the open road

 

21&22nd April 2021

This is a celebration of being allowed to travel again and of the Holly Blue butterfly. Travelling was the greatest sacrifice I endured over the last year. I think those who normally have 3 holidays abroad annually suffered more, but hey, fuck them and their carbon footprint. Covid did what Greta T could not and we all stayed at home and did less shopping and driving and unnecessary conferences in London and maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. And now we can see the light at the end of the covid tunnel we can travel again. Just in time for the butterfly season which is kicking off in fine style. HURRAY!

Gullane from Drem

Richard and Andrew&Unda had posted photos of Holly Blues in 2 locations in Gullane. I planned to go there and check it out and hopefully take some pics of this frustratingly mysterious butterfly. That said East Lothian seems to be its Scottish headquarters and it is nearly possible to guarantee a sighting if the weather is sunny and warm. Something eluding Aurelians in every other part of Scotland. So, being grateful for this, I had to work out how get there. (Mary has a proper job she can't drop at the first weekday of sunshine.) I had seen the forecast (sunny Weds ~ Saturday) and swiped the metaphorical homework jotters from the work desk leaving it free for exercise and butterflies. Jeez I live a blessed life! I opted for the train and a return ticket to Drem. I know how to get to the coast from there on trails; the roads are pavementless and dangerous to run on foot.

Luffness House

The trails from Drem are a pleasure to run. There are no people and just birds and field perimeters. However there were no butterflies either and I worried if I went straight to Gullane I felt there might be a similar amount of Blues - given it was still quite cool. I decided to do an extra diversion along Postman's Walk, a field perimeter walk inland of Aberlady and Luffness House that Geoff had flagged up on the fb East Scottish Butterfly page. He had come across this public right of way while looking for a way to walk from Aberlady to the famous sunflower field planted last year in Luffness Mains Farm. He reported a great selection of butterflies but not Holly Blues. I was unaware of the path so thought I'd have a scout about while waiting for the sun to warm up the Gullane HBs. 

postman's walk going East West
Bickerton's Walk heading South

water tower

friary ruins about the blue X on the map

It was all very pleasant and yet there was still a lack of butterflies. I was slightly concerned as Geoff had reeled off the species count and had photos to prove it. I saw a tortoiseshell and small white at the Aberlday end of the trail (marked by blue O) but not much else other than a peacock or fly-by white. If it was too cold for the expected species then it would be a no show for the Holly Blues. I decided to check out the Small Copper spot on the way to Gullane and hoped the day would warm up. Along the way I saw speckled woods in the woods and deer behind Luffness House and a buzzard circling overhead. I was slowly getting hopeful.

The small coppers did not disappoint - and there were 2, chasing each other about.

social distancing

I copied this photo from Unda

I arrived at the swiftly becoming famous ivy clad wall on Goose Green Road. I watched for 10 mins and initially nothing. I checked out the churchyard at St Adrian's across the road. Also nothing. It felt a bit necky loitering in a well kept churchyard so I returned to the wall and hoped for better. Another butterflying couple (Brian H and wife) appeared and we exchanged data! They went over to check the churchyard and I said if they see anything to give me a shout. 3 mins later Brian's wife (I'm really sorry for that poor reduction) returned to the gate and called me across. They had seen one blue flutter high in the holly trees at the back of the lawns. Even though it was 20 feet off the ground my zoom was just able to reach up there at full stretch. I've taken worse shots of Holly Blues! Anyway that was the species tick for the Spring brood and I could now relax. I decided to have lunch and bought a sandwich on my run out to Archerfields gatehouse where I ate it. I checked the bushes there for anything. The July HBs like to visit the snowberry bushes there and there are lots of whites, speckleds and OTs in the area. However in the Spring the snowberries are not in bloom and there can be heehaw. It wasn't far off this goalless draw when I arrived and I ate my rather thin and tastefree snack. Note to self: don't shop in Gullane newsagent if you are going past Aberlady and the Margiotta's.

Ever since I read in Peter Eeles' recently published butterfly bible Life Cycles "the most northern populations produce a single brood" (p342) I have felt that certain colonies are either April or July but perhaps not both. For sure we get Scottish Holly Blues (and East Lothian is their most substantial Northern range) appearing at both dates (so something or someone is not following those rules!) But in July it is almost always near flowering snowberries and in Spring it is not. There was a bush of what looked like Californian Lilac in the churchyard that they seemed to gravitate towards, but there were too few specimens flying to underline this. I checked out several (4 or 5) July "snowberry" sites last Spring and this and haven't seen one HB in those areas. Probably because the snowberry isn't in flower. One random outlier was spotted near the top of Gullane Hill, a snowberry site, so I might well be wrong.

What this suggests to me is either the colonies are different ones from their counterparts at the other end of the season, or they travel and settle in different areas depending on foodplants. I'm not sure it can ever be proved one way or the other or indeed what the evidence was that suggested just a single brood in the northern range. Because they are really tricky to find or monitor in the areas they are colonising. Edinburgh had a reputation for HBs a few years ago. Apart from a single sighting of a solitary HB 25 feet up in the high branches of a tree in the Edinburgh Botanics I have not seen or heard of any returning HB sites in the Edinburgh area in the last few years. But that doesn't mean they are not there.

I also imagine (and hope) the colonies around East Lothian are now sufficiently established that in a few years time they will fly here with the frequency of their English counterparts. It has been a complete boon and joy to have them choose this coastline (from North Berwick to Gosford Estate) to settle. I hope they adapt to the cooler air of the Lothians and they become as common place as they are down South. They seem reluctant to appear in numbers until the temperatures are well into double figures and the sun is out. That is not always as frequent here as down south, although we have been doing well this Spring so far in comparison from what I hear.  

Holly Blue (m)
up the holly tree in the churchyard

Just after I arrived at Archerfields a big white flag flew past. I took a couple of hit-and-hope shots and the one below has enough detail to identify the specimen as a Large White (female). It did not stop for an autograph but I was pleased to get my first photo record of a large white this year. I still haven't got a better shot of one, 2 weeks later, although I've been zoomed by a few. And I don't mean in video conference with.

this speckled sat still for a few macro shots
which means putting the camera very close to the butterfly

I ran back to Goose Green Road (no HBs at Archerfields) and things had got busier. Richard was now there and a male HB had come out the woodwork and would flutter to just about head-height, settle for about 8 seconds then (just as you zoomed in) take off and pretend to fly lower then circle back over the top of the wall. My, how we laughed. Actually there wasn't much interaction apart from us chatting away until it reappeared then we would make noises like oh-oh and uh! and hold a finger in the air and if it landed, reverential gasped breath was held until it took off again. However a few photos were had. And again, I've taken worse!

another male

While we were standing about doing nothing but watching ivy warm up in the sunshine, what I thought was a small red bee buzzed out of the hedge and landed on the ground just at our feet. I realised it was a moth and took a photo. Only much later did I realise it was a ruby tiger moth. I have seen the caterpillars but never the imago till now. Much smaller than I would have guessed and with interesting patterns / colours if flying or wings out. Unfortunately Richard chased it away by getting his macro kit out and no more photos were taken although I have seen another since and can confirm they are not super keen on holding out their frillies and posing for a photo!

ruby tiger

Richard headed off. I hoped this would encourage a whole colony of HBs to appear - usually the good stuff occurs 2 mins after one of the interested parties has thrown in the towel, often me! It did not, so I packed the camera (the larger one - I was running with a compact in my hand,) and headed back on the JMW. There is a wee ruin just at the Gullane end where commas have been known to lurk in the shrubs. I didn't see any but there were a couple of OTs chasing each other and landing between times. I just don't run past a fresh Orange Tip and managed to get a few pics, despite them being a bit frisky. It was a pretty nice finish to a good day. In fact it started a run of trips to Gullane, which I visited for 4 out of the next 5 days. 

in flight shots of battling male OTs

Drem

15.2 miles run / walked
***

the next day!

photobomb bumbler

The next day, Thurs 22nd April, looked like wall to wall sunshine and the best day of the week. Having had a taster of HBs and butterfly magic it was tempting to plan too much; to visit too many sites in order to tick as many boxes as possible. We don't get that many good days of sun and higher temps that they can be thrown away idly. What to do, what to do? I could see I was planning to be a complete arse and try to visit 65 favourite places chasing my tail and prob failing to see anything of value. I decided to head to Gullane again but this time on my bike and go past a corner of the Esk above Musselburgh where I had seen a resident comma last year and there is often a large white to be had among the OTs and other usual suspects. Then onto Gullane. Limit it to that, and do it properly.

The first part was a total success. Apart from the resident comma being absent and no large whites. However, near to where I had planned there was a proliferation of garlic and few-flowered leek that was being visited by OTs of both genders and speckleds who were sitting high on flowers asking to be photographed. I was in heaven and it smelled like an Italian restaurant. 

female OT egg laying

gvw

wild garlic (ramsons)

speckled on few-flowered leek

It was so good I struggled to leave - getting so far then putting my bike up against a tree and squatting back down in the garlicky undergrowth to get more sublime sunshine butterfly photos. Eventually I extracted myself, continuing up the Esk and popping out at Whitecraig then heading East to Longniddry then down to the coast and up the road to Gullane.

Buzzing with OTs: Longniddry - who'd a thought?

I had to jump off the bike at Longniddry. There were just too many OTs dancing up and down the main road. It seemed an unlikely spot, but none of them wanted to stop for a photo so was largely annoying and frustrating. Just the one female held still for a pic...

Another few miles of stomping it and I arrived at Gullane and the ivy wall was hotting up nicely. I saw a couple of males jousting and between rounds they settled - sometimes just feet away from my camera. 

This comma - above - flew by but didn't stop. It looked at all the flowering plants around but never once slowed down. I managed an in flight shot but was gutted that it kept on going. Also I kept getting visits from a couple of goldfinches. I realised after a while they probably had a nest in the ivy, and probably resented us standing quite near their front door. By this time Richard had arrived. To give them a break we headed across the road to the church.

There was a much better showing of HBs than yesterday. Several were seen up around the trees and every now and again one would descend and flit slowly around all the bushes and flowers and trees in the churchyard while Richard and I oohed and ahhhed every time it nearly settled on a low growing flower. This was about once every 15~20 minutes, so not hugely encouraging but worth waiting for. Also we saw females. (Black mark on leading and outside edge of upper forewing.) They might be looking for places to lay eggs and more likely to land than males who might just be scanning for females. One flew out onto the road and dangerously close to a passing car. Richard and I were now shouting like the audience in a horror film.

female Holly Blue with forewing marking

maybe egglaying

female

When we returned to the ivy wall on Goose Green Rd we met Alan B who is not on facebook but Twitter. He informed us with much glee that we had just missed 2 HBs mating while 3 others flew nearby. We weren't as happy to hear this as you may imagine! 

Again I found it increasingly hard to tear myself away from what might be the best photos of the day. However I knew I had a long cycle back to Edinburgh and lots of photos to process and post. And I also wanted to cycle along Postman's Walk in case the species Geoff had talked about were now out and about. They weren't really but it is a pleasant enough place to roll a bike along and even get off and push over the lumpy bits. I saw an ivy covered wall near the friary and it was so perfect for Holly Blues I thought I must check it out but from a quick once over couldn't see anything.

As I was approaching the last corner of the walk, 50 yards from the exit and cycle home, a blue thing fluttering near the ground caught my attention and I chased after it. It had to be a Holly Blue so I put my bike against the nearest tree and had more of a look into all the nearest holly type trees of which there were several along the boundary of the garden I was passing. I got out the good camera and just at that point an unbelievably obliging HB landed on a leaf in sunlight at eye level and stared me down. I got a dozen shots, each one closer than the last - and they grace this page as the first and last images. Sometimes you only find out the quality of a photo when you get it home on the big screen, other times you know from the image in the viewfinder. This was the latter and I cycled home with a happy heart. And perhaps a notion to return and check out all the nearby holly and ivy more closely, on a warmer day.

this

best HB photo of the day was the last!

41 miles cycled