hooray for holyrood pt1

7th May

I was messaging online with Richard W about butterflies and he told me Phil Bould had Tweeted a Green Hairstreak in Holyrood Park west of Dunsapie. Mairi also messaged. Since we all live (individually) not far outside the park we went along to see if there was any sign of this small Green fellow. I had expected word to get out and there be quite a queue forming. So I was surprised when I turned up and I was first there. No specific place had been outlined other than about 300m west of Dunsapie Car Park. I think Richard may have swept by but seeing nothing went down to the low road or Innocent Railway for a wander. He returned as I was retracing my steps on the high road. I had run along earlier and saw what I considered about a 40% chance of a Hairstreak flying across the road. Could be a Small Copper; about the same size and saw no green. I couldn't stop to chase or examine as 2 beat bobbies were coming along and I didn't want to be caught ogling Small Coppers. I took note of the location and doubled back just before Richard appeared.

We were chatting from a social distance when I pointed out a Small Copper on ragwort and we stopped for a couple of photos. Just then Richard saw a green spiralling flutter in the gorse bush bedside us, hurriedly took a rapid fire machine-gun's worth of photos and started cursing like a sailor. He had spotted a Green Hairstreak! Even after he pointed it out I was having trouble seeing it. I took some bad photos in the flat light without much hope. They actually came out better than some of the pics I took of the orange tips and others passing by.

The following day I went back past the now famous gorse bush. Word had got out and several folk had stopped by to see if the GH was there. Sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't. Although it looks like an unlikely and anonymous spot on the side of the Queen's Drive, the wildflowers that grow there sustain a small population of Lycaenidae: Small Coppers now, NBAs and Common Blues later. With passing visits from Walls, Orange Tips and whites. The big questions were impossible to answer. Where had they come from? How long had they been here? How many were there? What were their foodplants? This was the first time they had been spotted in Holyrood. I say 'they' because Phil's photo was a different specimen to the one we found. And Richard found a third further up Crow Hill. Three in total! Possibly a combined weight of less than 0.25 of a gram. Needle in a haystack stuff. Wonder if this is their first year here?

We spent our daily exercise the next few days scouring Crow Hill for blaeberries and Green occupants. Blaeberries are the primary foodplant for this butterfly and 9 out of ten times you find them in Scotland blaeberries aren't far away. I found a colony in Red Moss that didn't seem to be directly on any blaeberries but there was no doubt some nearby. They are also known to use gorse and brambles as a foodplant of which there is a superabundance near the one we found. And that would have been my best guess had Richard not found another GH on blaeberry up Crow Hill. There is much less blaeberry than gorse or bramble. 

Richard examines the most popular gorse in Holyrood

Standing up Crow Hill you can see a direct line to the Pentlands. It is hard trying to imagine a butterfly the size of your fingernail flying from there to here. The Braids is halfway between the 2 and looks like a very suitable place to check the blaeberries. I meant to, but the season marches on and I had got a little bored looking into every patch of blaeberry on Arthur Seat, Whinny and Crow Hills. It was almost like a re-run of checking every holly bush in East Lothian for a certain silvery blue customer a year or 2 ago. And that also yielded up nada. Although they did turn up a bit later, in their own time.

Things I saw while wandering around looking for other things...

a cinnabar moth, vibrant in flight

folds its scarlet cloak away when landed

a gorse shieldbug

blaeberries

a buzzy bumble

Day three and Mr Hairstreak was showing signs of wear.

Stardom takes it toll. 

eventually you turn your back on the spotlight

Bloody Cranesbill near the famous grouse, I mean gorse, attracts

Whites, Orange Tips and the occasional Wall.

Next day and a bit overcast. Didn't stop the St Marks Flies swarming around leafy trees. The starlings noticed they were slow fliers and therefore easy prey and would fill their beaks before flying home. I was getting a bit bored looking through unoccupied patches of blaeberry (you never notice how much there is till you try to visit every patch and check it out.)

Mary and I ran over the top of Salisbury Crags. Bumped in Chris H and stopped to have a distanced chat. His plans for the year were massive and involved going abroad a lot so have been turned upside down. While we were chatting I noticed a Painted Lady (first one of the year) being romantically approached by an old and raggedy Small Tortoiseshell. It was remarkably unfazed and allowed the ST to follow it to its next landing. Maybe they were just having a nice chat too?

Further round the crags Mary spotted these 2 Mother Shipton Moths going at it. (Called after the witch like profile on their wings.) I think the chap might be the one below as he was frantically flying about the presumed female who sat there fairly unmoved by it all. 

male getting in a flap?

In my wanderings around Crow Hill I found paths and places I had never been before. This seems to have been the theme of this lockdown. Explore more locally. Be it cemeteries or local trails. On the South facing sunny slopes of Crow Hill you can find Tortoiseshells (and really quite fresh ones of late) and occasional peacocks as well. I was hoping to run into a Red Admiral that had been spotted by Ken and then Derek, near the top. Despite my best efforts and regular visits, nothing. Then I saw a darkish shape flying really swiftly in silhouette near the top. I spent some time returning and recrossing the same ground and eventually I got close enough for a photo - but of another Painted Lady, not an RA. It was in many ways a better prize as few have been seen this year so far. No large migrations like last year as yet. I got a couple of pics of it on a rock before it took off again. It looked so fresh as to be local rather than a blow in from France or Africa. They are splendid butterflies. Definitely in the top 5.