braids and bog

21^st July 2020
This started off as a run with Mary and morphed into a butterfly hunt. Medium decent weather and the plan was to run across town to the Braids. I had been encouraging this as a place to run because last time there we had seen a tiny pond up towards the top of the hill that in my festering imagination would be buzzing with dragonflies.

First up we ran across Calton Hill and down to Regents Road. I took a photo of a Grayling on one of the buildings at the top of the hill but it was distant and poor quality. I have always found Calton Hill to be unforthcoming with its butterflies though other folk tell me it is a decent venue.  

We ran down to Regents Rd where Andrew and Unda had found Graylings on the buddleia bushes and in the little lane that runs down to Calton Rd. There was one, but few decent photos were taken. There was also a Small Tortoiseshell and a rather sweet mosaic of shells and stones that was a considerable improvement on the usual graffiti tag.

We ran through Holyrood, stopping briefly to take photos of Skippers and Toroiseshells near the Commie Pool roundabout. Then headed to Blackford Pond via East Preston St Cemetery.

essential info at Blackford Pond

I somehow persuaded Mary to run along the side of the Braid Burn in the hermitage. Earlier in the year the flowering butterbur attracted butterflies and I returned several times with varying success. Today was a wash out and not one butterfly was seen. Worse still the jungly riverside was overgrown with nettles, brambles and other very user-unfriendly beasts that grabbed at our legs as we ran through. I had to apologise profoundly to Mary. 

Braids xc route

We crossed to the Braids golf course and ran the perimeter path as fondly(?) remembered from the cross country route. There were a few butterflies around and we were both in a mood to spend time stalking them rather than focussing on just the running. Mary disappeared for so long I thought she might have gone a different way and I ran back in a mild panic to find her chasing butterflies. 

Sadly my dragonfly dreams were trashed as the small pond near the top of the run had entirely dried up. Had a look around to see if there were any insects still about the place but it was properly deserted. 😢

Not sure where we parted company but Mary ran home while I headed back to Holyrood. The patches of blue sky were getting larger and the clouds fewer so I went back to see what I could find. Initially I got very lucky with a brand new first-of-the-new-generation Small Coppers. It was a splendid specimen (very near the Commie Pool entrance) and sat for just long enough to get a couple of shots. It only had very tiny blue spots on the hind wings so wasn't quite out the very top drawer but close enough!

always pleased to find a delicate and bizarre Plume Moth

Mairi had mentioned there were graylings on top of the crags (as well as below and next to the crags.) She also mentioned Police were policing the no-go areas barriered-off on the Radical Road. So it seemed the right time to start respecting the barriers and check out above the crags. Sure enough at the Commie Pool end there is a small ridge running perpendicular to the first bay that is popular with a handful of graylings. And the rock and dirt backgrounds show them off quite well. Which is handy as they are masters of disguise and often hide in plain sight by merging with a suitably coloured rock or plantscape.

jousting for position

When relaxing the forewing slips below the hindwing and the eyespot is hidden. If you make a small movement you can sometimes induce the re-appearance of the forewing which is used like a warning device or threat. Of what I am not quite sure. And half the time you will just scare the grayling off. They never sit with wings open and you can only see the wing uppers when they are flying, just landed or courting; when the males will flap pheromones towards the females. Short video here.

the blond grasses swishing in the breeze on the back of the crags look amazing 

where did the path go?

I had heard reports of various butterflies in Hunters Bog. I have never found that to be a prime spot but thought I'd check out the quarry on the back of the crags as it has lots of shrubs and wildflowers growing there. It was while since I'd been and it was a mistake to enter through the overgrown narrow paths on the South side. They had virtually disappeared under a mass of growth including many nettles and brambles and I emerged from the other side stung, bitten and assaulted. There are easier ways in. Unfortunately I wasn't the only person to check out this nicely secluded spot. There is often a solitary bloke or 2 brown bagging it on the rock slabs, especially in the sunshine. However this visit was shared with 3 large women, who as a soundtrack to accompany my butterfly hunt sat 20 yards from where I was taking pics and munched bag after bag of crisps. They probably thought I was a perv in the bushes trying to sneak photos of their curvaceous figures.

butterbur leaves hide nettles underneath

I would have moved on quickly but there were several spectacles I was keen to record. (Though big boned ladies eating crisps was not one of them.) The first was a pair of mating Meadow Browns and then a coupling of Common Blues. There was also a good turn out of skippers, small heaths, ringlets, burnet moths and the like although when I returned on future occasions there was never quite the same bounties. Maybe they were attracted by the monster munches?

Possibly the highlight of this adventure was a skipper I saw on one of those orchids as I was dropping down to Hunter's Bog. As the first photo shows the sun wasn't out. The skipper was new-ish and would shine if the sun came out. I sat still and waited, hoping it wouldn't fly off in the 3 mins it took for the cloud to pass. I was also thinking about the ticks I might be collecting as I wallowed in the long grass. Deer have been photographed in Holyrood recently. A guy who sees them regularly told me they are permanent fixtures rather than passing through from time to time. It does seem hard to believe they can evade all the dogs running free around Hunter's Bog. And if true I suspect will lead to ticks becoming more prevalent here too. 

At last the sun came out. The skipper continued to sit on her flower (lack of small black curves (sex brands) on forewing means female) and I got the photos - even managing to get the lens close up for macro shots. I love it when a plan comes together!

just under 17 miles

gimp