Found them

The Scotch Argus butterfly is rather special for enthusiasts living in England. As the name implies it lives in Scotland and is not uncommon there.

But in England we are reduced to two colonies and both are in Cumbria.
In fact there is a small colony on Arnside Knott and they are flying there at present.

But the main English population is in the Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s excellent nature reserve at Smardale.

That is where we went this morning and with some sunshine and still air conditions were ideal. In fact there were hundreds of them,
The main shot shows a mating pair.
In extras is a shot showing the upper wing surface.
Although we felt surrounded by them I did not find photos very easy as they were mainly on rather steep gravelly slopes and balancing in such conditions is not as easy as it once was.
Also in extras you will find a couple of shots of the splendid disused rail viaduct built in the 1860s. It was part of a line built to bring coal from Durham across the Pennines to the Furness peninsula for smelting the local iron ore. The line crossed Arnside Viaduct as part of its route.

That was a grand morning out.