Cumbria Butterflies

10th - 13th July 2022

High Brown Fritillary

As I move towards my goal of seeing and photographing all 57 British species of butterfly there 3 that are on the wing in July and that can reasonably be found in Cumbria. They are High Brown Fritillary, Large Heath and Mountain Ringlet. In order to give myself the best chance of success I followed the weather forecast carefully and then booked myself into a Travel Lodge for 3 nights in Kendal which would be my base for exploring South Cumbria.

Sunday 10th July: I set off from Manchester early and within 2 hours was at my first port of call at Foulshaw Moss which is managed by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Unfortunately my first target of Large Heath was nowhere to be seen. However, someone recommended trying Meathop Moss which is a little further down the road. Here I saw quite a few Large Heaths but none would settle, they were constantly on the wing. Then as I was thinking of giving up I saw a fresh specimen land and sit while I managed to get some photographs. Overall a good start to the trip.

Monday 11th July: I had read on a blog site that on the top of Hartsopp Dodd there was a good sized colony of Mountain Ringlet with the warning that it was a ca. 1 hour hike from the car park to get on top of the Dodd. So I duly parked up and started climbing following the limestone wall until I reached the top 1 hour later. Wheatears were seen en route. After abot 30 minutes I started finding Mountain Ringlets. The weather was pretty well perfect with lots of sunshine although it was windy. Mountain Ringlets are very delicate butterflies which have the habit of burrowing down into the grass when they land. Fortunately I found a couple that settled nicely for some photos. So far so good with two new butterflies in two days.

Tuesday 12th July: For High Brown Fritillary I decided to try Whitbarrow Scar, again based upon reading various reports. I parked just off the A590 near Foulshaw Moss and slowly and steadily worked my way up to Whitbarrow Nature Reserve. Finally I reached the Hervey Memorial Reserve and here I saw my first butterflies, initially a Ringlet and a Common Blue. I also saw a few Dark Green Fritillaries and a rather worn Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Then a large, brightly coloured Fritillary landed in front of me. I quickly took a few pictures and was delighted to find that this was a fresh specimen of a male High Brown Fritillary, the only one I saw all day. On the way down I saw some Wheatears, a few Grayling and a Small Tortoiseshell.

Wednesday 13th July: My last day but I was feeling very relaxed and so thought I would visit Barkbooth Lot, another favoured spot for High Brown Fritillary. I arrived early and saw very little for a couple of hours although a Tree Pipit was a nice addition. Then a few Dark Green Fritillaries appeared and a Small Skipper. I was on the point of leaving when I thought I would have one more look near the entrance and found a High Brown Fritillary vigorously defending its territory against a Dark Green Fritillary. It would frequently return to the same spot on the flowering Betony. I think in the end there were two HBFs flying around.

Mission accomplished I headed back to Manchester feeling very happy and satisfied.