www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

got a few days off work so depending on weather, want to visit arnside knott, anyone been up this weekend? whats on the wing at present? hoping to see ph but not sure were on the knott to start looking,
suppose the nearest oak tree would be a start

Brian,

I visited on Friday, the weather wasn't very good and there wasn't much flying. I did see one Scotch Argus and one unidentified Fritillary possibly a High Brown.

I havn't seen PH at Arnside but have seen one at Gait Barrows which is close by and well worth a visit.

David

I've been to Arnside and Gait Barrows today. Plenty of Scotch Argus on the wing at Arnside, and an odd Grayling or two. Fritillaries were not present in abundance but by searching around I did find a few, both Dark Green and High Brown, mostly in a couple of sheltered clearings at the top of the hill.
At Gait Barrows I saw quite a few Purple Hairstreak around certain oaks, but they didn't settle low enough for photos. Not much else of interest - I saw no fritillaries at all, though to be fair I was only there for a couple of hours and I spent most of that time staking out oaks in the hope that a PH would come to eye level.





Here's a very heavily cropped shot of a Gait Barrows PH - not bad considering the butterfly was at least 20 feet away.

Thanks guys, it look like both sites are worth a visit this week, depends on weather, good to see the scotch argus is around, with all the bad weather, I thought it may be a couple of weeks later this season,
also got to update the ssb thread for the great orme, got pics to process, so will post update asap, perhaps after a trip to Arnside

weather overcast and windy, so not a good day at gait barrows, saw a couple of hawker dragonflies and a couple of meadow brown s flying around, that was about it. We were only there about 1 1/2 hours, as we were meeting a friend at Milnthorpe, then off to Arnside in the afternnoon.
Again overcast and windy, we walked up the knott from the car park, saw nothing flying, went through a small coppice on top of the knott to the other side which was more sheltered, this grassy meadow looked more the business, not a lot flying saw no fritillaries or purple hairstreaks at all, few meadow browns, and yes about 3 scotch argus, I suppose will be in greater numbers in a week or two, enjoyable day out, but short of sunshine on this visit

Hi! Brian,
We were at the Knott on the morning and the Scotch Argus were out in good numbers as were the Gatekeepers, Grayling,Speckled Wood we also had Common Blue, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Large and Small White and Fritillarys, a worn individual proved to be a High Brown when I studied the pics at home it had the dark ringed spots on the hindwing, also probably 2 Purple Hairstreaks though I had left the bins in the car and not definite. Went to Gait Barrows on the afternoon what a disappointment, a long walk for a single though beautiful Peacock on my way out I spotted a Purple Hairstreak flying high in an Oak.
Ian C
Thanks to Alex Mclennan and his good wife for their company it made my day more enjoyable. Ian

Hi Ian, interesting post, we were at Arnside on wed not sure if you there on thursday?, this could explain the lack of butterflies in the windy spots, where did you spot most of your butterflies?, we went through the small wood over the knott into a meadow which was more sheltered than the seaward side, will try and get up again to this area of the lakes soon, there is also leighton moss worth a visit as well

Hi! Brian,
Sorry thought you meant Thurs when we were there, the most butterflies were at the top and through the wood to the clearings, Leighton Moss can be good though mostly birding from the hides, but you should try Wharton Crag, park up and go to the right along the wood, follow the path nearly to the end then turn up into the wood through the gate into the butterfly garden bear left the path will take you up onto the crag, overlooking the Peregrine, Raven & Little Owl nesting sites, best in the early summer.
Ian

Hi Ian
will give wharton cragg a visit next time we are up in that part of the south lakes, my friend moved to Beetham a few years ago, so I'm sure he will have visited wharton cragg, glad you enjoyed your day out, back to work for me next week, now when is the next holiday??

Hi Ian
It was good to see you at Arnside on Thursday. It was our first visit there so thanks for your assistance. Ta also to David Tipping for his help via pm. We went back onto the Knott this morning but the weather was lousy. We managed to see quite a few Scotch Argus including a pair in cop and several 100mph frits. But the weather deteriorated so we spent the next five hours driving home (225 miles on the M6 and M1 on a Friday afternoon is not a good idea!).
Alex

I have never been to Arnside Knott before, but I might be going this week to see some of the many species I have never seen before. Can any tell me whats on the wing this week?

I'm currently on vacation - staying in a cottage on Gait Barrows. I visited Arnside Knott on Sunday and there are good numbers of Scotch Argus, and the occasional very worn High Brown Fritillary, and Dark Green Fritillary. Other species include Meadow Brown, Peacock, Gatekeeper.

I didn't see any Northern Brown Argus or Grayling.

Cheers,

- Pete