www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I note from the "What's Flying" section of this site that Mountain Ringlets are now on the wing...
As they only have a very short season and it has been so hot, I am assuming they will be over pretty soon. I have an acquaintance who will be staying just South of the Lake District during the week of 18th - 25th July who wonders if it would be worth quite a long detour to Honister Pass in the hope of seeing them at that time. Does anyone "in the know" (or in the area ) have any thoughts on this idea?

Many thanks,

Trev

Hi Trev,

There has already been some chat on this subject. Look at the Lake District Butterflies and Wildlife thread on the "Sites" forum.

There are a number of people who are planning to visit during the next two weeks. I am hoping to make the trip to Honister Pass this week, subject to favourable weather, and will report back by the end of the week. If I see any Mountain Ringlet it should be possible to judge how long they have been on the wing by their condition. Hopefully all of the others who are hoping to go will also provide information and updates.

Cheers,

Vince

Thanks Vince.
I'll keep my eye on that thread.

Trev

Trev and Vince

I have now booked a stay at Grange-over-Sands from the 12th with the intention of seeing the Large Heath, Northern Brown Argus, Scotch Argus(?) and hopefully Mountain Ringlet . Given it's very short lifespan is it worth me chasing this?

Mike

Hello Trev et al

Although I'm not really "in the know" I am in the area!

You might find the following link of interest, which gives the map refs and dates (in some cases, anyway) of Mountain Ringlet sightings in the Lake District. It was taken from the Butterfly Conservation (Cumbria Branch) web site:

http://www.cumbria-butterflies.org.uk/d ... umbria.pdf

I've had a quick look at it, and the latest date I can see for a reported sighting is 18 July (Dale Head). So I think you might be cutting it a bit fine!

Best of luck if you decide to chance it.

Paul

Cheers Paul,
One day I'll get up there to see them, but in the mean time good luck to all - take some photos for me

Trev

Trev Sawyer wrote:I note from the "What's Flying" section of this site that Mountain Ringlets are now on the wing...

Given the evidence over the last few years, I've come to the conclusion that the concept of a "typical year" and (therefore) "typical flight times" is becoming more erroneous! The only way to really ensure that something's flying, is to monitor the sightings pages of the various BC branches (assuming they provide such information, that is up to date), or postings on UKB - for example

Cheers,

- Pete

They're out at Honister Pass. See:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=145454

... and pray for sunshine!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks for posting that information Pete, it was very useful indeed

Looking at the two photos of what appeared to be the same individual, I was struck by just how fresh it looked. This all looks very promising, particularly for the people who are leaving on 12th July. Having looked at the long range weather forcast I do not anticipate making the trip until Wednesday 8th July. I have to return the car by Friday evening, so I will be able to post a report before the close of play on 10th July.

Now, where did I put my sunglasses?

Cheers,

Vince

By the way, Pete, my new Canon G10 arrived today so I will be able to put it to use on what, hopefully, will be my penultimate species on the British List..........once I've worked out what all the buttons do!

Vince

If you get back to your computer before Sunday 12th and you've seen or photo'd one - please post it

We'll go to Wryneck pass first - if the weather permits

Have a good time and all the best with the new camera.

Mike

Hi guys,

I have checked the forcast and will be leaving very early on Wednesday morning. I may extend the trip slightly because the weather seems set to improve towards the end of the week. This means that I may not get back until late on Friday evening. I will therefore post a report on Saturday morning, but may not have time to include many photos, although I will do my best.

Watch this space.

Cheers,

Vince

I am giving serious consideration to popping up to the Lakes this weekend.
It will be a 700 mile round trip for me, but haing seen SMR just once before - well worth it!
Saturday is looking favourite weatherwise.
If there is anyone who fancies meeting up, early Saturday morning, (two pairs of eyes are better than one!), then send me a PM.
Roger

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

Great report Vince - thanks for sharing in that amount of detail!

Cheers,

- Pete

Yes, that is very useful indeed. Many thanks.

Trev

we are currently in lake district having great time( bit wet though)

Big thanx 2 vince 4 great directions

4 new species 4 us Sat arnside hbf northern brown argus then lrge heath at meathrop moss
Today smardale gill scotch argus only 1 seen, this seems early also saw ringlet & meadow brown mating! Never seen this before, off 2 honistr pass 4 last species, full report when we get back

Magic stuff Vince - I'm a tad jealous

Sunday 12th to Wednesday 15 in the Lakes.

Sunday ar Meathop Moss proved fruitful however only just. We arrived at about 2.30 with it dull, overcast and windy not exactly the best conditions for the Large Heath - however blue sky appeared on the horizon so we sat and waited for about an hour. It's a strange place with a board walk out into the middle of what can only be described as a bog.

Once the sun came out about 5 Large Heath took to the wing - however chasing them for a pic over this terrain is not at all easy - I had visions of getting seriously stuck. So we had to make do with those we could reach......

So the pics are not great but at least we got some.

Monday at Arnside the sun came out proper and it would have been perfect apart from the wind. What a great site.
20+ Painted Ladies
20+ Dark Green fritillaries
20+ Grayling
11 High Brown Fritillaries
but no Northern Brown Argus or Scotch Argus - or indeed any Hairstreaks. It then rained proper in the afternoon.

Tuesday over Wrynose Pass but defeated by the weather - mostly cloudy and windy - well at least Susie got to see Beatrix Potter's place. If you head up that way Cartmel is a marvelous place to stay - we had a great time.
Next year?

Mike

Hi Mike,

Don't be disheartened about not getting all of your target species. It has taken me three years to get Mountain Ringlet. It's always the same when visiting The Lakes, you are always fighting the weather. This year the hire car stayed on the driveway for 3 days out of 6 and when I finally made a dash for it up the M6, I ended up doing 896 miles in three days. Last year the car was on the driveway for 4 out of 5 days and I did not get anywhere near the M6. I will probably go through it all again next year as I need to improve my photos of Mountain Ringlet and Scotch Argus.

Having gone through the "Wrynose experience" in the past, I definately recommend Honister Pass as the place to see Mountain Ringlet. At least you can get a cup of tea and a pastie at the Slate Quarry while you are waiting for the weather to improve. You were definately unlucky with Northern Brown Argus, but some sites are better than others. In order to guarentee Scotch Argus you need to go 2 weeks later, but then you risk missing out on Mountain Ringlet.

It's never easy but it's always fun.

Looks like Sandra and Kevin are doing well and we wait to see if they get a full house.

Cheers,

Vince.

Hi everyone,

We have just got back from the lakes, sorry I mean swam back from the Lakes!!!

Despite seeing 4 of the 5 species we had set our hearts on finding, we are I am afraid a little deflated that the Mountain Ringlet eluded us. Despite going up to Honister Pass 3 times and Langdale Pike once, we have let the side down!!

We never had any sun at Honister at all, despite hours of waiting and Langdale was sunny but no sign at all.

We had a great start to our trip at Arnside Knott (once again thanks to Vince for his great directions), we saw 2 new species for us at Arnside, High Brown and Northern Brown Argus, it was a fantastic place, the weather and views were marvellous.

We then went to Meathorp Moss and saw at least 15 Large Heaths, which again was another first for us.

On Tuesday we went to Smardale Gill, where we saw Northern Brown Argus and a single Scotch Argus after a long walk, this was on the 13th July. This was also a great place to visit and we saw lots of other butterflies.

The next few days were spent searching for the little bugger and this is now the only British butterfly we have not seen and we were hoping to see all this year, total so far this year is 54.

Thanks to everyone for all the information, we enclose some pictures Sandra took including the mating Meadow Brown and Ringlet (is this a common occurance)?

Thanks again
Sandra and Kevin

Hi Sandra and Kevin,

Glad you had a good time but a shame about the Mountain Ringlet. The Lakes is a brilliant place for butterflies, but the weather can often be frustrating as you now know. Love the photos. The Scotch Argus shot has inspired me to go back next year to try to get something similar. The Ringlet/Meadow Brown couple is just fantastic. Another photo of the same behaviour has recently appeared on the Sussex Sightings pages, but in my opinion it is not as good as yours. I would also be interested to hear just how such a thing can occur and how common it is.

I see you are now on 54 species. Which ones do you still need to get and what are your chances of doing so this year?

Cheers,

Vince