Latterbarrow and White Scar with Butterfly Conservation

Six-spot Burnet Moth on Betony

​ Latterbarrow is special for the flora of limestone grassland with woodland fringes where fritillaries may appear.  In July, agrimony and  betony show well.  There's angelica and Brian points out burnet saxifrage. And tells which moths favour golden rod as a food-plant. There has been overnight rain and fine grasses are drenched with raindrops. The morning is cloudy so few butterflies are on the wing but Chris knows the site well and tells how it's managed for butterflies and shows us micro-habitat favoured by particular species. 

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Today's field-trip is expertly led by Chris and there's a generous sharing of finds amongst the group.  When a butterfly is spotted we hope to come closer to see it better and to take photographs.  We wade slowly through vegetation, careful not to disturb the butterfly, circling around it for a clear shot not marred by stems of grass and foliage.   Butterflies like  gatekeeper are quite small as you see from the leaf on which it settles.  The sequence shows a first impression, then more detail as I come closer.  

White Scar is close by,  a south-facing cliff of carboniferous limestone with terraces invisible from the foot of the cliff.   There's a disused quarry, a slab of bare rock fringed with grasses and hazel, and buddleia beloved of the rare butterflies found at this site.  Chris has pruned these shrubs to flower in sequence so they offer nectar to butterflies over a longer period.  
Grayling is an important species here and can be found on chunks of limestone warmed by the sun. If you can find the butterfly.  Grayling camouflage is superb and the butterfly  is easily confused with a pattern of darker markings on the limestone.   It aims to be invisible, photographers strive to reveal it and to show it to advantage. 

Northern brown argus flit about  grasses and tiny shrubs of hazel.   There are common blue and small tortoiseshell.  A High Brown Fritillary is seen, by some, near the quarry.   But it doesn't linger. It's probably the rarest butterfly in Britain. 
On a rainy day, 27 July 2019, Chris led a Butterfly Conservation field-trip to Witherslack and White Scar,  read my blog via this link
https://www.cumbrianaturally.co.uk/blog/butt…

​ Stand apart for a moment  on a butterfly conservation field-trip  and the scene resembles Pieter Breughel's painting of 1560, Childrens Games.  Intent and single-minded as children,  caught in odd postures, up to quirky things, brightly clad. Folk follow flight to see a butterfly vanish.  If it settles, they're focused and intent,  crouching low, bottoms up to take images. Encouraging each other,  a quick grump if someone goes too close too quickly and off it flies. A ring of hands with phones close-in  for the image, telling each other exactly where that elusive Northern Brown Argus shows on the tip of a stem.  A woman points to a Grayling, whose cryptic colouring hides it amongst a scatter of quarried limestone fragments.  Clustering together to see something special, wandering off on a recce of their own. It’s  fun.
Thanks to Chris Winnick of Butterfly Conservation for sharing his expertise and field-craft, for an excellent field-trip.  And thanks to everyone who generously offered-up finds.