Blog Archives - Cumbria Naturally

Cumbria Naturally

Smardale: from panorama to Scotch Argus in close-encounters

30/7/2025

Meadow cranesbill and panorama

Smardale pastoral and a panorama of fells lies beyond floral embankments along the disused railway track. Layers upon layers of history are all about us at Smardale. Its pattern of flora and fauna is familiar, and dynamic. Impossible to predict what we'll find this July.
Wayside flowers are wet from recent showers but the morning grows brighter and warmer. White butterflies are on the wing, then meadow brown. There are drifts of great burnet, meadow cranesbill and willowherbs.

Silver Washed Fritillary and Comma at Brigsteer Wood

28/7/2025

Comma and spider with prey

What's in a name? The sylvan experience isn't about taxonomy- I remind myself. The essence of life is dynamic, the pulse and rhythm of the place. A Red Admiral settles on my shoulder, a Silver Washed Fritillary comes close- and all the while there are insects on the wing, delving flowers and fluttering through the herb layer.
I follow the flight of a Comma and my camera discovers a strand of spider silk that seems to run from its wings, through shadows that reveal the spider and morsels of its prey. Here's an arachnid hunting-ground. Hemp Agrimony is in full bloom and attracts various insects seeking nectar.
The wood is full of surprises and it's best to go there ready for anything.

Frog Orchid on Scout Scar

24/7/2025

Close-up of Frog Orchid

Careful! Don't tread on this delicate flower. It's so small you may not see a cluster of tiny frog orchid growing in short turf beside the path. It took us some searching to find it and I knew where to look from previous years. And this image isn't what I saw- my camera sees differently.
A small cluster of Frog Orchid intermixed with Red Clover and at a glance the two species looked similar. Some of the clover was fading and browned-off. My impression of Frog Orchid is of olive-brown flowers with merely a hint of pink- resembling a flower that had bloomed and was spent.

Butterflies on The Ghyll Buddleia: 21 July-11 August

22/7/2025

Comma on Buddleia

Studying butterflies, I'm drawn into the rhythm and pulse of their lives. I fine-tune to sense the weather that draws them forth- temperature and humidity, sun and at most a light breeze. The instant cloud veils the sun, they're gone. Returning as the sun returns, often to the same flower. I am immersed in butterflies and bees and hoverflies jostling amongst the flowers.
Some years, I've had no more than a Comma at a distance and an indifferent image. Today. Comma settle on flowers at my feet, and within touching distance. And I follow the butterfly as it nectars on Buddleia.

Butterflies at The Ghyll- a great butterfly count

21/7/2025

Painted Lady

What is it about Buddleja that attracts butterflies? It must be something in the nectar. The forecast gives a thunderstorm warning, again, but it's bright and sunny. with intermittent cloud. A large, sprawling Buddleja is alive with butterflies and bees. There are numerous whites, as always Green Veined Whites predominate this year. There are several Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies. A single Comma and perhaps several Painted Ladies. It's hard to know if I'm counting the same one twice.

Silver Washed Fritillary and Holly Blue, Brigsteer Wood

17/7/2025

Silver Washed Fritillary and green beetle on Greater Burdock

Butterflies are solar-powered. So they must seize the moment, and so must we. The track through the wood is puddled after overnight rain and the morning is humid. Sunlight pours down through the canopy to spot-light fading bramble flowers. Hemp Agrimony and Greater Burdock have fresh flowers which attract butterflies, hoverflies and beetles. Whites are on the wing, Green-veined white most abundant. Ringlet, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown are in flight. The weather is unsettled and frogs and toads are abroad.

Common Blue, Polyommatus Icarus on Scout Scar

16/7/2025

Common blue butterfly, Polyommatus Icarus

The Common blue is uncommon on Scout Scar this year. So today it's delightful to see several on the wing and to photograph two males. The pains I took with this particular butterfly!!! Horseflies stung my bare arms and I did not have a free hand to be rid of them. The morning is sunny and warm, the air humid after yesterdays unremitting rain which has refreshed flowers but brought forth biting insects.

In Quest of Butterflies on Scout Scar July 2012 and 2025

10/7/2025

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Humidity was high and the heat was building toward the week-end. Early morning was misty, with cloud cover and grasses were drenched with dew.
I was on a quest for butterflies. I know the hotspots on Scout Scar and Helsington Barrows, the micro-habitats. Over the last fortnight I've searched for Dark Green Fritillary on bramble flowers and now on thistles where I've previously found them. I've found none.
The gallery on my website shows sightings in previous years, images from several locations.

Comma in Brigsteer Wood

7/7/2025

Two Comma nectaring on bramble

Sunlight and shadow on the woodland fringe. White flowers of meadowsweet, enchanters nightshade and bramble amongst the green of bracken. Puddles border the track after heavy overnight showers.
Rays of sunlight through the canopy create a butterfly hotspot, bramble a-flutter with comma and green veined whites. Chiaroscuro with bright butterflies against deep shadows. Today the quality of light shows butterflies in kaleidoscopic ways, revealing wing pattern and playing with depth of colour and shading.

About Whitbarrow with Butterfly Conservation

4/7/2025

With a flick of the wrist Martin nets a Grayling in flight and transfers it to Chris who displays it. Now we can see the brighter upper-wings, and detail. They're licenced to net butterflies and it's an opportunity to study them. They stride out into bramble and high bracken on the woodland fringe, focused, nets poised. They're frequently in the field, studying butterflies, auto-ecology and how each species interacts with habitat. At the end of the day the experts' tally of numbers and list of species is impressive, even today when the weather does not favour butterflies on the wing.