favourite haunts

 

6th October

First fave haunt is Warriston Cemetery, pun intended. The sun was shining so I thought I'd check out there and the Botanics (2nd haunt) and see what stirs. I approached from the road along Powderhall to see if there was any sign of kingfishers at the bottom of Logie Green Rd. There wasn't but there is usually one or two passers-by looking for said bird and able to update latest sighting. I had been regularly visiting the raised walkway riverside viewpoint, hoping if I went past often enough I'd get a glimpse of these tropical turquoise delights. Nae luck yet again. But there was a circling red admiral which settled on a silver lamppost which made an unusual photo. Not a bad start!

A quick climb over the railings near the downstream bridge and then step over the wall and I was into Warriston. Much of the riverside area was in darkness under the yet-to-fall canopy of leaves, so I went up to the North side. I disturbed another RA which flitted between gravestones and a plume of buddleia before heading off never to be seen again. 

I quite like the recess above which had filled with water (originally intended to
hold toppled head stone) as it made a kind of wonky picture.

When the sun shines just about anything becomes a potential image. Conversely when it's gloomy it is almost impossible to capture a decent photo even of fairly spectacular wildlife. Also butterflies rarely appear in the rain and wind and low cloud. It is no coincidence I feel light and positive in the sun and gloomy in bad weather. All those who say that banal thing about no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing clearly haven't spent a few hours up the tops of the Pentlands in driving rain and howling wind. There is bad weather and Scotland is not short of it. You could be forgiven for thinking Scotland was mostly sunshine and tweety birds judging by the photos on this blog - I am self employed and can often arrange my work schedule round the sunny days, which I take off. I also go out on less shiny days but don't always report them so thoroughly - because guess what - the animals know bad weather when it happens and hide away. By way of illustration here is a pic from a properly shitty day out on the fifth, which I haven't blogged because there was nothing of value to report...

the day before! properly bad weather

One of the most shy although quite numerous visitors. 

I saw the ground cover ivy moving and expected to see a squirrel or blackbird. It was actually this rat who immediately realised I was nearby and stopped dead still for a second or two, then rushed off into the undergrowth. They do seem to be aware of their popularity with humans. I see no reason to love them any less than squirrels even though they don't have a cute and fluffy tail. 

riverside area below the tunnel

fly conference

On the hedge boundary over on the North side there is a berry tree shot through with ivy. The ivy is almost more substantial than the tree. In sunlight the ivy berries/fruit were attracting dozens of wasps and hoverflies. And there were 2 red admirals. Unfortunately they didn't come down low but I could just manage to get photos at full zoom. There was also a speckled wood sat very still lower down. 

There were a number of small garden birds fluttering up high in the trees. They virtually all evaded the camera except for this blue tit which held still long enough for a photo. It was the usual mix of rewarding and frustrating with far more misses than hits.

palm house undergoing refurb

I headed along to the botanics. There is a circuit of flowers-that-attract-butterflies I travel around and caught Ken doing much the same. The botanics hasn't been great for butterflies this year and we turned up nothing until the buddleais near the cafe where there were 2 RAs.

Ken again

I think this was about 2.15pm and pretty much bang on time
perhaps a first for this sundial!

After the cafe (no purchases made!) we wandered to a decent sized patch of scabious Ken knew of (up the hill directly opposite the Chinese Hillside) where there were 2 RAs and a Silver Y Moth. All three fluttered from flower to flower with at least one of the admirals coming right up to us and posing for close ups. A few weeks ago this would be nothing that special but as one of the final butterfly encounters of the year it was a great thing to savour, the combo of bright (if not v sunny) weather, pretty flowers and a perfect specimen of butterfly beauty. A last toot of my favourite drug before 6 months cold turkey. Actually there is a plan to break up that 6 months of cold turkey with some warm Tenerife butterfly adventures, assuming the next lockdown or variant doesn't land heavily on these shores meantime. 

silver Y

it was overly optimistic to hope for painted ladies on these purple jobs
but worth a quick look as Ken had spotted one there the previous week

And that was that, except for a trip to see the cuddly tawny owl who was back up that Lawson Cypress although on a different branch. What a fab day!