best part of the day: before the barriers

Friday 2nd July

Nothing better than a Friday full of butterflies. I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be, than a mile up the road in Holyrood Park where the variety and possibilities are better than just about anywhere in Scotland. It also gets a lot of the compulsion out my system before the weekend starts and so I don't feel I have to bully Mary into planning runs around my butterfly schedule. Which doesn't mean that doesn't ever happen. But it takes the urgency out of my inclinations.

peregrine looking to have pigeon pie for lunch
pigeon managed to outfly it!

burnet moth (5 spot narrow-bordered)
just emerged from sleeping bag

It seems like way more than a month ago. July is possibly the best month for butterflies and there are loads of great things kicking off. Blues, burnet moths, DGFs and graylings to name just 4. Nearly forgot NBAs who come and go in about the space of 3 weeks although there are some early arrivals and late finishers. The Northern Brown Argus at Holyrood even made it onto the TV a few years ago and at the time I had never seen one. Now they are one of the top stars of July. The fresh ones have a sheen and contrast that quickly fades so best get out there early and hunt them down. They also had a few different bases this year although it was great to see them return to the original NBA corner after that was abandoned in 2020 to C19 picnickers during lockdown1.5.

yellow shell moth

nearly blind ringlet

another 5 spot

Then, as I'm working along the ditch below the crags up to the fig of 8 below Salisbury Hill (the hill going up to the Commie Pool roundabout) I see a young buck in the long grass. So bold (or foolish) to be close to a hundred dog walkers with many dogs off leashes. It ignores me (how rude!) but keeps an eye on a lurcher a hundred yards East and approaching. It is not as well disguised by the grass as it hopes but the lurcher gets put on a leash. The deer saunters across the short grass as passers-by take photos on their mobiles. Great to see a beast of the countryside pretending this isn't a city centre park.

ants and aphids

Lovely to see a (mothlike) fresh small skipper butterfly. You can tell it's in good condition from the neat beige fringes round the unscored wings, which a month later are tatty or gone, on the remaining specimens. The small skippers had a great summer; heaps of them everywhere. And pushing into new territories, hopefully with large skippers not too far away and following on behind. (Specimens found in the Lothians this year although I haven't seen any.)

female above male
(bodyshape a good indicator although males have dark sex brand on wing)

male with sex brand on wing visible (dark short score)

pheasant likes to oversee things

small heath

Small Heaths are modest but likeable little chaps and have one of the longest seasons during the Summer. They go about their business and other species come and go and they are still there at the end of the summer. I presume this is due to constantly emerging rather than being very hardy individually. They have fuzzy faces and unless you catch them in flight rarely show their upper wings. Which are a brighter orangey yellow than the undersides.

NBA!
cracking little butterfly

grayling

Graylings also keep their upper wings to themselves and always close them on landing. Occasionally if you see them courting you can catch them flicking open wings, wafting pheromones at their intended. And when I was in Tentsmuir recently there were so many I was chasing them as they floated along the coastal paths taking pics of them gliding with open wings. It wasn't ideal but if you take enough photos you might get one lucky one. In Holyrood they are found mostly up at the Crags. I went past the old barriers to the first and second bays to get many of these photos. Sadly they have since put more barriers in place to discourage visitors.

graylings mating, a rare sight

Mary said this might be a small heath feather. 😁

Graylings have (most of the time) really effective camouflage. They will choose rocks to sit on that perfectly blend in with their own colour and pattern. Often you won't see them until they take off beside your feet. I always mean to take a load of photos of graylings and of blank rocks without graylings. You would then have to judge which was which, saying "I sight grayling" or "Eyesight failing". I often play this game when I am wandering along the crags. There seemed to be a reasonable to good amount of them this year, though we are no longer allowed in the area below the crags due to Health&Safety flimflam.

small tortoiseshell

common blue

Meadow Brown

saw someone online identify similar feather as Tawny Owl

seemed like a good year for common blues too
or maybe I was just finding more than usual in Holyrood

speckled wood

very jolly ringlet specimen

ancient copper - new brood recently appeared

meadow brown
Mary has called these Country Browns which I quite like.

jackdaw

I sight grayling

chimney sweeper moth

July Belle moth

linnets

I had lunch - sandwiches - up near the top of Crow Hill. I was there looking for Painted Ladies and RAs but there wasn't anything bar graylings, moths and a small tort. The local birds are not stupid and began to gather to see if I wanted to throw them any scraps. I did. And shortly after quite an audience gathered, mostly jackdaws, a magpie and a gull. I had to throw stuff in 2 directions as the gull would get everything thrown first uncontested. So while it was busy I'd throw stuff in the other direction for the corvids.

"homemade bread you say?"

wall - obvs not very accommodating if this was the only pic
"eyesight failing"

grayling

whitethroat

bunny on Hutton's Section

I was very pleased to find this female common blue near Hutton's Section. They are not as easy to find as males because they hide in the long grass, egg laying and staying out of sight. They differ from the males having a variety of upper wing colours from nearly solid brown, to a mix of brown and blue, to nearly solid blue. And with orange chevrons. Rarely are any 2 the same so it is always to joy to come across one. This one was perched prominently which again is quite rare, and made for better photos. I have probably seen fewer than 5 this year.