Mountain Ringlet - Favourite Photo of 2014

[Wurzel]

Week 11 Christmas Week !

So continues sequence of posts giving one and all the opportunity to showcase their favourite shots of 2014 (or the last time you saw one)!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pete Eeles]

Had a fabulous time tracking this species down this year, as did many others. Mark Colvin and I managed to find a few eggs, after we saw a female lay. One of the highlights of the last decade of butterfly watching

Cheers,

- Pete

[downland boy]

I generally search out the Small Mountain Ringlet when enjoying a good day of fell walking and Great Langdale has some classic lakeland routes that take you through excellent habitat for this species. The attached photos are of a freshly emerged male that turned out to be the only butterfly I saw on the day in question. The sun never quite broke through the light grey cloud but I found this one in the grass beside the path on Great Knott.

[lee3764]

We saw several on the fells above Honister Pass in early July 2014.....Great memories. A true highlight after much driving from Cornwall & witnessed by my 10 year old son, Robert Slaughter who only has Black Hairstreak & Scotch Argus to see in Britain!! Cheers.......Lee Slaughter (and Robert now aged 11).[attachment=0]Mountain Ringlet Honister 2014.

[David M]

Saw a handful of this species in the Alps during July 2014 but didn't manage to get up to the Lakes to see a UK specimen.

Fair play to those who did and well done to Pete for a particularly striking image of a butterfly that is exceptionally hard to photograph.

[Chris Jackson]

I think that these butterflies are barely more common in France than they are in the UK.
Here is a Mountain Ringlet seen on July 16th in the Massif Central, France,
on the Puy Mary (Cantal département).

"Puy" means the remaining central chimney of an eroded volcano.
The ascension was steep, lots of tourists obviously, but what is not visible on the photo is the swarms of flying ants at the top that get in your eyes and stick to your sweaty skin.

Chris

[Neil Freeman]

My first ever Mountain Ringlets were seen this year on a visit to Irton Fell whilst I was staying up at Arnside for a few days in June. I had hoped that would get an opportunity to see these during my stay and sure enough during a couple of hours up on the fell I saw them in good numbers. Managing a decent photo however demanded a bit of patience but fortunately there was enough sun out to get them active but also enough cloud for them to settle when I could attempt to sneak up on them. The males especially seemed to spot me from yards away with their spooky looking large dark eyes and take off again before I could get close. The females were mostly plump with eggs which made them more sluggish and easier to approach.

Mountain Ringlet male - Irton Fell 12.06.2014

Mountain Ringlet female - Irton Fell 12.06.2014

A quite like this underside shot taken from a more unusual angle,

Mountain Ringlet female - Irton Fell 12.06.2014

A fantastic couple of hours in a most picturesque location.

Cheers,

Neil

[David M]

Lovely images, Neil. I totally empathise with your comments re their unapproachability.

They're just as difficult on the continent, if that's any consolation.