Right, I'm back,
This is the report for Arnside Knott and Honister Pass. I did not get a chance to visit Meathop Moss.
I had a full day at Arnside Knott on 9th July where there were approximately 30 High Brown Fritillary and 20 Dark Green Fritillary. Also seen were 2 Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary, 20 Grayling, 2 Northern Brown Argus, 4 Common Blue(F), 1 White Letter Hairstreak, 20 Speckled Wood, 200+ Meadow Brown, 6 Large Skipper, 2 Small Skipper, 2 Large White, 1 Green Veined White, 1 Gatekeeper, 5 Small Heath, 15 Painted Lady and 1 Red Admiral.
After parking the car, walk back along the track almost to the cattle grid sign and take the path up the hill from here. The Fritillaries can be found everywhere but are concentrated in the Bracken on the left of the path as you climb the hill. You will also find Grayling on the path and stony areas. If you continue walking upwards, keeping the stone wall in sight on your left, go through the trees at the top of the hill and hopefully you should find a small gate. This leads to the top meadow which will soon appear on your left. This is quite sheltered and is where the largest concentration of Fritillaries is to be found, amongst the Bracken and on the Bramble flowers. This is also traditionally where Scotch Argus are usually found, but I was told that they have spread to other parts of the site in recent years. There are two Elm trees at the base of the slope where you may see White Letter Hairstreak. The one I saw came down twice during the day. This is not a good site for Northern Brown Argus. The two that were seen were in long grass rather than around the concentrations of larval food plant. Also confusing things were several Common Blue Females, but these were very tatty. It is worth coming here even if the weather forcast is poor because this will slow down the Fritillaries and there are lots of other things to see (as long as it's not raining).
Do not go chasing Mountain Ringlet unless the weather forcast is very good. They only fly in strong sunshine. My first try at Honister Pass on 8th July was thwarted by cloud and I only saw 2 Small Heath in 4 hours. Take the wide track behind the car park of Honister Quarry. Very shortly you will see a path on your left signposted to Great Gable and Haystacks. This zig-zags steeply up and eventually straightens out. It should take about 20 minutes to reach the point where it levels out on a man made embankment. At the end of the embankment there is a stony path leading off to the left. It is marked by a series of rock cains as well. Take this path for about 200m and then walk into the dry scrubby grass on the left hand side, where the boulders are sticking out of it. Despite a favourable forcast for this morning I only got 5 minutes of sunshine, but this was enough to find 6 Mountain Ringlet flying low over the grass. Three were in good condition, but the others were worn and damaged. They disappeared as soon as the sun went in and I only managed to get a few photos of one of the damaged ones.
I hope this helps those people who are going next week. Good luck with the weather and I look forward to seeing your reports on your return.
Just a couple of photos, but not very good ones from my old camera. I have yet to download those from the new camera.
Cheers,
Vince