The Special Butterflies of Cumbria

Cumbria has some rare habitats which are home to some special species of butterflies. The fells provide a home for our only truly montane species of butterfly in Britain. The lowland bogs provide the right breeding requirements for a wetland specialist and the limestone outcrops provide a refuge for one of our rarest and most threatened butterflies.

 

 

High Brown Fritillary (Argynnis adippe)

 

Back in the middle of the 20th century, this butterfly was a common and widespread species in England and Wales but since then it has fallen into a catastrophic and largely unexplained decline. It is now one of our rarest and most threatened butterflies. Its remaining populations now hang on in Devon, South Wales and Cumbria.

 

I took the following photographs in 2012.

 

Males.

 

 

 

Females.

 

 

 

Large Heath (Coenonympha tullia)

 

This is a wetland specialist and in Cumbria this species only occurs on lowland blanket bogs. There are three named forms of this butterfly in Britain and it is form davus that occurs in Cumbria. 

 

I took the following photographs in 2011 & 2012.

 

Female (ab.lanceolata)

 

 

Males.

 

 

 

Small Mountain Ringlet (Erebia epiphron)

 

This delightful butterfly is our only truly montane species in Britain and to see it entails a fell walk up to about 1200 feet and beyond. Unsurprisingly, the only colonies you will find outside of Scotland are in Cumbria.

 

I took these photographs in 2014 & 2017.  

 

Males.

 

 

Female.

 

 

 

Scotch Argus (Erebia aethiops)

 

As its name suggests, this is predominantly a Scottish species but it does occur in just two outpost colonies in Cumbria.

 

I took the following photographs in 2012.

 

Males.

 

 

Female.

 

 

 

Northern Brown Argus (Aricia artaxerxes)

 

This species is distinct from its southern cousin the Brown Argus (Aricia agestis). The differences between the two are subtle. The Northern Brown Argus (A. artaxerxes) occurs as two subspecies; the Cumbrian populations are of ssp. salmacis and those in Scotland are of ssp. artaxerxes with its distinctive white wing spots.

 

I took the following photographs in 2012 & 2014.

 

subspecies salmacis.

 

Males.

 

 

Females.

 

 

Male (ab. unicolor)

In this aberration, the orange marginal markings and central black spots of the forewings are absent.

 

 

 

Mating pair.

 

 

subspecies artaxerxes.

 

Males.