best part of the day: golf coast glories

12th and 15th August
I am not a big fan of golf and golfers but that is largely my shortcoming and not (always) theirs. I am trying to get past this as I know a couple of admirable people who spend time on the links, and it is a useful title for this blog to describe the area we chose to run in on a couple of occasions mid-August. However if you are hoping I've converted to loving the game of the small white ball with arseholes in Pringle sweaters and slacks, you should stop reading now.

Archerfields gatehouse

Possibly due to the wind direction or the whims of Coach Hunter we enjoyed a couple of runs out of Gullane heading East rather than West. Along to Archerfields gatehouse then (after a butterfly-photo-break) to Direlton and Yellowcraig Beach before returning along the coast to Gullane. It made a pleasant change from the usual run and was a couple of miles longer, between 8 and 9 miles. Due to the unexpected proliferation of butterflies at Archerfields I was delighted about the new route and they were so abundant that Mary was also sufficiently engaged for about 25 mins rest and recovery after less than 2 miles running.

It is telling that Holly Blues no longer provoke the heart flutters they did last year when they emerged from the mythical status to become residential at Gullane. They are still mythical elsewhere (although commonplace in England) but seem to have established such a community in East Lothian - centred around Gullane - that seeing them this August has been less remarkable. While you can't count on seeing them at every venue whenever you turn up, they have been a regular fixture rather than a once-a-year-or-fewer occurrence. There is little I would train my lens on in preference to the appearance of one, and this is largely due to their reputation rather than aesthetic.

I happened across one on the snowberries at Archerfield, directly behind the gatehouse, late last year. The area has a number of shrubs, brambles, bushes and trees that attract quite a community of butterflies late in the season and I have been keeping an eye on it. A few weeks ago the best it yielded was a wasp and a lacewing while Richard and I hunted morosely for Blues and anything. Difficult to know why exactly it was devoid on that occasion and yet a couple of weeks on and the place is a-flutter with a load of Admirals on the spikes of buddleia, several whites, large and green veined, speckleds, peacocks and even a nervous wall or 2. I suspect there is a line in the sand; a combination of temperature and wind speed plus the right amount of ripening of buddleia flower. After which an invisible whistle is blown and everything fluttery descends from the trees or out the bramble litter and suddenly the place is awash with leaping leps. And the odd dragonfly!

not sure where the nearest pond is

We could tell from the notch in the forewing that this was repeated visits from the same individual. It would fly off and do some sort of circuit, returning every 7 minutes to a similar spot to nectar on the snowberry flowers. Sometimes with a pal, and the 2 of them would get into a dogfight and chase each other. Usually just as you were getting in close for a photo. However when busy on the flowers they were not as flighty as the walls. Which flew off when we approached and were more inclined to keep their distance.

This red admiral got some gloop on its proboscis and was cleaning it
by wiping it through its front legs

easily the most flighty of the collective, the walls disappeared
if you got close

(no notch out of forewing) - not "Buddy"

there was a yellow buddleia in Dirleton that proved a big hit with the butterflies

gvw

last skipper of the year?

another version of this:
(ie all butterfly, no background in focus shot)

Fidra in the background

Between Yellowcraig Beach and the bay below Archerfields the trail winds through the woods just above the rocky shoreline. There are some buddleias there. Similar to the gatehouse corner, sometimes they are very well attended by RAs, peacocks, speckled and whites, and sometimes they stand neglected and it is not obvious why. On this occasion I was delighted to find a very shiny comma on the most Easterly buddleia, though when it saw me after just a couple of photos it promptly left the area heading inland over brambly bushy territory you would have trouble driving a bulldozer through.

A single Painted Lady held court over the main stand of buddleia. There may have been an occasional peacock or admiral as well, but given the scarcity of PLs this summer trying to get a decent photo of it was the priority. It stayed at zoom distance, never deigning to come within macro distance, but the sun was streaming through and they came out okay. A peacock snoozing on the sea buckthorn (the blue green bushes make a lively background for butterflies) caught my attention before leaving the narrow corridor of sunlit shrubs.

low tide allowing for a coastline traverse of the beach

not sure what this rather scruffy silhouette was back in Gullane
possibly a young blackbird?

15th August
We enjoyed Wednesday's run so much we pretty much repeated it exactly, 3 days later at the weekend. Again decent weather (though less sunny) and we hoped for a similar turnout at Archerfields. If it ain't broke etc.

chipper wee robin in a garden in Gullane

sunbathing RA at Archerfields

wall - still flighty and reluctant

The weather was less sunny than on the previous visit and there was a more relaxed, chilled feeling about the place. Many of the butterflies were spread wide-winged and flat to the leaves, catching maximum sunshine when it popped out from the low cloud. Our friend the HB with notched wing was around and nearly opened his wings too. I suggested we name him since it was clearly his patch and Mary said 'Buddy', which was much better than anything I came up with.

large whites kept to higher blooms of buddleias

whenever Buddy flew off to survey his territory there were plenty fresh RAs
to keep us entertained

The less frenetic behaviour of the butterflies was catching and we too felt more relaxed. After about 25 minutes of photos and butterfly bants we headed to Dirleton and down the dirt trails to Yellowcraig Beach. The weekend always produces tents and families on the beach no matter the weather. I imagine it is a lot of the folk who would normally be doing beaches in Spain and Greece during the Summer. There were some quite large tents.

I chased this wall from spot to spot trying to get a decent pic

it was fairly determined to chose a boring backdrop!

Nothing on the buddleias above Archerfield beach. A speckled or 2 about the bushes but no Commas or Painted Ladies today. 😢 Possibly lack of sunshine?

abstract puffin (deceased)

Really nice to bump into Olive and Rosie. We met each other loads on these trails last Summer then nothing all through lockdown until now. Olive was looking very well and remembered our names more readily than I remembered theirs! Although I recognised them from a longer distance away. We stood and chatted for quite a bit. It was lovely to catch up with Olive and hear how she was getting through lockdown. I was disappointed I didn't get a better welcome from Rosie - I felt we had bonded last year and every time we saw each other she would come bounding over for a game of chase or running. She showed no sign of recalling this and was a bit cautious about saying hello. But she was looking well. And we heard tales of mischief and merriment that don't bear repeating here. Great to bump into these fellow travellers!