wonderful wednesday

 

11-06-25 A wonderful Wednesday in terrific Tentsmuir! Like comedy, the secret is good timing. Mary and I had driven past on the 17th May and there were no small pearl-bordered fritillaries at the boardwalks. Colin M confirmed a couple of early outliers on the 24th May. My previous successes here were on the 12th and 14th June, but everything was earlier this year on account of an amazing Spring. The last piece of the puzzle was the forecast - no point in turning up on a rainy day. The 11th June looked good. And indeed it was! 

Mobile phone pics of these splendid goats
in the first field at the end of the road after the RAF base.

I decided to take my bike. I'd like to think I am still capable of a 25mile running day out, but my camera gear is heavier than ever before on my back. And I have more to carry on the front as well. Also it is easier these days to reserve a bike space on the Trainline website. Advance tickets seem so much cheaper than what you get at the station on the day. It is always a bit of a thought trying to wrestle a bike onto the train and into the space which has clearly been designed by someone who has never seen a bicycle. However jumping off at Leuchars (at about 9.33am) and zooming up the road on a bike is just a total delight compared with facing a slowish 23mile run.

I was pretty sure the SPBFs would be there as someone else who had followed my directions to the boardwalk, posted info on the ESB group. One fluttered past while I undid the gate onto the Fife Coastal Path. I didn't bother chasing it as I imagined there'd be tons more in a very short while. And there was!

taken with the zoom

At boardwalk 2, I spotted maybe 10 to 15 small to midsize orange fritillaries. (With maybe 5 more flying across the boardwalk and in the same rough area.) They were all landing on Marsh cinquefoil flowers and sometimes 2 or more were competing to get close to the same small bloom. I was suprised - having photoed them in previous years on yellow buttercup type flowers on the other (fenced-off field) side of the boardwalk. I did a quick check to see if there were any other tribes as big as this group on other boardwalks. There weren't - this was the largest amount. So I put my bike off the boardwalk and set about getting some photos. They were a mix of decent condition, and older ones showing their age. The butterflies were not overly keen on my company but if I moved in really slowly it did not scare them off. They were often so interested in the (kinda drab) flowers I could slowly inch forward until I was right in amongst them. After a few distant pics with the long lens I swapped over to the macro. Although this meant having to get in much closer it felt like a better lens for best possible quality.

taken with the 90mm macro lens

marsh cinquefoil - a rather modest little bloom
but definitely number one with the SPBFs

the bike made today a romp compared with running the same route

last shot with the 90mm

I swapped back to the zoom. I can't remember why although possibly because I thought I was finished here and ready to move on. The zoom is better for getting birds, beetles and butterflies at a greater distance. The 90mm only comes into its own when I can get within a metre or closer, and most wildlife isn't available on those terms. Checking the timestamps on photos I started taking pics just before 10am. I decided I had got enough around 10.30 and swapped back to the long lens. However I realised I was ahead of schedule, and I got waylaid by the prospect of more pretty photos and it was another 45minutes before I left the fritillary boardwalks. In my defence some of the better images and videos were taken in this 45minutes. I don't feel that was down to the lens choice, maybe I was just getting the hang of it.

I moved my bike along the boardwalks but then wondered, if for variety, I should be taking photos of SPBFs on those other flowers. I could see plenty buttercups (they're not buttercups but let's call them that for the moment) but far fewer butterflies feeding on them. I parked my bike, hopped the fence and took a closer look. There were some butterflies but not as many, but yes they would land on the yellow flowers. Google suggests Potentilla or slender cinquefoil. The ground was more open and flat and the insects could see me coming from a distance. Even with the long lens the quality of shot was going downhill as they fled before I could move in. It was quite compelling though and if you continue something long enough sometimes you get lucky. 

I gave up on the yellow flowers and went to leave a second time. I had no particular schedule but knew there were a few areas I wished to cover and a very specific return ticket and bike reservation on the 16.30 home, so shouldn't waste time dicking about. Well, not too much time. When I saw another group of SPBFs at boardwalk 5 or 6 (out of total 7) I abandoned my bike sideways on the boardwalk and jumped down and lay on the swamp to take photos. The swamp (warm Spring, hurray!) was spongy but dry and made quite an accommodating surface on which to sprawl, getting the lens down to antenna level with the subjects. 

I stuck with the zoom and it worked well. I began to get bored taking the same images again and again, so tried a few different things: I remembered the slo-mo facility. Of course you are never sure of what the butterflies are about to do and I spent a lot of time hoping they would fly off as soon as I had them properly in the frame. The slo-mo eats up gigabytes taking a LOT of frames each second. Making beautiful but potentially dull clips where nothing much happens, all in beautful slo-mo! I could have done with a butterfly wrangler just offscreen who'd wave a hand to make the butterfly take off as I started filming. I'd stop video-ing after 10 seconds if nothing happened, otherwise I'd have a mammoth 10minute video of nothing happening. In beautiful slow motion. 

The other thing about slo-mo is there is no audio. Previous cameras have recorded audio in slo-mo too which is odd and low sounding but maybe better than no soundtrack which comes across as rather dead. In the videos below I have used audio from another non slo-mo video I shot at the same location. It was shorter than the slo-mo clips so it repeats itself. Also if I'd had my thinking cap on I'd have recorded plenty audio of birdcalls in a place where there was less or no wind-noise. It is all a learning process. Anyway I got lucky with a couple of clips of slo-mo where the butterfly took off and stayed in the frame for a bit. Makes you realise how much goes in the bin when someone is filming for Springwatch, versus the amount that actually gets broadcast.

After a bit I started to go for quantity over quality and wondered how many butterflies I could get in the same frame. I started with 2 and worked up to 4. They are quite a social butterfly: although they will joust at each other a bit, they will also sit right beside each other and not get upset. This lends itself to multiples in the same image. If I had changed to the wide angle lens I could have got maybe twice the amount in the same shot. I really enjoyed the hour and twenty one minutes I spent there, which felt more like 30.

two

three

four

four

Towards the end of the session at the furthest boardwalk I noticed a cyclist approaching from the Kinshaldy direction. I jumped up onto the planks and lifted my bike up to let him pass. He had come upon the scene with a bike on its side and an older dude lying in the swamp below the boardwalk. It did look like an opening scene from Casualty. But he quickly realised I was taking photos and was curious about the subjects, rather than getting on his mobile to the emergency services. We chatted for a bit - he was far more interested in dragonflies than butterflies and I probably went on for longer than absolutely necessary because I was already high as a kite with nobody else about to share this great sight (and I hadn't even had a station coffee, either!)

I realised I had slightly overdone the schedule at the boardwalk but I'd have been gutted if that was the highlight of the day and I'd left it early to find little else of value. Take your chances where you find them. I reckoned I'd pedal like fury for a bit to make up time. I'd made a very loose rendezvous with KP at Morton Lochs, which is something of a tradition as he lives not far from there. It is also a tradition that I get distracted and arrive late. I'd said between 12 and 1. But he'd not texted to say he'd be there so I was probably in the clear. 

SPBFs video (slo-mo with added audio)

deck chairs at the car park and cafe, Kinshaldy

I bought a can of cold fizzy water for a little over the going rate at the cafe. I had taken 2 bottles of water/juice but it was a warm day and this, straight out the fridge, was cooling. It was a warm day but not height-of-Summer-baking just yet. And being on the bike with the wind cooling me down was preferabe to a hot day running 23 miles through the desert with a heavy pack on. The downside of the bike was sandy trails. I usually skirt the dunes and beach area looking for dragonflies in the wet dips between dunes. Mountainbike tyres are not quite fat enough to float across sand and it becomes very heavy going quite quickly. I gave the dragonfly dips a miss but wanted to stay just beach-ward of the trees as this next section could be very useful for common blues and DGFs who patrol the dunes landing on yellow flowers (not dandelions but like them: coltsfoot or mouse-eared hawkweed.)

sure enough, a common blue just North of Kinshaldy car park

not many small torts about today

The bike worked well on the trails which were half-sand half-thin-grass. It stalled on pure beach. I stayed just inside the last line of the woodside trails then ducked back onto the main trail under the trees up to the icehouse and pavilion. I was going to scoot past until I caught a glimpse of the pavilion and remembered it is a top spot for lepidoptera. Blues, DGFs, silver Ys, burnet moths, cinnabars. To my dismay I saw a couple of cyclists had already parked their bikes at the Pavilion and were looking out the window at the butterfly meadow. They might not take kindly to me thrashing through the meadow seeing if I could stomp out any flying thing worth a photo! But then I was distracted by a mint condition DGF on the viper's bugloss near the fence. First one of the year and it sat remarkably well for a fresh DGF on a sunny day. It did charge about the place between visits to the bugloss but allowed photos from quite close which is a lot more than you'd expected. 

1st dark green fritillary of the year
one of the best Scottish species (in my opinion)

Between DGF circuits I got chatting to the couple of cyclists who were not as young as myself. Somehow we got talking about running and it turns out they were Arbroath Footers so we probably have loads of pals in common. Like myself they weren't doing much running these days. They were returning to Tayport on bikes. I wished them well and went to get some more stills and slo-mo video of the DGF which performed admirably. There were no interesting species in the wildflower meadow - possibly a little early in the season.

I had to use an archive photo of this green building - it is an old birdhide I think and looks fantastic although it is (now) too far from the sea to be used for spotting coastal birds. I didn't have the bike over near it but can't do a Tentsmuir report without a photo - just iconic!

Arbroath Footers on bike

DGF video (slo-mo)

I was now only just going to hit 1pm at Mortons if I peddled like mad. And wasn't distracted. I considered cycling with eyes shut. The miles did fly in, compared to running, and it was just before one when I reached the car park at Morton Lochs. Being a Wednesday it wasn't busy, but there was an occasional visitor, mostly retired sorts like myself!

BTW - how to cycle with a camera. I have mentioned the Cotton brand harness I bought a while back. It has a slot on the front of the chest harness into which I slide my camera. This means I carry the weight on my shoulders. I got it when we worked out that my sciatica might be the result of carrying a quite heavy item in one hand which might unbalance my stance, contributing to the sciatica problem, which gave me a sore back and pain down the right leg and glute. That was last year and for a while it disappeared entirely. More recently it has been echoing the condition without it ever going full gas. The harness has gone from an occasional friend to an everyday companion. If I just wear my camera round my neck it bounces on my knees when cycling. In the harness, not a problem and quite comfortable and mostly out the way of anything. If a buzzard lands on the tree stump over there, I ditch my bike and have my camera up and pointing at the bird in 3.5 seconds. Previously I'd have to open a pannier bag, unzip my back-pack, retrieve the camera case, unzip that, remove the camera, take off the lens cap - oh it's flown off.

dunnock and wood pigeon

great tit and blackbird

great tit

robin pondering how to pick up more without losing the hoverfly

chaffinch

I ate my sandwiches in the red squirrel hide. No squirrels despite the record jotter reporting squirrels the 2 previous days. My sandwiches were excellent, hardly touched the sides. A couple of non-nature oldies ate their packed lunch on the bench outside the hide which possibly kept any of the more timid birds away. (Jays & woodpeckers.) I tried not to hate them although I saw the woman take a paper tissue to wipe their lunch box, then, thinking that was the way you dispose of a paper tissue, hide it in the long grass. I should have said fuck sake missus would you do that in your own garden? But I didn't because they were old and beyond redemption. But really. 

After lunch I headed to the dragonfly ditch. The water level was as low as I've seen it. (There were a few damsels) but only 4-spotters so I didn't stay long. Also I had left my bike unpadlocked a short distance away. I hadn't brought it into the field and reckoned it was safe up against the bench as there were two gents trying to find SPBFs in the open area beside it. I don't think they were having that much luck although there was the occasional one blowing through. I chatted a bit and mentioned there were maybe 50 by the boardwalks. I was realising as I spoke I was sounding smug and unhelpful, as it was highly unlikely these older gents had the facility to drive to near the boardwalk, park and walk the mile required to get there. When they left the area I felt my bike was looking vulnerable and since I was only taking the same photo over and over, I left the ditch and thought I'd check out the walk along to the Railway hide. 

female ovipositing

This is the very pleasant hundred and fifty yards of wildflowers on the way to the Railway Hide. Last year (or the one before) I came across the first meadow brown of the year there posing nicely on an ox-eye daisy and I was hoping for similar today. I had to settle for 2 or 3 male c blues who were quite frisky but would settle occasionally. I did a quick in-and-out the hide to look for the kingfisher that sometimes poses for photos but no sign. On the way back along the strip of meadow Keith turned up. It was after 2pm and for a nice change it wasn't myself that was late! Great to catch up albeit briefly. We talked about cameras having similar kit (my new camera and its results inspired KP to buy a new camera!) but from different but interchangeable stables. Panasonic & Olympus. My 90mm lens is OM systems. The more I get the hang of my camera the more joy it brings. As I was saying to Keith it has forced me to learn more about the technical aspects of using a camera, and how to be more in control of the images I take, rather than staying in automatic mode and letting the camera decide. 

view from the railway hide

we came across this very handsome and lively frog
(Keith's hand.)

Keith noticed this fly and thought I might know the species. I did not but have since looked it up and it might well be a downlooker snipe fly, which gets its name from posing on posts or trees facing downward, waiting for passing prey.

I wanted to give myself plenty of time to stop for distractions on the way back to the station. In previous visits I have not left enough time and ended up thrashing the last few miles to catch the train. So I said au revoir to Keith who was off to look for the kingfisher, and set off back to Leuchars.

Along the trail, I skidded to a halt and jumped off my bike because I'd noticed a small clump of heather (half a metre sq) with possibly 5 DGFs on board. One flew off on my approach but there were still 3 or 4 wandering drunkenly about the heather while I tried to take their photos. I was sorry not to get a better shot of the one sat astride a fox glove flower. There was quite a lot of vegetation growing through and around the heather making it difficult to get clean shots. I know, a poor excuse! I thought I had got lots of great photos but most were blighted by extraneous grasses. 

trying to get three in same frame

first and only ringlet of the day / year so far

A bit further down the track and another couple of clumps of similarly coloured heather. Again several DGFs. Again a hasty dismount and bike thrown to the ground. Also involved this time was the largest common blue of the day and possibly of the year. It was super fiesty and there was no way I was going to get anything anywhere close to it to show for scale. Also the first ringlet of the year which flew into the undergrowth and was so badly behaved I nearly disregarded it. Especially with a giant blue and several DGFs around!

I should have returned to the station by the tarmac road from Kinshaldy. I didn't really consider the option until I found myself back on the rough ground of the Fife Coastal Path. I hadn't left enough time for another SPBF photo session so why the hell did I take the risk of riding over much rougher ground where a puncture or mechanical is far more likely and which would jeopardise my 16.30 reservation. Very poor decision making and I blame all the sunshine which may have been getting through my sunscreen defences by then.

Happily I did not have a puncture or any bike problems although the thought of it made me feel weary and I was relieved to get back onto the tarmac outskirts of Leuchars. I made the station with ten minutes to spare. On a good day I can fix a puncture in ten minutes but it would have been damn close to the wire at best.

The train was London bound and busy. After manhandling my bike into the reserved space (designed by another person who has never seen a bike)(the very helpful and understanding guard said she guessed he'd never seen a suitcase either, before designing the luggage storage) I opted to stand with my bike rather than go to the nearest free double seat which was quite some distance away. Sunday 12th June 2022, I caught the crowded train home from Leuchars, after a nearly identical day out, except on foot. Another London bound job. Very busy and every seat full. And by the following Friday, I tested positive for covid. 

I wasn't looking forward to the hour long stand, but at least I'd be able to keep an eye on my bike and keep out of range of coughers and sneezers. Also, I wasn't very keen on the sign telling me to expect another bike joining the bike rack at Kirkcaldy. However it was a very slim road bike and fit the space beside the other 2 bikes with no problem. The rider was a young anaesthetist, who had cycled into Kirkcaldy from Edinburgh to start his day's work but was returning on the train. And getting off at Haymarket, so not barring my exit at Waverley. Good news! He was also good company (although I couldn't believe he hadn't read This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay) and after I'd bored him with tales of lepidoptera and odonata we talked all things medicine; Casualty, the NHS, and why most medical dramas on TV are bollocks. That his job was really eliminating the drama as much as possible. It passed the standing time very quickly and in what seemed a very swift transition from one side of the Forth to the other. It was, with the help of the anaesthetist, entirely painless!

23miles in 6hrs45m
A completely fab Tentsmuir experience, again!

a map from 2023 when I ran the route
showing where stuff is