got my skates on and left Swansea around 3.20am.

I have to agree with Pauline... that is dedication paying off handsomely. Brilliant.

Cheers,

Dave

[trevor]

A brave move indeed David. One reason I have never seen any of the Northern
species is the unpredictable weather, especially in places like Irton Fell.
Still, you risked it, made the effort, and was rewarded. Great stuff!.

I'll bet the journey up there was driving as it should be, a pleasure at that hour.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Benjamin]

Super stuff David - nothing quite like setting off at a crazy hour in the morning while the rest of the country sleeps. You wouldn’t want to do it every day, but once or twice a season for something special mixes things up nicely!

[bugboy]

All still seemed fine on Friday 11th, so I went to bed early and got up at 2.30am, checked the forecast again and then got my skates on and left Swansea around 3.20am.

Sounds like something I would do.....if I could drive. Persuading my occasional chauffeur to leave that early would be a tall task though, a 7am start is a bit of a struggle for them

[Maximus]

That's a long old drive, David but well worth it given the Mountain Ringlets that you found and photographed I would have been overjoyed to see those. This is a species that we missed out on, for various reasons, when we were in the uk Great stuff

[David M]

Thanks Pauline/Dave/Trevor/Ben/Paul/Mike,

The getting up at an ungodly hour isn't the problem at this time of year (I can make do with 4-5 hours of sleep at this time of year and still feel alert and vibrant).

The issue is the unpredictable weather in the north (and particularly the north west), not to mention the inaccurate forecasts.

It's a long way to travel to be camped under heavy cloud but so long as temperatures are high enough and you get a little sunshine now and then you generally get what you're looking for.

PS - as a couple of you have mentioned, one thing about travelling at this time of night is the ease with which you make progress. There's little on the roads at that hour so it's almost like a free pass.

[Katrina]

Congratulations on the Mountain Ringlets as others have said a rich reward for the hard work getting there.

[essexbuzzard]

Congratulations from me too! It’s a great site, that, with excellent views as well!

[David M]

Thanks Katrina/Mark. Yes, it's a beautiful part of the country and well worth the occasional visit.

Saturday 12th June – Northern foray, Part II….

On my way back to the M6 after Irton, I decided to drop in to Meathop Moss. This isn’t an inconvenience as it is literally a three minute drive from the main A590 road that links to the motorway.

I wasn’t sure whether Large Heath would be out yet, and to be honest after 15 minutes surveying the area from the boardwalk I wasn’t far off from calling it a day.

However, there were three others looking for them, and one of them thought she’d spotted one settled by some heather. It definitely looked promising so I decided to edge out onto the mire, which turned out to be surprisingly dry. Here are some views of the site:

Within a short time, it became clear that there were multiple Large Heaths, but given the strength of the wind they weren’t taking flight as often as usual.

I’d say I saw about a dozen in total. All appeared to be males, which isn’t surprising at this stage of the flight period.

This one got a blade of grass sandwiched between his wings and is showing the ground colour of the upper surface:

I managed to catch this one nectaring from one of the few cross-leaved heath flowers:

This same individual also came down nicely on some dead growth from last year:

Three Brimstones were also sighted; two females and a male, whilst there were several Green Veined Whites on the grassy track leading to the boardwalk.

[millerd]

Nice well-marked Large Heaths, David - presumably typical of the sub-species in that part of the world. Hopefully some will still be around in a couple of week's time when I might be in the area... The glimpse of upperside forewing is a teaser too - now that would be a shot to get!

Cheers,

Dave

[jenks]

Re David`s trip to Cumbria, by coincidence I did the same this Tuesday, returning yesterday (Thursday). I had resolved to see the remaining UK butterflies I`d still to see. These included Mountain Ringlet, Northern Brown Argus, Scotch Argus and Cryptic Wood White. I have also to see Chequered Skipper in the UK although I have seen them in Poland.
Commitments and Zoom calls at the weekend meant I had to go during the week so I booked accommodation for 2 nights & set off at 4.30 a.m. Tuesday morning from just north of Cardiff. Not much later than David but due to heavy M6 traffic from Birmingham through to Manchester plus the reduced speed limits in place I didn`t reach Irton Fell until 10.30. This was my first time here so constant referral to SatNav, maps & downloaded instructions were needed. But, parked in the old quarry car park I set off up the fell to the pike. After a long walk and a long search, by which time all I had seen were numerous Small Heath, I was beginning to get despondent. I made a slight detour to avoid a herd of Highland cattle that were grazing (I wasn`t too sure how docile they would be ! I wonder if you encountered these David ?) and then I found my first MR near the so called second colony and then started seeing them fairly regularly, to 11 in total. From this elevation the views over Wast Water, Greathall Gill ravine and over the coast were a fantastic bonus to enjoy with sandwiches and a coffee break & I managed to get some photos with my small digital camera. Good record shots but not good enough to publish on here. So then back down the hill, and I saw another 2-3 at much lower elevation, the warm sun now getting them flying. Also seen were 1 Small PB Fritillary and 1 large Frit which bombed past me and which I had no chance of catching up with. I presume this was a High Brown Frit, if anyone knows this is found at this site please confirm. Back at the car by 3 p.m. I was pretty knackered. Believe me David "once the steep 15 minute trek up the woodland path from the quarry car park has been negotiated, it’s a relatively benign walk" isn`t the case when you`re 67 and have driven for 6 hours ! I decided to leave searching for NBA until the following day.
Wed morning and heavy drizzle and cloud were not good butterflying weather. So I spent the morning at Hodbarrow NR watching Terns and Eider (205 in total, beats the 20 -30 birds that frequent the Gower inlet). Weather brightened up in the afternoon so I made my way to Arnside Knott and saw NBA there though rather disappointingly only the one. Still 2 of the target species ticked off my list, and more fantastic views from here. What a shame Scotch Argus`flight period is July through to August, I`ll just have to make another trip for them.
Thurs morning, left my B&B and set off for home. At junction 15 on M6 I turned off & headed for Whixall Moss and Prees Heath common. Accessing the moss from the Morris Bridge car park I eventually found 5 Large Heath & in the favoured pool 7-8 White faced Darter. The common produced 40 plus Silver studded Blue. My last visit to these locations was in June 2018 and my belief is that there were considerably fewer of the specialised species than on that occasion. This may of course be because of a late season this year. Back home by 6 p.m. asleep in front of the tele by 8. Old age certainly doesn`t come on its own. But a memorable trip for me.
Jenks.

[David M]

Nice well-marked Large Heaths, David - presumably typical of the sub-species in that part of the world..

Thanks, Dave. Yes, the Heaths are the davus form at this site. Hope you get to see a few yourself soon.

Sunday 13th June – Northern foray, Part III….

After leaving Meathop, I headed to Carlisle and spent the night in a handily located hotel adjacent to the motorway exit. I nipped out for a McDonald’s (extremely rare for me), bought some provisions for the next day and went to bed at 7.15pm.

Having done so much driving and yomping over fells and peat bogs I got to sleep pretty readily and left Carlisle at 6.20 the following morning feeling suitably refreshed.

I’d never traversed the Scottish borders before but it was an absolute pleasure, particularly the first stretch on the A7 between Carlisle and Hawick, which was totally devoid of any traffic at such an early hour on a Sunday, and was endless green, rolling hills with lots of trees, rivers and streams.

By 8.50am, I’d arrived at the National Trust car park at St Abbs, although I had a good 20 minute walk before arriving at my final destination. The scenery from the coastal path was pretty spectacular though, and a fresh looking Wall Brown increased my endorphin levels. Here’s an image looking towards the village:

Irritatingly, some cloud had begun to obscure the sun by the time I reached the south facing hills behind St Abbs Head, but I entered the dedicated Northern Brown Argus reserve which is fenced off to stop sheep eating all the rock rose!!!

Inside there was a veritable carpet of flowers, but the cloud meant no butterflies were flying, however I noticed there was a tract of longer grass in the gully just outside the enclosure. Being quite early, I figured I might disturb some roosting butterflies by walking slowly through this area and within seconds, Common Blues and Small Heaths began to appear.

Not long after, a small, dark butterfly shot up and soon settled:

I’d waited a long time to see the artaxerxes form of Northern Brown Argus, with its prominent white forewing spots and attractive undersides:

I disturbed another male a few minutes later but he flew into the farmer’s field which was fenced off so I sat around and waited for the sun to break through the clouds.

This happened only occasionally, meaning that it took nearly an hour to locate my third (and final) NBA. I was delighted to discover it was a pristine female and I sat and watched her for a good 15 minutes:

It would have been interesting to know how many more would have been flying had conditions been more favourable, but I couldn't complain; this is a delightful spot and I took this last image prior to leaving the reserve:

A handful of Green Veined Whites and a Small Copper were the other butterfly species seen.

An 8 hour drive back home was made easier by England playing Croatia in the Euros, meaning that traffic was very light throughout the journey. When I reached home my tripometer was showing I’d driven a total of 1,000.4 miles since I set off for Cumbria the previous day. It was well worth it!

[David M]

Re David`s trip to Cumbria, by coincidence I did the same this Tuesday, returning yesterday (Thursday). I had resolved to see the remaining UK butterflies I`d still to see. These included Mountain Ringlet, Northern Brown Argus, Scotch Argus and Cryptic Wood White...

Glad to know you caught up with your targets, Gareth.

I didn't see any Highland cattle whilst I was on the fell (no livestock whatsoever, in fact), and whilst I agree your older legs might have suffered more than mine during your similar length journey, you literally don't have to go more than a couple of hundred yards once you're over the stile at the end of the footpath from the car park. The hotspot is the gully on the right adjacent to the forestry wall leading up to the first elevated rocky knoll.

PS - your 'large' Fritillary will have been Dark Green. High Browns are restricted to the area around Morecambe Bay/Witherslack.

[Katrina]

I did enjoy reading your post. It looks very tranquil there and I do have a soft spot for the NBA. You got some beautiful photos.

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, great shots of the Large Heath, when I've been up there myself I've found Foulshaw Moss which is next to Meathop much better for seeing the Large Heath, the Board Walk is next to the car Park, you don't need to park on the road ( more convenient ) also there's a make shift Toilet

Northern Brown Argus have also be known to be there, but a cross the road from Foulshaw, other side of 590 is a nature reserve and that's where I've seen the NB, just thought I'd mention this in case you go again Goldie

[jenks]

Hi David,

Thanks for clearing up whether I saw HBF or DGF. Just as well we have a HBF site in South Wales, seeing them there shouldn`t present a problem.

Jenks.