Scafell Pikes

Today I had a great walk with Josh up Scafell Pikes via Styhead pass and the Corridor Route. It was nowhere near as busy as I expected, and we had plenty of time to do a bit of botanising on the way up. I was particularly interested in the ferns which we saw, and half hoped to find one of the rare woodsia ferns which grows here, but I couldn't find either species today.

Alpine clubmoss Diphasiastrum alpinum.

Fir clubmoss Huperzia selago.

Beech fern Phegopteris connectilis.

Hard fern Blechnum spicant.

Lemon scented fern Oreopteris limbosperma.

Parsley fern Cryptogramma crispa.

Starry saxifrage Saxifraga stellaris.

Yellow mountain saxifrage Saxifraga aizoides. I find this a very exciting species, probably because it brings back lots of happy memories of holidays to north west Scotland with my parents in my youth.

Carabus problematicus, a ground beetle over 25mm long.

Alpine lady's mantle Alchemilla alpina. Perhaps not the most spectacular flower, but the leaves more than compensate for that. A beautiful plant.

Styhead tarn with Great Gable to the left.

I love this juniper, it reminds me of a bonsai tree. It's probably twice my age!

At the end of a long day it's nice to get into the bar for a meal and a pint!

Inverts and plants of Arnside Knott, Warton Crag and Hawes Water

It was back to Arnside Knott today for another look at the Scotch Argus which are currently on the wing in good numbers. Amazing the think that this time last year we struggled to find a single Scotch Argus here. Also lots of other butterflies about today, as well as flowers and many more inverts including a good selection of hoverflies. After Arnside we visited Warton Crag and Hawes Water (Gait Barrows).

Scotch Argus at one of its few English localities.

I never tire of the view from Arnside Knott, one of the finest I know!

Gatekeeper (left) and meadow brown on wild majorem. Apart from the obvious size difference, of interest is the fact that the meadow brown has two white spots within the black eye spot. Aparently this is a feature of the female of the subspecies "insularis".

A late northern brown argus.

Large skipper.

Speckled wood.

Dark-red helleborine Epipactis atrorubens. We found about ten on Arnside Knott, most of them going over. We also saw at least  two at Hawes Water, dwarfed by broad-leaved helleborine. The basal leaves are a good clue to identifying these, since broad-leaved helleborine (below) doesn't have any! Obviously the leaf shape and the overall size of the plant helps as well. Notice also that the flowers are not only redder looking in dark-red helleborine, they are also more closed.

Broad-leaved helleborine Epipactis helleborine at Haweswater. These plants were not far off 1m tall!

Broad-leaved helleborine. A much more open and greener looking flower than dark-red hellborine.

Syrphus sp.

Eristalis tenax

Helophilus pendulus

Myathropa florea

Meliscaeva cinctella

Meliscaeva cinctella

Sphaerophoria sp.

Myathropa florea - Note the bat man logo on its pronotum!

Gasteruption sp.

The view from Warton Crag isn't bad either.

Andrena sp. of mining bee

Common rockrose Helianthemum nummularium on Warton Crag.

Eyebright sp. Euphrasia sp. Warton Crag. There are around 21 species of eyebright in the UK which are very difficult to seperate, so let's just leave this as "sp.". A beautiful little plant though!

Harebell Campanula rotundifolia, Warton Crag.

Ladies bedstraw Galium verum.

Wild marjarom Origanum vulgare.

St. John's wort sp. Hypericum sp. I didn't really have time to properly id this, so let's just enjoy the plant!

....and the invert of the day award goes to.....this cracking little mayfly, Baetis fuscatus! It's eyes are just amazing! I believe that the large eyes are a feature of a male.

Four-banded longhorn Leptura quadrifasciata Haweswater.

A couple of days on Anglesey

We were on Anglesey to do a bat survey and during the survey we came across this dead Arctic tern. What smacked me in the face immediately about this is the fact that it clearly has a dark carpal bar, yet it appears to be an adult Arctic tern with a full, black crown. Fortunately the bird was also ringed, the details of which will be forwarded to the BTO, so we will get an answer to the birds age and where it was ringed. Arctic terns are famously  one of the longest distant migrants in the World, so excitingly this bird really could have been ringed anywhere, though chances are it was somewhere on Anglesey!

Edit: The bird was ringed by S G Dodd as a nestling, sex unknown, on 7th July 2014 at The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey, UK.