best part of the day: saltoun comma-fest

Monday 14th Sept.

One of the best late season butterflying days, if not the best ever! The previous trip to Saltoun Big Wood (with Mary) had been exceptional but I felt I hadn't quite had my fill of commas for the year and also had missed Black Darters on the last trip. Monday was forecast sunny and I wanted to spend a few lonely hours wringing every last joy out of the place before it all shut down for Winter.

I was late setting off, the gps says midday, which I presume was influenced by the forecast rather than just laziness getting out of bed. I must have stomped the 16 mile cycle as it involves considerable ascent (the route climbs inland past Tranent then Pencaitland from the coastal start) arriving 1hr06 after setting off. The next 4 hours were ecstatic. The weather was far from the blue sky forecast but the sun appeared sufficiently frequently to keep me occupied and also to encourage all the insects to keep reappearing during the afternoon.

On several occasions I made to pack up and begin the cycle home, only to get sidelined, see something to stop for and get the camera back out. I have to report when I got home and saw I had taken 1700 photos for the day (a new record) I was a bit shamefaced: that is just TOO many. I have managed to edit that down to about 100, so think yourself lucky. It took quite some time to edit them as well - although about 200 went straight into the delete bin.

First up I checked out the best pond. Almost straight away I saw a couple of Black Darters. The sun was smudgy behind thin cloud but there were a few odonata about; damselflies and darters with an occasional hawker zipping around the perimeter hunting for females. The small trail round the edge of the pond has become overgrown and I seem to remember mud and dampness on at least one shoe which inspired some bad words, but failed to dampen my mood. All around was autumnal mushroom and berry landscape and I took a couple of harvest scenes between insect safari shots.

This black darter was sufficiently relaxed to get a macro close up, the lens just 30mm from the dragonfly. Result! I felt that box had been properly ticked and that I was free to cycle to the back trail and the avenue of scabious flowers that had been heaving with butterflies on the last visit. I held my breath as it were, and kept fingers crossed that they were still there, and that the weather - currently walking the line between mediocre and medium-bright - would improve.

Happily the devil's bit scabious were still pulling an appreciative audience. When I arrived I think it was a bit overcast and most of the initial photos came out a bit flat. However there were enough butterflies, particularly commas, to keep me engrossed. And as time passed the sun blinked between clouds and the day brightened a little. Perhaps the lack of blue skies and high temps made the subjects less flighty. Which is not to say every butterfly was delighted to have me creeping ever closer for a photo. Many flew off just nano seconds before I took the pic. Others scarpered if I even looked in their direction. But I had hours to kill and slowly worked my way up the 200m path from bottom (Speckleds and 2 small coppers) to the top (RAs and more flighty Commas.) And back again. I'd leave my bike lying in the middle of the path while taking pics and eating sandwiches as there was only about one dog walker per hour coming through. It was fantastic!

c is for comma

ancient small copper

upside down peacock

Butterflies, weighing so very little, find it no problem to hang upside down. Which is often the best way to get into the nectar of the flowers. But doesn't always make for the best images. I photographed them from all angles and worked out later which ones looked best. There was a near constant supply of subjects and I tried not to hassle the same individual for an extended period. Generally if they were hacked off, they would fly off. Otherwise they might just hop from one flower to the next. While it wasn't quite shooting fish in a barrel it was a lot easier than those days when you spot just a single comma, 10 yards away, the other side of a clump of razor-gorse and forest of nettles.

The common name Comma does not really do this special butterfly justice. It is named for the small bright white cedilla shaped mark on its cryptic dark underwing. While noticeable it is not as striking as the upper colours and unique serrated wing shape. I'd call it a Flame or something along those lines as fresh specimens do look like miniature bonfires of red and orange. Really very attractive, and due to their comparative rarity, always make my heat skip a beat when come across. Even though my afternoon was chock-full of them I didn't ever get bored of trying to get better and better photos of them.

noooooooooo!
After a quick photo I shoo-ed this lovely beastie off my nasty filthy chainring.

tiRed Admiral - pumped, but never spoke

I was so in the zone I didn't even try to keep an idea in my head of how many of each species there might have been. There were constant amounts of Commas and RAs all the way up the 200m trail so maybe 20~40 of either? And fewer peacocks. 10+ A handful of speckleds at the low end and just 2 small coppers. But I'd get totally lost, chasing a very pretty specimen, then moving in for a close up, and not paying attention to anything around me. Then go past the same spot again and again. Slowly making my way up to the top of the trail and then back down possibly seeing the same individuals for a second, third or fourth time. So the exact figure would have been somewhere between plenty and lots!

trying to take this pic from an angle to get the background berries in

This guy and his dog went past earlier. I was straddled across the drainage ditch trying to focus on a red admiral so may have only mumbled a terse 'Hi' or maybe nothing. On the way back I felt I should be more friendly and had been ruminating on the dog breed - it had shown a brief interest in me; having a quick sniff on the way by but largely a very well behaved and sedate dog. A saluki was the conclusion I came to. As they went by for the second time I said "lovely dog". And he said (and on reflection I can't help but think he had been practising this response), "yeah, he's a looker" but almost so it came out "he's a luki". Before I could stop myself I said "I thought so."

autumn

Synchro team peacocks. These 2 were obvs pals and working the flowers in tandem. They gave me plenty time to take a few pics of them with both in the same photo. You get extra points for double treble or quad line ups of course. I think my record is 14 (red admirals on asters) but I really like the synched nature of the latter 2 photos which I rushed to change focus from one to the other.

that one!

this one!
(note hole in rear right wing)

Not many speckled about this end of the woods. The few that were, were about the lower end of the trail and quite flighty. I think I chased this one for some while until it sat on a leaf and gave me the stink eye!

I was down the lower end of the trail and about to depart (SD card already fuller than an egg) when the sun started to come out. Well maybe I'll just wander a bit up the trail again and see if anything is coming out the trees... There is always improvements to be made. I felt I prob didn't have enough underwing shots. There is a beautiful but hard to capture green line of spots that run nearly the length of the underwing. Difficult to catch between flicks and flaps with few specimens holding their wings closed for a sustained moment.

This speckled wood was keen to explore the new colour and shapes in its territory. They often prefer the brightest leaf to perch on and will choose a bright yellow one over a boring green one. Even if it turns out to be a cycle glove.

When I posted this on facebook I put it with the caption "Is that Jimmy's ring you're wearing?" Which (for those younger listeners) is a quote from Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Las.

Eventually (after about 3 hrs!) I tore myself away from Butterfly Heaven with the idea I'd visit the ponds one last time now the sun was out a bit more and see if there was anything to photograph there. But really it was just a lure to get myself away from those butterflies before I OD-ed. There were quite a few (Emerald?) damselflies and blue ones. Which are quite a skitter to get sharp photos of when your eyes are old and all butterflied out. But I got a couple of lucky shots before heading off.