last day of summer

 

16th Sept

Every sunny day after August I felt might be the last day of Summer. We had quite a few hot sunny days, and this particular Thursday was great. Mary had the day off work so we went to Gullane and did the usual Saturday route. Right from the word go there were butterflies. Not loads, but a few and of several species. Near where we parked on Goose Green there were a couple of small torts on the flowers in a garden there. Also 3 species on the buddleias near the toilets. 

red admiral, small tortoiseshell, peacock

While we were there and before we had started to run, a red admiral took a fancy to Mary's Garmin and sat there for a minute while I took photos. I'm not sure whether it was attracted to the shiny look, the colours or the inevitably salty surface, but it was in no hurry to leave. We were both delighted. Most of the butterflies on my hands have been coaxed there, rather than being voluntary like this one.

It flew off to a nearby bush and I wondered if it was particularly human-friendly. It wasn't! And flew off when I approached. And didn't say what it was about Mary's Garmin that it liked.

plenty speckleds about on the JMW

greylag geese

At this time of the year the geese gather in huge numbers at Aberlday. There were plenty there and I was pretty sure these were greylags though I had also seen pics of pink-footed geese looking very similar and wondered what the difference was. I googled it and greylags have solid orange beaks. Pink-footed have pink beaks with black base and tip (as well as pink feet). But have very similar plumage.

This fox moth caterpillar was not in great shape. Normally they curl into a ball when picked up. This one didn't and didn't put up a fight when it rolled onto its back. You don't normally get a photo of the legs and undercarriage, so I took a quick one then returned it to the grass. I have a feeling it wasn't going to make it to imago though, and hoped it wasn't one of those parasitic wasps that had got to it. 

photo: Mary

There was also quite a lot of death on the beach. We came across maybe half a dozen or more razorbills (and maybe a guillemot or 2) dead on the beach. Apparently there has been a larger than usual amount washing ashore dead on the east coast from the North of England to Aberdeen and beyond. Autopsies ruled out bird flu and it seemed like starvation was the cause. There is no conclusive reason as yet although several theories have been put forward; from overfishing of sand eels by factory trawlers to blue green algae affecting the fishing of some of the auk family of birds but not others as much. There does seem to be a behavioural change with larger numbers coming closer to shore (and even up rivers) and trying to feed closer to swimmers and humans on beaches than they normally would. Not good news.

The white shells were dazzling in the sunshine.

 I met this spider. Actually not a spider - often known as harvestmen or daddy longlegs spider they are Opiliones and have 2 eyes, not 6 or 8 like spiders. They also have a different body segmentation and are more like scorpions or mites. They have been around for a very long time and so can't be quite as fragile and rubbish as they look. This one only had 7 legs and so when I photographed another one 5 mins later I realised it was the same one when I got the photos home. 

exotic butterfly of the day: small heath

I had to chase this one for ages through the tick infested dune grass. I was not best pleased but thought there was a really good chance it was the last small heath of the year and deserved a bit of a round of applause. But by the time I eventually caught up with it, I was feeling much less positive. A similar thing happened with a remarkably fresh small copper recently but I didn't get the photo and now I am annoyed that I missed the last one. I have been looking for others but it is getting very late now to see one. 

common darter on Gullane Point

I felt this panorama was very compressed so tried stretching it vertically...

backlit speckled

We would normally go back by the car park to Goose Green, however Mary had us do a bit of a hill sprint up to the big houses, then we followed our noses, turning right and going up to the top of the hill. I checked for walls and holly blues but didn't expect to see any as it is so late in the year, even though sunny and warm like the middle of Summer.

this sunshiny wall is often good earlier in the year for wall butterflies,
just a couple of small torts today

Round the corner just beyond the holly blue snowberries this darter was sitting on the wall sunbathing. I took the first shot on max zoom from a distance so I didn't scare it off. I moved in and it didn't fly off so I got the camera right up to it and took a few macro shots. The difference is noticeable (more background but a short depth of field) although I was disappointed the focus (harder to control) wasn't great on the third shot here, missing the body. 

Down at the bottom of the hill there was a white buddleia in one of the spectacular gardens, heaving with tortoiseshells. They were looking fab in the low sun and we spent ages trying to get decent photos. Strangely I forgot to get out the big camera out - it remained in my backpack. We hadn't really planned to spend a while there - they just kept landing on the stone wall beside us, or on the flowers near us. Mary got the best shot there, of one on the wall with a properly hairy back and spiralling tongue.

Mary took this photo which is a cracker

ten minutes later - time to walk away