When is the best time to see butterflies in the Lakes and Dales?

June to August, on warm, still, sunny days. Mid-morning is better than midday, because butterflies bask with their wings open while warming up, which is when they can actually be identified rather than flying too fast to see.

Are there any dangerous insects in the Lake District?

No. Wasps and bees can sting, and ticks are present in bracken and long grass and should be checked for after walking, as they can carry Lyme disease. That is the whole list. The adder is the only venomous animal in the region, it is not an insect, and it is extremely shy.

Insects and Butterflies of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales — What to Look For

Q: What is the rarest insect in the Lake District?

The high brown fritillary is Britain's most endangered butterfly, and the limestone hills around Morecambe Bay are one of its last strongholds. The Scotch argus is remarkable in a different way: it flies at just two sites in the whole of England, one of which is Smardale Gill in the Westmorland Dales.

At a glance

The star butterfly: Scotch argus — only two sites in all England
The other star: High brown fritillary — Britain's most endangered butterfly
Best months: June to August, on warm still days
The one nobody warns you about: The midge — and it is not as bad as Scotland
Where to look: Limestone grassland, bog pools, and sunny woodland edges

Limestone grassland in high summer, prime butterfly habitat — Warm, still, sunny mornings on limestone grassland — the best butterfly conditions the north of England offers

The short version: insects are the part of this landscape almost nobody looks at, and they include some of its genuinely internationally important wildlife. Two of Britain's rarest butterflies survive within an hour of Kendal. The limestone grassland of the southern Lakes and the Dales is one of the best butterfly habitats in northern England. And the bog pools of the mosses hold dragonflies found almost nowhere else in the country.

The butterflies to look for

Scotch argus — dark chocolate-brown with orange bands and small black eyespots, flying in a low, bobbing, unhurried way over rough grassland in late July and August. In England it flies at exactly two sites: Smardale Gill near Kirkby Stephen, and Arnside Knott near Silverdale. That is the entire English population. Both are within reach of a day out from the Lakes, which is a remarkable thing to be able to say.

High brown fritillary — Britain's most endangered butterfly, and the limestone hills of the Morecambe Bay fringe (Arnside, Silverdale, Whitbarrow, Warton Crag) are among its last strongholds anywhere. Large, fast, orange, and almost impossible for a beginner to separate from the commoner dark green fritillary in flight. June and July. If you see a big orange fritillary here, you may be looking at one of the rarest insects in the country.

Northern brown argus — small, dark brown, with a distinctive white spot on the forewing. A northern limestone speciality; the Dales and the Cumbrian limestone hold important populations.

Purple hairstreak — lives in the canopy of oak woodland and is therefore almost never seen by anyone who does not know to look up. Scan the tops of oaks on a warm July evening and you may catch small silvery flecks flickering around the crown.

The commoner cast: common blue, small copper, orange-tip (April–May, the male with vivid orange wingtips), meadow brown, ringlet, small heath, dark green fritillary, and the whole familiar set of nettle-feeders — peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral, comma.

Steve’s guide tip

Butterflies need warmth, and they cannot make their own, so the best butterfly watching is not the middle of a hot day — it is mid-morning on a warm day, when they are still basking with wings open to soak up heat, rather than flying too fast to identify. Ten o'clock beats one o'clock every time. Find a sheltered, sunny, south-facing bank out of the wind and simply stand still for five minutes.

The dragonflies

The peat bogs and mosses of the south Lakes are the place. White-faced darter is the prize: a small, scarce dragonfly of acidic bog pools, lost from most of England, and the subject of a reintroduction programme to restored Cumbrian mosses including Foulshaw Moss. Britain has very few sites left; Cumbria is doing something about it.

Alongside it on the bogs: black darter (small, dark, our smallest dragonfly), common hawker and golden-ringed dragonfly — the last of these is unmistakable, a big black-and-yellow banded hunter that patrols upland streams and will fly straight at your face out of curiosity before deciding you are not food.

On the lakes and tarns: four-spotted chaser, emperor, common blue damselfly and the beautiful banded demoiselle along slower rivers — a metallic blue-green damselfly with dark wing bands, drifting like something that escaped from a jeweller.

The rest of the small world

Glow-worms — not worms and not flies but beetles. The wingless female climbs a grass stem on a still June or July night and shines a genuinely astonishing green light from her abdomen to attract a mate. Limestone grassland in the southern Lakes and the Dales holds them. Go out on a dark, warm, windless night in midsummer and look low, at grass-stem height, along a bank.

Wood ants — the northern hairy wood ant builds domed nests of pine needles up to a metre high in the conifer woodland. Stand near one and you can hear it: a faint continuous rustle of thousands of ants moving. They defend themselves by spraying formic acid, which you can smell — sharp and vinegary — if you get close enough to annoy them. Please do not annoy them.

Midges — the honest answer people want. Yes, there are midges in the Lake District, mostly in still, damp, sheltered conditions at dawn and dusk from May to September. No, it is not the Scottish Highlands. They are a nuisance on a windless evening by a tarn, and almost entirely absent on any day with a breeze, on open fellside, or in a vehicle.

Tim’s guide tip

The single best insect spectacle in the Lakes costs nothing and needs no equipment: on a still, warm evening in June, stand by a beck or lake shore about half an hour before dusk and watch the mayflies rise. They live as adults for a matter of hours, having spent up to two years underwater as nymphs, and they emerge, mate and die within one evening. The whole surface of the water starts to shimmer. Guests who arrived indifferent to insects tend not to stay indifferent.

Frequently asked questions

Are there midges in the Lake District?

Yes, but far less severely than in the Scottish Highlands. They are worst on still, humid evenings near water between May and September, and are largely absent in any breeze, on open ground, or in the middle of the day. Most visitors never think about them at all.

What is the rarest insect in the Lake District?

The high brown fritillary butterfly has a fair claim — it is Britain's most endangered butterfly, and the limestone hills around Morecambe Bay are one of its final strongholds. The Scotch argus is arguably more remarkable in a different way: it flies at just two sites in the whole of England, one of which is Smardale Gill in the Westmorland Dales.

When is the best time for butterflies?

June to August, on warm, still, sunny days. Mid-morning is better than midday — butterflies bask with open wings while they are still warming up, which is when you can actually identify them.

Are there any dangerous insects?

No. Wasps and bees can sting, ticks are present in bracken and long grass and should be checked for after walking (they can carry Lyme disease), and that is genuinely the end of the list. The adder is the only venomous animal in the region and it is not an insect, is extremely shy, and is a privilege to see.

Sources & further reading

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