'We need to be inventive to track rare butterfly'

Conservationists say they have to be a "bit more inventive" to track the population of a butterfly which is the only one of its kind in England.

The mountain ringlet is only found high up in the mountains of the Lake District in Cumbria, according to ecologist Dr Rosa Menendez at Lancaster University.

Due to the remote location, and the fact they only fly for three weeks in the summer, Menendez said setting up multiple walks to count mountain ringlets in the peaks could be "quite demanding".

One suggestion was to seek the help of a few experienced mountain walkers to collect information while tackling tough routes.

Unlike the mountain ringlet, which is also found in Scotland, she said scientists had a "good idea" about the populations of other butterflies in the UK.

Last year the team asked visitors to the Lake District to look out for the butterflies and record any sightings.

Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation produced a map of previous sightings, all above 450m (1,476ft) on mountains in the Borrowdale volcanic group from Wasdale in the west to Mardale and Haweswater in the east.

The map also included potential new locations.

Butterfly conservation official Martin Wain said the team received 160 sightings following this callout but it was hard to accurately compare this data to previous years.

"We still have lots of areas in the mountains where we don't know if it's there or not," said Menendez.

Wain said data collected in recent years did suggest the butterflies were spending more time higher up the peaks.

"We think it's a reaction to climate change but it's hard to prove those sorts of things," he said.

Menendez said that ultimately it was clear "typical methods" to track this butterfly would not be effective.

"You can't send anyone to the mountains," she said.

"We need to target particular individuals when they go to the mountains.

"They engage in this activity which is [already] challenging, so we can give them another kind of challenge."

Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.