Thanks for your comment Mike
After a few days stopping up at Arnside and enjoying a number of great sites around the area I have some catching up to do...
Wednesday 11th June.
Earlier this year, whilst doing some thinking about where to go on a couple of short breaks with Jane, I started reading up on flight times of some of the species that I had never seen. The first result of this was our break on the IOW during which I saw my first Glanville Fritillaries
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
as described in this diary a couple of weeks back.
A couple of other species that I had never seen before were Northern Brown Argus and Mountain Ringlet and with some further research a bit of a cunning plan had started to form in my mind. I realised that with a bit (...or maybe a lot) of luck I could perhaps see the
salmacis race of NBA at the beginning of their flight season around the Arnside area and also drive up to possibly see Mountain Ringlets at Irton Fell at around the same time.
Having to book time off work in advance meant that I had to take a bit of a gamble with flight times and the weather and so, a few weeks back, I had booked us into the lovely Bed and Breakfast in Arnside at the foot of Knott Lane, that we have been to for the past couple of years when going up there, usually to see Scotch Argus later in the year.
I then nervously watched the weather and sightings pages on the run up to our break.
So it was, that last Wednesday morning we set off up the M6 with a promising weather forecast for the following few days and with me having seen the first sighting reports of both NBA and Mountain Ringlets. The weather for the day was looking good, with a cloudy but dry start which was forecast to turn to sunny spells further north by the afternoon, so I figured on making the most of it and do a stop off for an hour or so at Warton Crag before arriving at Arnside. I had read that Northern Brown Argus could be found here as well as Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries which I had not yet seen this year.
We arrived at Warton just after mid-day with it still fairly overcast but feeling warm and with some brighter sky heading our way. There were quite a few cars in the car park with a number of bird watchers who were there to see a pair of Peregrines that were nesting on the wall of the Crag, too far away unfortunately for my lumix and close focus binoculars. After polishing off our sandwiches I took a walk up the path which loops around and up the Crag to see what I could find.
As I walked up the sky brightened and the sun started to poke through and I began to see butterflies, a few Common Blues, Large Skippers and Dingy Skippers to start with along with numerous Small Heaths.
![Cumbria - June 2014 063resize.JPG (593.65 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Small Heath - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_6006d686aab94774974d0d7ec8394bcd)
- Small Heath - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
About half way up I came to an area with lots of Rock Rose and there flitting about was my first target, a Northern Brown Argus
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
. I took some photos and watched him for a while as he moved from plant to plant, basking and nectaring, until a second one came along and they both disappeared down the slope.
![Cumbria - June 2014 066resize.JPG (578.05 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Warton Crag looking North with Arnside Knott in top right hand corner and Lake District in far distance.](./files/thumb_10101_02a2219c15a0c2d639635a65cb0e789c)
- Warton Crag looking North with Arnside Knott in top right hand corner and Lake District in far distance.
![Cumbria - June 2014 015resize.JPG (543.95 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_d6bd1ebf6c4ae7a5575c0c9120d18891)
- Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
![Cumbria - June 2014 030resize.JPG (554.83 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_c0de28b4231cb537f60b9be2efc418bf)
- Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
![Cumbria - June 2014 042resize.JPG (542.83 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_7e84110177b583ecc08ed35cce58e0fb)
- Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
![Cumbria - June 2014 087resize.JPG (508.54 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_298ef247231f09b8a3b0aff8be93adb3)
- Northern Brown Argus - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
I then continued on up and in series of clearings between the trees and scrub found some Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, probably about half a dozen or so…
![Cumbria - June 2014 102resize.JPG (526.53 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_86cd35ba84720d9236eedd0297c23821)
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
![Cumbria - June 2014 108resize.JPG (615.96 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_b761d0264641fe64e6ba68d8a36c1814)
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
![Cumbria - June 2014 130resize.JPG (569.07 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_2dcfa28c93fb213b5461a193597713e6)
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
![Cumbria - June 2014 133resize.JPG (612.1 KiB) Viewed 1185 times Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014](./files/thumb_10101_007ab98b5391f053873e50b7f75dc633)
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Warton Crag 11.06.2014
…before heading back down and continuing on our way to Arnside.
To be continued…
Neil