Scout Scar in the latest heat-wave of summer 2026

Looking south west toward Whitbarrow and Morecambe Bay from Scout Scar escarpment

Low cloud and mist flowed off the Irish Sea into the Lyth Valley, once an inlet of the sea. The heights of Whitbarrow peeped above defined cloud.  The faintest hint of a breeze was refreshing.  I had set out at 7.00am, to escape the high temperatures of the afternoon.  Gradually, one or two runners appeared and there was a sense of camaraderie, we had come upon something wonderful.

Yesterday and today indicated temperatures would reach 25 centigrade but they were very different days.  Yesterday the flora of the limestone grassland looked glorious and a gentle breeze made the morning pleasant.
This morning, overnight dew lingered.  Micro-moths were on the wing and meadow brown and ringlet flying low through seeding grasses and flowers.  Crossing Kendal Race Course and heading toward Scout Scar was a trial.  Swifts flew low and I hoped they'd seize the biting horse-flies.  It was not yet 8.00am and the air was hot and humid.
From Scout Scar escarpment, the wonderful vista of summer clouds off the Irish Sea
I saw Common blue butterflies and glimpsed Dark Green Fritillaries but the surprising quality of the day was created by morning dew and mist from the sea. By drifts of deep purple betony, yellow ladies bedstraw and blue scabious. And by seas of seeding grasses woven by arachnids into structures that I puzzled to see how they'd been constructed.
Spiders can somehow draw long grass stems together and bind them.  And there were spiders' nests in the grass, made visible by an atmosphere laden with moisture. 

This summer I've been on Butterfly Conservation field-trips to venues around Morecambe Bay including Latterbarrow, Witherslack, White Scar, and Whitbarrow.  With the Lyth Valley drenched in low cloud I pondered upon the Fritillaries that are a highlight of these locations.