HBF......

......better known as High Brown Fritillary.

An excellent image taken at the reserve on Hale Moss - the name of which I have yet to establish - and which is posted here thanks to JB who got the pic last Friday when we visited in the company of BT. John posted a picture of the HBF on the LDBWS website and received an excellent reply from Mike Watson which he kindly illustrated with three of the characteristics to make life easier in the ID of this creature, if you haven't seen it and are interested I suggest you go here http://lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/ and look up the insect section.

A brief summary of the status of the High Brown Fritillary is that it is one of the UK's rarest butterflies and its numbers are down by 80% compared to figures of the early 1980's and its rate of decline is claimed to be accelerating and has suffered the biggest drop in numbers of all the UK's butterflies in recent years. The area on the Morecambe Bay limestone's is its last remaining stronghold an area which also has the unfortunate claim of holding another endangered species in the Duke of Burgundy. Some good news has to be a Conservation Project to halt the decline of the High Brown Fritillary......lets hope this project is in time regarded as a success.