The last day of a fantastic fourth of July weekend had Barry Marts and myself heading SW to visit one of the best high elevation locations for leps in the state. Spruce Knob at 4,863 ft is the highest point in West Virginia. Spruce Knob Lake at 3,800+ ft is stocked with bass and trout making it a favorite location for fishing. We worked our way slowly up FR 112 and at the first couple of pull offs found seven Banded Hairstreaks trying to warm up in the morning chill. We also found a couple of worn Northern Cloudywings which was a new state lep for both of us. We stopped at many Milkweed stands along the side of the road on the way up and didn’t get to the summit until noon. The high moutain meadows are resplendent in their appearance. Many, many wildflowers abound and consquently many butterflies are in flight. High elevation specialties such as Pink-edged Sulphurs, four species of fritillary (Meadow, Great Spangled, Aphrodite and Altantis), Long Dash Skipper, Common Ringlet and more can be found. We spent a great deal of time just walking the fields. The breeze along with temps in the uppers 60’s was so refreshing. Fritillaries are flying all over the place and you were hoping they would stop to nector so you could get a look. From the tiny Meadow Fritillary to the noticably larger Great Spangled Friillary this is a great location to refine your eastern fritillary ID skills. The in between sized Aphrodite Fritillary with a good deal of its submarginal ventral hind wing (VHW) band being infused with red-brown (Great Spangled’s VHW submarginal band is all cream colored) and amber colored eyes, and the Altantis Fritillary with its blue-gray eyes give you a variable array and display of color. I just love going to these locations and I hope you’ll find time to make a July trip there also. We found 31 species which are itemized below.
* = FOY ** = New for West Virginia Silver-spotted Skipper 12 **Northern Cloudywing 2 Wild Indigo Duskywing 1 European Skipper 100+ Peck's Skipper 1 Long Dash 20 Little Glassywing 6 Dun Skipper 3 Pipevine Swallowtail 6 Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail 1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2 Clouded Sulphur 3 Orange Sulphur 5 *Pink-edged Sulphur 8 Banded Hairstreak 7 Eastern Tailed-Blue 4 Summer Azure 6 Monarch 3 Great Spangled Fritillary 5 Aphrodite Fritillary 8 *Atlantis Frillary 9 Meadow Fritillary 2 Silvery Checkerspot 3 Pearl Crescent 1 Eastern Comma 3 Red Admiral 4 American Lady 8 *Northern Pearly-eye 1 Common Ringlet 2 Little Wood-Satyr 2 *Common Wood-Nymph 1
