jeffing!

Mary Jeffing.

We'll get to the Jeffing in a moment. First I have to post some butterflies (Holyrood Division) that were snapped on the 12th July. It has been a fantastic Summer in Holyrood and the rangers seem to have been encouraging the wildlife by letting patches of wild grasses and flowers grow long, without mowing them. This will allow eggs to turn into caterpillars and all sorts of wildlife to take cover in the more bushy areas. I feel I haven't really had my fill of the Northern Brown Argus in Holyrood. A very charming small creature easily overlooked, that when fresh has an oily sheen of prismatic like colours on its upper wings. A delight in the sunshine. But they disappear in the wind. Which is why my collection of NBA photos is smaller than I'd like. Anyway so much has happened in between then and now I can't really remember anything about then, but here are some photos, mainly because I took them and want to add them to my catalogue as a record of what was going down this year.

common blue

small skipper

NBA with sheen

cinnabar moth

small tortoiseshell

grayling

rare view of grayling upper wing

The graylings are also worth watching. Lots of them on the rocks where the crags come down to the Radical Road. They are a modest butterfly, medium to medium-large in size but designed for camouflage when resting (when only the hindwing underside is visible, and near impossibly to distinguish) with flashes of glamour (eye-spot on forewing underside comes out when threatened.) Michael Easterbrook thought highly enough of them to use a grayling photo for the cover of his field guide to butterflies. There is also the teasing promise of those never-usually-seen upperwings which are only brought out as a threat or when courting. (Graylings always settle with closed wings.) I was very lucky when scrambling about the crags to see such behaviour recently although I wasn't sure if it was aggression or romance at the time. It is the male who flicks his wings showering the female with pheromones apparently.

small skipper

July 13th was down in my diary to go to Kelso to support Iain C. He was doing an outside broadcast for a group of folk interested in seeing the White-letter Hairstreak. It was Iain who spotted that WLHs were "on his patch" down in the borders last year. This made the newspapers as they hadn't been seen/recorded in Scotland for something like 135 years. And so there is something of a stir about this tricky-to-see species which is not much bigger than a common blue. They might have been flying under the radar for a while in several places as they hang about at the top of elm trees largely going unnoticed. Iain has spent many hours patiently looking to the tops of elms and checking the leaves in Winter for the minuscule eggs of the butterfly. They too against all the odds were found this side of the border so we can now confirm they are breeding here.

I was preparing to go stand with the butterfly nerds blankly looking into elms when the forecast took a nosedive and it looked like rain for the first half of the day and not much sun later. I had got as far as pumping up my tyres and changing my brakepads in prep for the cycle from Tweedbank the nearest station, however I made my apologies and rescheduled for a later and sunnier tour of Kelso's elms. I wished Iain luck but it didn't look good for him.

Meanwhile I could now go running with Mary. In a moment of madness she had us sign up for the 42mile Thieves Road Ultra because she liked the name of it. Well there'll certainly be plenty of time during the race to mull over the wisdom of choosing races by how much you like the sound of words. 42 miles should really have been more the bit to focus on surely? The guiding light. And all the big hills in the second half. Honestly. As it gets closer (this weekend) she is beginning to consider the 42 miles part rather than the swashbuckling name. 

She recalled a book by Jeff Galloway in which he suggests a way of doing long runs without accidentally killing yourself.  He says run for 8 mins then walk for 2 mins then run for 8 mins and so on. Usually in ultras and long training runs there will be walking and chatting and stopping and eating and even pubs and beers. But until 13th July I had never intentionally stopped to walk without good reason when I felt perfectly capable of running. I thought it would be bad. Enforced slowing. Loser's pace. (Not that I said anything particularly that!)

We got off the Dunbar train (the wind must have been going East to West) and synchronised watches. We both had interval functions so programmed them to bleep at 8 and then at 2 on a never ending loop. 3, 2, 1, go! 8 minutes later they bleeped in stereo and we started walking. By the time we had been through the cycle 3 or 4 times I was a convert. I like going slowly to mosey and chat, take pics and have a breather. All in all this was no hamstrung self-imposed hobbling but a rather pleasant way to keep one's powder dry and pass the time over a long day out. At times I even felt we could swap intervals to walk the 8 and run the 2. Much later we heard this technique referred to as Jeffing, after Mr Galloway. I am a convert though I haven't used it since and probably wouldn't in a race unless it was huge mileage and over days and days. We felt it kept our legs fresher by minimising repetitive strain.

toilets with fun fair mirrors near East Links

Just before East Linton I heard the high pitched peep of a kingfisher and there was a flash of turquoise and orange as one flew past us up the centre of the river. It landed in a tree on the far bank but would be within 15~20 yards of this side round the next shrub. As I went past the bush I saw this duck (above) and couldn't resist a quick couple of shots of it in its own puddle/pond. I snuck cautiously out from behind the bush and there it was, (the kingfisher) sitting on a branch perfectly lined up. I zoomed in, heart pounding.... and just a millisecond before I pushed the shutter it flew off and disappeared comprehensively. I was traumatised. I tried to find it again, then blamed the duck for distracting me. Then stomped about in a filthy mood until Mary told me off for childish behaviour. I still feel robbed about missing the photo when I think about it, although the light was pretty shit and it wouldn't have been all that great. But I blew it. Oh well. 😭

There were a few brave butterflies about but only some hardy whites and Meadow Browns
Everywhere was pretty damp.

obviously I had cheered up by E Linton

worms lovely worms

We had been talking about what to eat at East Linton. I had remembered the coop sometimes did Belgian or Portuguese custard tarts and decided that was what I'd like. Sadly they didn't have those but did have something lemony and similar enough to hit the sugar high prize required. We juiced up took some photos of the rain on the flowers then set off on the JMW towards North Berwick. We were in good spirits.

Mary took a better pic of this.

they have improved this section after stink farm with a path separate from the road
Stink Farm was having a major cook up and smelled so bad I nearly lost my tart.

Knowing the secret to long days out is the fuel, we discussed what flavour of fuel we would have in NB. Very unusually for Mary she opted for a chip butty. It sounded about right and I had the same. Mary could tell I was low blood sugar by then as I scowled when the chip shop guy said they only had white rolls. Pretty much everything on their menu and behind their counter was unhealthy, or the worst, least healthy option possible. To be fair it was a tremendous chip butty, and after a wash and freshen up in the public toilets we were setting off in great shape for the beachy bits. Oh, nearly forgot, as we headed off there was a slight drizzle in the air, and when Mary suggested she might have room for a coffee and cake, I thought it would be a chance to let the drizzle pass. It would also give us a caffeine boost. It was in one of the franchised coffee places I normally never enter but it was okay, over mercifully quickly and probably gave us quite a lift for the next stretch.

this is the least bad photo of Mary chomping her chips
(sorry Mary xx)

not glorious yet...

but getting there

Jeffing!

We were wondering how Iain was getting on with his WLHs tour. We hoped the audience had stuck around, and that the sun and butterflies had made an appearance. In fact this was pretty much what happened. Some had left early but with a view to returning on better days now they knew the target trees. Others had stuck around and the skies cleared just enough for a couple of the Hairstreaks to appear. When I heard something like 40 folk had turned up for it I was very pleased that so many were interested. But also a little relieved I wasn't out tree watching in the company of quite such a large crowd. I have since been down there and taken the tour. It will be blogged here in due course.

by Aberlady the day was really improving

DGF

quite dark markings looking more like the Scottish form scotica

(found throughout the highlands and western isles) 

narrow bordered 5 spot burnet

The pot of gold at the end of our rainbow was the pub in Aberlady. We were offered a seat in the beer garden out back and thought it might be because of the ultra aroma we were exuding by then. I failed yet again to get a flattering photo of Mary who was shovelling down the crisps. We got 2 pints each: one of soda and lime to slake the thirst, and one of alcohol to savour. We stumbled out the pub very light headed. I can't remember the decision making process but we decided to Jeff to Longniddry. Possibly to do with just-missed-buses. Another 4 miles easily trundled by and no photos or rather very few photos were taken. We had taken a couple of paracetamols at North Berwick and what with all that Jeffing, the aches and pains were minimal. When we got to Longniddry the next train was cancelled but the bus stop is just nearby and we caught a bus as far as I can remember. We had probably sobered up by the time we got home. Great day out and something like 31 miles jeffed in total. Probably a LOT more enjoyable than the Thieves Road will be!

31 miles in something over 8hrs
(including all stops)