For various family reasons we were heading north to Edinburgh. We decided to take a couple of extra days and visit Arnside Knott and Holy Island in search of butterflies and helleborines.
We left around 6 am on friday and headed up towards Cumbria via the M40, M6 toll and M6. We saw around 15 red kites, including 2 over the service area which was our breakfast stop. We reached the area of Arnside by about 1.00 so we decided to explore Gate Barrows. It was not the easiest place to find but eventually we noticed a sign and a gate, which we went through to a car park. Putting our permit in the window we set off. After a short walk we found a sign for the Limestone path so we turned left and followed the white markers. In a clearing near the entrance we suddenly saw a golden butterfly, but was it a High Brown? We managed to get a few pictures but identification as they buzzed about was very difficult, however I am pretty confident that we managed to see 2/3 .
Carrying on round the trail we were amused to see big signs for Lady's Slipper orchid. These are plants propogated from the one last native plant and re-introduced into some areas where it used to grow. Something to think about next year. We met one of the volunteer wardens who confirmed that the butterflies were High Browns and also showed us the track to follow. We turned right and came out on a lovely limestone pavement with grikes full of ferns, small trees and several Dark Red Helleborines spread around.
The next day we spent most of the day on Arnside Knott, chasing Dark Green Fritillaries, but no sign of any High Browns. We also saw several Grayling whihc was a nice extra.
Eventually we went back down tothe car park for a late lunch and then set off across to Berwick-on-Tweed.
Following a nice breakfast in the local supermarket we set off to Lindisfarne to look for Holy Island Helleborine. We crossed the causeway soon after the tide receded and parked in what we hoped was the right carpark. It was very wet and the path towards the slack was flooded so we did a bit of a detour. The slack otself was about 6 inches deep in water but covered in Marsh Orchids and Marsh Helleborines, but, despite a 3 hour search we couldn't find the Helleborines, although subsequent enquiries found that htere had been about 12 this year.
A quick trip into the village for 'souvenirs' and we heading back across the causeway and on to Edinburgh before the tide came creeping back in.
We left around 6 am on friday and headed up towards Cumbria via the M40, M6 toll and M6. We saw around 15 red kites, including 2 over the service area which was our breakfast stop. We reached the area of Arnside by about 1.00 so we decided to explore Gate Barrows. It was not the easiest place to find but eventually we noticed a sign and a gate, which we went through to a car park. Putting our permit in the window we set off. After a short walk we found a sign for the Limestone path so we turned left and followed the white markers. In a clearing near the entrance we suddenly saw a golden butterfly, but was it a High Brown? We managed to get a few pictures but identification as they buzzed about was very difficult, however I am pretty confident that we managed to see 2/3 .
Carrying on round the trail we were amused to see big signs for Lady's Slipper orchid. These are plants propogated from the one last native plant and re-introduced into some areas where it used to grow. Something to think about next year. We met one of the volunteer wardens who confirmed that the butterflies were High Browns and also showed us the track to follow. We turned right and came out on a lovely limestone pavement with grikes full of ferns, small trees and several Dark Red Helleborines spread around.
The next day we spent most of the day on Arnside Knott, chasing Dark Green Fritillaries, but no sign of any High Browns. We also saw several Grayling whihc was a nice extra.
Eventually we went back down tothe car park for a late lunch and then set off across to Berwick-on-Tweed.
Following a nice breakfast in the local supermarket we set off to Lindisfarne to look for Holy Island Helleborine. We crossed the causeway soon after the tide receded and parked in what we hoped was the right carpark. It was very wet and the path towards the slack was flooded so we did a bit of a detour. The slack otself was about 6 inches deep in water but covered in Marsh Orchids and Marsh Helleborines, but, despite a 3 hour search we couldn't find the Helleborines, although subsequent enquiries found that htere had been about 12 this year.
A quick trip into the village for 'souvenirs' and we heading back across the causeway and on to Edinburgh before the tide came creeping back in.
