having it all

 

13th July

Often we plan a lot and realise slightly less. Today we planned a triathlon of running, swimming and butterfly hunting. And somehow fitted all that into a magical day in East Lothian. We weren't even particularly early getting started. 

We parked in Gullane beach car park. It helped a lot that it was Tuesday - not the weekend - and the car park wasn't particularly busy despite the high Summer weather. I don't remember the run much except there were plenty of butterflies - meadow browns, burnet moths, skippers and blues.

three meadows brown

female common blue and small skipper

So we had carried back packs with small towels. And were ready for a dip by the time we got to the Gullane end of Aberlady beach. We left our stuff on the rocks and (sans wet suits) went into the coolish water. Despite all the sunshine it was pretty baltic, though I am out of the way of openwater swimming and don't have much resistance to the cold. Once under though it was very refreshing and I didn't come out 10~15mins later with chattering teeth. 

trialling Alpkit goggles - so far: great!

Now I don't wear that hat and goggles for the look. I realise it is fairly niche and gimp like. But it keeps the water out my ears (mostly) otherwise I have difficulty with crackling ear wax sloshing about for a day or 2. Not nice. 

There was good visibility under the water.

Mary was testing the water with caution. She has had a sore shoulder for a while and sudden movement does not help. So she was being careful about what strokes she did and what she could do without making the injury worse. It is more likely a lifestyle injury than a sports injury - like poor posture while typing. It has been dogging her for a while. The good news was gentle swimming seemed to help rather than hinder. This was the first of several occasions we had a wee splash around this Summer. Far too long since doing it with any regularity. Photos were taken with the waterproof camera. Yes I took 3 cameras along to use in one day. And used them all.

we kept clear of the main beach because, well... this

Back to the van and transition into the photography leg. I was impressed Mary could be arsed, usually at this point we'd head home. Or to the Gullane Super Fry. We both took our bridge cameras and instead of heading East to the Propeller Cone to hunt DGFs on the chinese privet I had a change of plan and suggested the tank traps just beyond Gullane Point at the golf course. It is about a mile from the car park and was a good call. One of these spots that for no real reason has more lepidoptera than any of the surrounding places. Difficult to say why - it is towards the highest point locally and there are plenty wildflowers about, but no more than elsewhere. Maybe the large concrete blocks (from WWII) give wind shelter for egg laying, or the slopes catch the sun. But either side of the sandy path there are loads of all the usual suspects. We spent more than an hour from 5pm till after 6 in the zone. With a constant flow of butterflies coming through. When one flew off, another appeared, or would be on the flower head right behind you. It was very captivating, and I would get overexcited and call Mary over to see what I'd just found. And she'd be busy 25 yards away too busy doing her own thing. It was excellent and a fab end to a long afternoon. 

dive bombed by this DGF

these look like 5 spotters but are actually 6 spotters
judging by the position of the spots

We both noticed this Brimstone Moth as it flew past. It settled out of reach on nettles but within zoom range. The camera struggled to focus properly on it so they obvs have a certain type of cammo super-power. One of the more exotic specimens today.

Mary getting immersed

what a spot! what a view!

small heath

Every now and then a DGF would swoop in and give you 4.5 seconds to lock and load before flying off. The sun was keeping them flighty but it was the end of a long day so they weren't playing that hard to get.

I took 7 million shots of this female common blue as she went round all the flowers. 

synchro pairs

Even on the way out as we beat a reluctant retreat, there was still lots to photo and the butterflies were still flying. What a superb day. We drove home in a kind of blissed out, meditative state. Feeling we had really got the best day of the Summer.

noticed this busy wasp nest high in a tree just before the car park