ruby tuesday

 

11th June

More average to dull weather. Mary makes a spontaneous suggestion that we jump on the next train and go do the Longniddry to North Berwick walk. There is no time to think as I have to get from bed to front door in less than 40 mins for a brisk march to the station to catch the 10.40 to NB. We manage that, with even time to collect a station coffee. Things are looking up, although the weather is still pretty dull. At least we are full of cheer and outdoors and having an adventure. There's usually something to point the camera at.

Amara - ground beetle
I liked the subtle green sheen on this one

that Bloody Crane's-Bill!
Geranium Sanguineum - not particularly blood coloured

There was loads of it around the links car parks of coastal Longniddry and had there been a tiny bit of sunshine it would have been alive with butterflies. But there wasn't and it wasn't. Nice to see so much colour along the coastal paths.

dog-rose

Volucella pellucins

Chrysotoxum bicintum
(Two-banded spearhorn)

Mary lay on the ground to take this photo of the pinks (et moi)

comme ça

First stop was the Scottish Ornothologists Club building just before Aberlady. It always has a really good selection of plants in the front garden which you are free to wander around. If there is any sun about, the place will be full of butterflies, drawn to these lovely blooms. But there was neither sun nor butterflies.

ceanothus

Helianthemum

daisies

greenbottle on oxeye daisies

lupins

purple crane's-bill

oreganum?

Erigeron

As we made our way to buy lunch sandwiches at Margiota's, Aberlady, I noticed those collanders at the bowling club again. I explored them more closely and worked out why they were there. I had previously been somewhat mystified by the kitchen appliances at the side of the green. However closer inspection showed they are used as ASHTRAYS! There was an empty pack and a couple of stubbed-out fag-ends. I was somewhat dismayed by the mundane answer to the enigma of the collanders, and disappointed in the aging bowlers addicted to that noxious habit but hey, mystery solved, you're welcome!

We also noticed there were classes of schoolkids being marched out roadside, and, asking one of the teachers, learned there was to be the annual drive through of taxi drivers who take special needs children to the beach*. She didn't say 'special needs' but used a more dissembled expression like additional requirements. I had to ask twice. There seems to be an unending list of euphemisms used to describe minority groups these days that change as quickly as fashion and pronouns, for little reason other than the last term (which seemed appropriate and carefully crafted in its heyday) has somehow become tainted by association. People of my age generally find this superfluous, but if we're nice, play along. To be clear, I am not having a poke at the minority here, just the ever changing nomenclature of the so-called politically correct.

a balloon on a police motorbike

It was quite some parade, and there was a great atmosphere of celebration and fun. Many in the audience as well as the parade had armed themselves with Super Soakers. Mary and I were a bit concerned about the amount of water being fired about, although my new camera is considerably more shower proof than the previous one. Mary was actually carrying my last one, the FZ2000, as it is a better model than the FZ330 she owns and so when it became largely redundant she adopted it. Although slightly larger is gives slightly better results.

It was great to see such a positive reaction to this annual outing and great to see taxi drivers and companies being generous and caring, not the first adjectives you might always associate with them. We never found out which beach they drove to but it would need to have a sizeable car park.
*A quick google and it seems that this trip, the "Edinburgh Taxi Trade Children’s Outing" has been happening since WW2 except when it was cancelled twice during the covid pandemic, and goes through Edinburgh to Musselburgh for an ice-cream at Luca's before heading to Archerfields Walled Garden for a picnic. It is for kids with additional requirements and terminal illnesses. It was great we accidentally got the timing just right to catch it passing through Aberlady and to photograph the fun.

We weren't sure whether to follow the coast or go round the back. In the end I voted for Postman's Walk as I felt there might be a small chance of catching some butterflies there. Mary was happy to go that way but sadly there was nothing of note save a baby crow which was sat so quietly beside a gate that I wouldn't have seen it had Mary not pointed it out. No doubt the parents were up in nearby trees getting incrementally more concerned as we approached. We went past without interfering other than taking a couple of pics.

house sparrow in Aberlady

post box "topper"

overgrown at Postman's Walk

no butterflies

baby crow

yellow iris

chiffchaff

chiffchaff having a feathery problem

coot with juvenile

goldfinch

Edinburgh from Aberlady

The weather was all over the place. We started with jackets on. Then took them off. Then put waterproofs on for a shower, then took them off, then back on for another shower. For much of the time it would be warm enough to go without a jacket and when the sun was properly out from behind the nearly continual cloud it was baking hot. I felt red faced that evening at home from the sun but you wouldn't have known it during the day especially when the rain was hammering down. Summer, huh?

meadow pipit on viper's bugloss in the rain

The rain and sun combo has really encouraged a lot of the vegetation and at many points the grasses are waist deep. There is tons of viper's bugloss growing among the coastal dunes which along with well watered chinese privet bodes well for late June & July and the DGFs. (Assuming they turn up in the usual numbers, which other species haven't all managed.) It was one of the few positives from what has been a dismal Summer so far. I watch the forecast daily and nothing I see is particularaly encouraging.

little bunny foo foo

momentary sunshine on Aberlady beach

herring gull

a pair of linnets (I think) suitably coloured to match the landscape

many of the meadow pipits were so busy with other stuff they 
didn't appear to mind quite close encounters

Just before Gullane Point we noticed someone - gulls or crows most likely - had been feasting on crabs. Lots of remains in piles among the grass. It wasn't particularly sunny as we crossed this section, one of the best areas for common blues in the past. As the sun had come out just after we covered this part I suggested we go back a quarter mile and have a second look as I was sure there'd be blues and maybe burnet and cinnabar moths emerging. Mary (whose enthusiasm for butterflying has increased greatly, lately) agreed but sadly we found nothing but emptied crab shells on the second sweep. Normally by this time in the year there'd be at least a few butterflies here, and loads of dayflying moths.

ruby tiger moth

Today's lepidopteral highlight was this Ruby tiger moth. Mary spotted it on the main path (she is so often first to notice a treasure!) and we thought it was a dead cinnabar. A closer look and we thought it was a dead ruby tiger however a gentle enquiry showed it to be alive and it quickly woke up and needed very little encouragement to be off the path. First it flew up onto my leggings. Then back onto the sand and then onto a stalk of grass where it hung by its front legs. They always seem smaller than they should be, especially when you see the caterpillars, although much of that volume is the hairy/spiny nature of the larva. A nice find that cheered up an otherwise butterfly-less day. (Oh and it was Mary who suggested Ruby Tuesday as a blog title!)

photo: Mary

black cap in full song

blackcap

The blackcap I saw from a distance and trudged over a LOT of difficult ground. Unusually it waited while I did this, possibly because we both knew I wasn't going to get that close. It did a bit more singing before flying off scornfully, and the video won't win any prizes. 

we stopped and chatted to Hazel for a while
she, like ourselves, watches the forecast closely, and isn't impressed

I insisted we went along the weasel path. Naturally there was no sign of the weasel but you have to give it a shot just in case. There are often butterflies there - I have seen commas, red admirals and peacocks on the brambles, but none today. Just a song thrush (above) singing a lovely burbling song.

lots of goldfinches about today

and meadow pipits

Chinese privet - Ligustrum lucidum

Near the driftwood patio there is a large extended bush (about the size of a tennis court) of chinese privet. It has been thriving in all the rain and loads of buds are now in the process of opening. Just in time for the dark green fritillaries who nectar on these plants. They can be a difficult butterfly to photograph as they fly fast and furious and don't land for pics as much as you'd hope. So it really helps to know where they stop for a snack. Chinese privet is a good bet as are those large purple thistles. 

driftwood

stonechat dad

We always look out for stonechats around the driftwood bench. On this occasion they had young. We didn't see any adult females but I think there were two pairs of father-and-offspring out learning fieldcraft. The juveniles were incautious which made it easier to get quite close. 

juvenile stonechat

dad and offspring

stonechat in front of Fidra lighthouse

linnet

So with just about 2.5 miles to go to the station we noticed we had about 25 minutes until the next train. I didn't think we would catch it but have enjoyed racing to the train in the past so suggested we do a wee bit jogging. We picked up the pace and were possibly averaging about 10 minute miles or faster which is not super fast but isn't particularly easy after 12 miles. (If you haven't been running much.) I realised after a short while that we this was the first bit of concerted running we had done together since about February when Mary broke her foot. She has been slowly getting some running miles in lately but only recently started doing 4 and 5 milers without stopping to walk 1 minute in every 5 mins. And she has to listen to her injuries carefully, so I haven't been invited along. It was great to be running together again although I was a little concerned it might set Mary's progress back if we overdid it. 

I think this is the 2 miles to go point

It was by no means certain whether the raised effort of the last 2.5 miles would be worth it. I didn't know the exact time of the train but suspected it was six-twenty-something. If that was 6.21 we were stuffed, if 6.28 then we would catch it. I had been feeling a bit achy earlier - it was a long day out, at about 7hrs - but the running sorted much of it out, and I really enjoyed the elevated heartrate and buzz. Also it is quite a mundane part of the route and we rarely see anything worth a photo. So pretty good fun to race against the clock, especially as, turning the last corner, we saw the train parked at the platform and people emerging from it. Meaning we had plenty time to get onboard, sweating and breathing hard, a whole minute or 2 before it chugged back out the station (at 6.25) and home to Edinburgh. Very fine finish to a pretty good day out. Even without a solitary butterfly and this the second week of June. Strange days.

14 miles, 7hrs