A walk at Arnside

This is one of our favourite walks, from the promenade at Arnside along the river to Blackstone Point, then around Arnside Park to Far Arnside and back over the Knott. The views are spectacular and there is so much wildlife to see, even on the promenade in Arnside where I found several nice ferns growing in the walls.

Maidenhair fern Adiantum raddianum. Quite a rarity in the UK, Morecombe Bay is very much an outpost for this plant which here is on the very north of its range.

Maidenhair Spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes.

Hart's-tongue Fern Asplenium scolopendrium.

Western Polypody Polypodium hesperium.

Western Polypody differs from common polypody Polypodium vulgare in that it has lanceolate fronds rather than triangular, and the sori are oval rather than round.

Western Polypody sori.

Rustyback Asplenium ceterach.

Turn over a frond and you can see why it's called rustyback.

Wall-rue Asplenium ruta-muraria.

Continuing our walk past Blackstone Point we came to a bay at White Creek with various saltmarsh grasses and sedges including Spartina angelica and sea club-rush Scirpus maritimus and a small patch of common sea lavender Limonium vulgare.

White Creek.

Spartina anglica

Common sea lavender.

Having seen short-winged conehead bush-crickets at Marshside yesterday, I decided to have a quick look at their favoured habitat, patches of sea club-rush, to see if they were here as well. Almost immediately I managed to find one. They don't go much further north than this.

Then it was onto the Knott where we found plenty of Scotch argus butterflies on the wing. The coneheads might be at the northern edge of their range, but the Scotch Argus don't go much further south! There can't be many places in the UK where you can see the two species on the same short walk.

Betony Stachys officinalis.

Common bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus.