Luffness lovelies

 

26th July

I think it was possibly Richard flagging up Holly Blues at Gullane or Aberlady that got me on the train to Drem, next sunny day, to check out a few sites around Gullane for those blues. Regular readers will appreciate that Holly Blues are fast becoming nearly commonplace around the Gullane and East Lothian area. In almost all other areas of Scotland they remain mysterious, absent or enigmatic and refuse to make themselves known in any kind of year-on-year reiteration, that most butterfly species follow. However around E Lothian they have pretty much established themselves in a similar fashion to those HBs down South that appear in the same place across 2 broods, one in Spring and one in Summer. 

First though there was the 3 miles of trails from Drem Station to Luffness. I think at some point there was a trail established round the perimeters of the farmers fields and this makes a much better run than the non pavemented roads between the station and Gullane. It goes past fields of cabbage which are popular with Pieris brassicae, rapae and napi. The whites all seemed extra large this season which must be due to the caterpillars feasting on foodplants swollen by the rain / sun / rain we had back in late Spring.

yellowhammer

There were various wet spots where either the farmer has been piping water into fields or the natural depressions gather rainwater. Nearby, little troops of whites would collect on hot days to mudpuddle; the verb given to sipping minerals and fluids on damp ground. 

buzzard overhead

small skipper

Last year some of the field perimeters (of Luffness Mains Farm) were planted with Lacy phacelia; a purple flowering plant that attracts insects and pollinators. This year I was very pleased to see they had done it again but with a brilliant mix of wildflowers. As you walked by all the white butterflies would rise and settle. It was near magical and I postponed the hurry to see the Holly Blues to take photos. It was difficult to get the scale and detail in the same photos and you had to be there to properly enjoy the spectacle. It was a little bit wet underfoot as the sun was yet to dry the dew or rain but worth sacrificing dry feet for a lovely walk between the wildflowers full of butterflies and hoverflies. It was buzzing with insect life. 

small white

It was easy to mistake small white for large white as they were all so big. The grey marks round the corner of the upper forewing tells you which is which. If it stops short it is small white; if it travels round the corner and makes an L then it is large. 

large white

There is a large pond of standing water the farmer has probably built by digging a rectangular hole and lining it with tarps. It is used to store water which is then pumped into the fields when crops require it. If you walk along its perimeter in sunny weather you see common darters and damselflies take off from their sunbathing on the sides. 

unusual: a decent quality shot of a small dragonfly in flight
I've had very little success with those recently

much easier to wait till they settle

speckled wood channelling an eagle

large white
you can see the longer grey mark showing through from the upper

the corner at Postman's Walk

I had 10mins look around here. I was almost hoping there would be no Holly Blues. That was what I was anticipating due to contradictory pieces of info. The most persuasive was from Peter Eeles excellent Life Cycles book and states of the Holly Blue on pp342 "the most northern populations produce a single brood." East Lothian is the most northern brood and there are definitely 2 broods, pretty much in sync with their English cousins. April/May and then July/Aug, or just slightly later in Scotland in both cases. I had a theory that they weren't actually the same colonies appearing here in either season but due to foodplants being different, one colony would appear in Spring and then a separate colony would appear in Summer. How one would prove this is debatable but I was fairly sure the actual sites where HBs are seen in Spring and Summer were always slightly different. I was still trying to fight Mr Eeles's corner. Then a Holly Blue appeared where we had seen them in the Spring, and so all bets were off. I suggest Life Cycles amend that sentence about single broods. There are definitely 2 broods here and an overlap in territories. 

That said there is a slight shift in preferences. In Spring the corner of the field and a sunny wall there, seemed to be the best spot to find and photograph HBs. A few months later and near the large trees halfway along the fields seemed busier. And the corner nearly empty. We had noticed the butterfly favours flowering snowberry canes in Summer and those aren't in flower in Spring and not part of the equation. The "top of the hill" in Gullane was a popular August spot for them due to the large patch of snowberry, but in Spring there was only a singular sighting of a Holly Blue and it might well just have been passing through. St Adrian's churchyard in Gullane and the ivy wall across the road proved a good hunting ground in both Spring and Summer. 

I had been just about to leave the corner of Postman's Walk, convinced the Summer Brood would not overlap the Spring territories when a silvery blue butterfly came down out the tree nearby and fluttered across my eyeline. I watched it fly high round the trees and if it landed, it was not visible. I decided not to run off to Gullane but hang about for another few minutes and see if any more appeared. Then I saw Richard on the horizon. He had bumped in Abbie, also a fan and student of the Holly Blues. I believe Abbie has known of the Postman Walk blues for longer than we have. Richard pointed out there were more specimens along the field than in the corner and we walked back maybe a hundred yards until 2 or 3 began to tease, by dancing into and out of the small lane that runs between the fields. Every now and then one would land on the bramble flowers and we would get a photo or 2. I decided to run into Gullane and maybe check a couple of the sites from last Summer.

Richard in the lane
being run rings round by a holly blue

on the way I bumped into this rather fine small copper

In Gullane I looked into St Adrian's churchyard. The gate is always unlocked and I have never met anyone in the place outwith butterfly hunters, but it is immaculately maintained and it does feel, for a sinner like myself, that I might be taking liberties on hallowed ground. Actually I take that back, the bit about being a sinner. I found christians identifying as sinners when I was a sixteen or seventeen year old was what turned me off the church, and into a life of non-belief. My only belief now is that if someone is convinced there is one true faith or an autonomous god, then they are almost certainly delusional. I am reserving judgement until it is manifest.

And feel that religion has done equal amounts of bad as good. And quite a lot of both. And a surprisingly large amount of child abuse as well, as recent reports confirm. And not just Catholic priests but all religions equally across the board. Isn't that nice? That news linked here says there is "barely a corner of this country's institutional, cultural or spiritual life untarnished by the activities of abusers". Hallelujah.

Still, St. Adrian's has a very nice garden and if you have been good, Butterfly Jesus will send you a silvery blue prayer. I was busy watching the high holly trees around which they flit and saw a powder blue leaf fall through the air and land on the flowering bush right beside me. Yikes! Made for a much nicer shot than on the brambles. It didn't hang around though, and there were none on the ivy wall across the road where small clutches of butterfly enthusiasts gathered in the Spring. 

So I ran along to the gatehouse at Archerfields - a mile East of Gullane. There is one of these places where the grouping of buddleias and snowberries alongside higher trees and short grass combines to make a place where butterflies gather. Well, sometimes. Other times you come here and its dead. Today there was a comma and a large white. No Holly Blues landing though I think we watched one or 2 swooping down from the high trees to chase a white or speckled wood then return to the trees without coming close to our cameras. Richard was here too. Was he here when I arrived? Possibly, it was a while ago. He got a text from his wife and was required to leave for taxi duty. That gave me a good idea! I knew Mary was running in the vacinity or going for a swim so I called her to say if she was finished and about to drive home I would not say no to a lift! She picked me up 30mins later. (Saving a further 5 miles running back to Drem, hurray!)

I was sure as soon as she appeared a little group of Holly Blues or other high tariff butterflies would appear and start dancing around the buddleia at camera height. So I made to leave before she arrived, to tempt the buggers out the trees. They did not fall for it. I was able to leave easily and without regret and not keep Mary sitting in the car.

large white

excellent comma

Richard leaving

nice day out at some favourite spots