pitlochry pearls

 

09-05-25 A fantastic day out.
I had heard rumours of very early Pearl-bordered fritillaries. I told myself I wouldn't fall for that old trap. I have a history of travelling to Pitlochry and Linn of Tummel in May, going back to 2018. I started to visit earlier and earlier in May instead of waiting, and instead of the butterflies being more fresh, they were more absent. Hadn't emerged. It ended in a couple of trips where I saw nothing or spent 90minutes eventually finding one reluctant butterfly. This does not make for a great day out and since the train fare is over £40 I was determined not to shoot my wad early this year. Then reports came in that they were flying all around the Pitlochry area. All that good weather had brought them out a week or two before the usual date somewhere between the second and third week in May. I bought a train ticket for the 9th despite having a busy day on the 8th chasing small blues. The forecast was very good.

Chris got in touch when he heard what I was planning. Anthony and Chris along with volunteers had been surveying and monitoring the local areas to get a picture of the activity there. Chris sent a map of an area between Pitlochry and Linn of Tummel which he asked me to check out. Previous to this year my usual ploy was to visit the Linn of Tummel site (as recommended in a 2010 Michael Easterbrook butterfly book) and then run cross country to the Queen's View (cafe) near to where I had a great encounter in 2019 but never since. It was about time I explored elsewhere locally and I had been scouring google (and suunto) maps for likely looking terrain. The Easterbrook book also mentioned Craigower Hill, NW of Pitlochry but nowhere specific on this large and unwieldy hill. I could spend all day up there finding heehaw. And then Chris gave me this site to investigate. Timely! He had been exploring locally and found PBFs at altitude. It was a hilly trail I had been given to search and since it was on the way to Linn of T, I thought I'd give it a go first, then unless magnificent, I'd carry on to L of T. 

It's a 2hr train ride which is a little boring but I listened to an audiobook which made it pass quickly. I hopped off the train around 10.40 and ran through the small town, crossed the bridge and at around 2 miles I went through a gate I'd never noticed in previous years. The trail turned steeply uphill and I was reduced to walking much of the following mile.

gate I'd never noticed

pretty trail went steeply uphill

About a third of a mile later I saw the first PBF of the day. (Point A on the map at the bottom of the page.) It was perched nicely for a photo and I didn't really think much of it other than that I hadn't been sent on a wild goose chase! It flew off before I could get any further photos. Little did I realise at the time that this was best behaved PBF I would interact with until much later in the day. It was reassuring to see one of these orange beauties and since the weather was outstanding and the scenery spectacular I had a spring in my step and was enjoying the day immensely.

magic!

looking back towards Pitlochry and the footbridge I crossed
(below the main road bridge)

Chris had encountered green hairstreaks while surveying for PBFs. There were great swathes of blaeberries (as above) but much as I stomped nearby and through them and tried to get them to yield hairstreaks I found not a single greeny. Loads of moths particularly brown silverline, which rivals even silver Ys for most humdrum insect award, and plenty common heaths, but nothing green coloured.

common heath

As I climbed, the quad bike trail got sandy and more rocky underfoot. (Around B on Map) I had hardly processed the thought that this was exactly the sort of trail on which green tiger beetles like to sunbathe, when one jumped up off the trail and flew to one side. I am a huge fan of green tiger beetles and had encountered them along the road at L of T. (Although none there this year.) After about a dozen had flown up ahead of me I gave in and stopped to photograph them. I took a couple of shots with the long lens but realised to do them justice I should swap to the macro lens and get down on all fours. I felt I should probably not spend all day doing this but I reckoned half an hour scrabbling about on the ground would be enough. 

The beetles were not so keen on this game and mostly flew off as I got closer than 4 feet. I stayed close to the ground rather than present a high silhouette of impending doom. And slithered snake-like along the trail holding my camera in one hand out ahead of me. I was glad there was no audience feeling sorry for an old dude pretending to be a snake looking like he was struggling to get up after a bad fall. The ground was baked hard and many bits of gravel and sharp thorns and sticks tried to penetrate my knees. But the chase was on and I was determined to get up close to these six-legged sprinters. 

I love their colour-scheme. You'd think bright viridian green with fuchsia-pink borders was poor camouflage and yet the metallic sheen changed colour as it caught the light. Note khaki green above (photo), teal green in photo below. When you come across butterflies mating often they will stay connected even as you poke a camera right in their faces, or fly off together. The GTBs just jumped apart and ran in different directions like teenagers caught in the wrong dorm. Not as much as an "it's been lovely" or "see you later." Of course I didn't spoil their activities deliberately, it was impossible to walk up the path without inadvertently splitting up several pairs. Their commitment to each other and this shared activity suggested these aren't one of those creatures that mate for life. Although I do wonder how much of that is a human concept foisted on, for instance, swans, who all look so similar that I find it hard to believe anyone knows their entire life history accurately, never mind imagined moral integrity.

I managed not to split up this couple! Hurray!

In order to get this close you have to get down on all fours and scurry about, not unlike the creature you are stalking. And although the 90mm lens gives me a slight distance from the subject by the time I had skootched in close enough to see those pincers, we could both see the other breathing. Mostly they turned their backs to the camera - in order to fly off hastily if I tried to eat them. I resisted the urge but they weren't buying it 100% and usually after a bit of high speed sprinting they reverted to winged flight. I would have loved to get a shot of one taking off or flying but that was not going to happen. These close ups are next level compared to all my previous GTB shots. It meant that even if there was a lack of PBFs, I'd still had some great views and was returning with some decent beetle shots. I tried to shoot some beetle video but it was mostly laughable. There is a short clip in the youTube video, bottom of the page.

small grasshopper

big hill across the valley

I saw the second PBF of the day around C on the map. None between A and C coming up or going down. The trail reached something of a plateau. From C to D there was a semi-regular sighting of a fritillary or two. However they were NOT perching or nectaring on flowers but were hammering about the place. I'd imagine they were fairly new males zooming about looking for females. I disturbed one from the undergrowth, perhaps a female, but I'd hazard a guess the rest were wandering males looking for a hook-up. I tried to point the camera (I had the long lens back on) in their rough direction and get a shot of them in-flight but this was almost impossible. While I was documenting my survey on the DJI pocket one flew into view and if you watch the video fullscreen in HD you can see it zigzag about the place.

I thought one has to stop at some point but it never really happened in this area. Also I put some long lens shaky video of one into the video because the audio of the nearby cuckoo was the only evidence of that bird, although I did catch a fleeting glimpse of it as it transferred to another tree. It had been banging out its distinctive song in a tree not 25 yards from where I stood, squinting into the frustrating folliage. I could easily have spent the day chasing it about.

in flight PBF

brown silverline

I came to a point (D on map) where there was a meadow of bracken and several PBFs zipping about. I did a bit of assessing to find the boundaries of the section and how many PBFs I felt were quartering the area. Maybe 5, with 3 being the most I saw at one time. There seemed little point in continuing on the trail as they would probably thin out round the corner and anywhere significantly off trail was quite difficult going. There were kneedeep holes covered with bracken (like elephant traps!) waiting to break the legs of the unwary. I was here on my own and hadn't seen a soul since I went through the gate at the road. I could lie here for days before being found. Or, I suppose, do a one legged slither and clamber back down the hill like Joe Simpson when he touched his void. I decided against any further surveying and headed back down the hill. 

I stopped around point A when I saw a PBF on a small bugle flower. There were maybe 12~20 purple plumes growing up out the grassy centre of the trail and it was perched on one. I did a cartoon screech-halt and raised the camera for a few photos before it vanished. I decided to eat lunch there to see if any other fritillaries turned up. I had noticed that although they didn't stop (long) or perch the ones up the hill always checked out the flowers; bugle, a sweet-pea like vine and dandelions when scouting for mates. I spent half an hour there at point A having lunch, and witnessed maybe 2 or 3 visits. Maybe the same butterfly, maybe others. Bugle, or at least flowers, seemed to be the one consistent and necessary item in any of the day's more active areas. As well as bracken, although that seemed to be ubiquitous today.

patch of bugle plumes on the trail at A
enough to draw regular visits from passing butterflies

on a sweet-pea like vine

bee-fly shaking its tail to shoot eggs into other flies' homes

I headed along to Coronation Bridge around 2pm. There was a train at 4.20 which I thought would be good to catch, which gave me about 90minutes at the Linn of Tummel site. I hoped that would be sufficient. Just before the bridge I bumped into a kayaker (2 playboats on top of car) who was scoping out a line down the rapids. I asked was the water much higher than normal which was surprising given the lack of recent rain. He explained they let out (from a hydro electric system?) water upstream for the next few days and so kayakers were paying attention. The normally rocky falls become well covered with fast moving water. We chatted as we walked together and I explained that butterflies were a good hobby as they got you outdoors without so much endangerment of life. Although I am quite envious of the new plastic boats that seem far more rock resistent than the more fragile fibreglass boats I used to race down rapids more than 45 years ago.

When I arrived there seemed to be no PBFs at the first pylon. I looked upstream to the next pylon and saw a figure moving slowly through the terrain. (checking for butterflies?) I assumed it was Simon who was on a similar quest / survey to myself although it had seemed unlikely our paths would cross when we compared notes beforehand. I was so sure it would be Simon that I was very surprised when he turned into Colin right at the last moment! I was very surprised to see Colin because he had been posting glamorous African butterflies from his holiday in Ghana just moments before, on facebook. There must have been a time differential that meant he arrived back in Scotland only shortly behind his remarkable photos. 

It was great to catch up with Colin who had found the epi-centre of what he reckoned was 2 dozen PBFs most of whom were feeding on the bugle flowers that climbed the trail up to the pylon. Sure enough as we chatted we'd both raise our cameras and take photos of the delightful orange butterflies as they held still and nectared at the purple flowers. It was relatively easy to get quite close and take photos although quite difficult to hold intelligent conversation at the same time. And we had quite a lot of chat. Mostly about Ghana and how many camera batteries you take on a holiday where you don't always have access to electricity or there are regular power cuts. (Eight btw.)

quite a worn specimen

a fresher one

Colin

Colin had already been there for a couple of hours and offered a lift to the station after I'd had my fill. This was great news as I'd run lots of miles the day before and was quite tired from 2 days exertion. But maybe I'd enjoy the run back to the station? I swithered. I was too tired to make rational decisions. Colin also suggested a lift back to Perth to get dropped off at the station there. Again very appealing although I already had my ticket so it wouldn't be a money-saver. I was trying to work out what the best option was while taking as many photos of the distracting butterflies. I have this fear of missing out, this FOMO, that makes me stay at a venue long after I feel I have probably caught the essence. Just in case there is something more to be had, rather than walk away with only the minimum.

Almost against my better judgement I turned down Colin's generous offer and said I'd run back to the station. I have not been running enough lately and felt a couple of decent days out might fix something of the waistline expansion of late. It was only a last three miles and I have enjoyed the race to the station from here in previous years. 

bye bye Colin

Of course once Colin was gone I was fairly sure I had made the wrong choice; what was I thinking?! Also the number of butterflies diminished almost immediately as if a factory whistle had blown and they had all headed off to roost. A couple lingered but as you see only two further shots made the blog. Being tired I was slow to get moving and couldn't remember if it was four miles or three and had I left enough time to run to the station? I packed my camera away and did a reasonable job of running the three miles down the road. My mind was wondering how regretful I'd be if that train was cancelled when I had just turned down a lift to Perth. I hoped I hadn't jinxed myself.

I crossed the footbridge around 4pm, leaving just 10mins through town to the station and the 4.20 train. Perfect timing. I had run out of fluids a few miles back and had been greatly relishing the prospect of delicious cold water at the little cafe by the waterside. I stood sweating in the queue to be served. It was just after 4pm. The first couple were settling up and it took a hellish long time to do so. The next woman asked about scones and when she was delivered a cold one, asked could it be heated up. The one behind the counter wasn't pleased to carry it off to a microwave, although that was nothing compared to how I felt. I glared at the bottles of water, cold and enticing in the fridge. Eventually after a long l-o-n-g wait I bought three. 2 got stuffed into my backpack for the train and I ran out the place with the other in my hand. It was 4.07. I kept telling myself in all the years of catching trains from here they probably averaged 10 minutes late minimum, and there was no reason to panic. Nevertheless I sprinted up the hill and only took another swig of water when I had caught my breath going down the road to the station. The train was on time but so was I, and I caught it, slightly incredulously, without further incident. I even had a spare minute to wash my face and hands in the toilets so I didn't climb aboard looking like I had just raced the 800metres.

okay this shot might just have been worth it

It was a great day out. I really enjoyed exploring the new site up the hill although maybe next year I'll try the other pylon site NW of Coronation Bridge. This year has been exceptional for PBFs so I expect looking for them up that hill on future occasions might be less fruitful although you never know. I did really enjoy the beetles! Linn of Tummel had the most butterflies I've seen there and they were behaving really quite well - sitting for photos about as much as you could hope for, from this flighty species. 

Chris's map
areas of pink to be explored

gps output map of survey area

the whole day out
11miles in 5hrs40m

One last chance to get caught out: my train changed at Perth. I got on the Glasgow train and changed to the Edinburgh one at Perth. When I showed my ticket to the conductor, she suggested that Stirling was maybe a better place to change as it was the same platform and likely the same train as the one in Perth which would require a change of platform. I weighed all this up in my head and came to the conclusion I might well fall asleep between Perth and Stirling and wake up in Glasgow. Also, if there wasn't a viable connection in Stirling or I had to wait 2hrs, that conductor wouldn't be paying the price. I felt it safest to abandon ship in Perth where there was only a short wait to get on a train to Edinburgh on which I'd probably fall asleep. I think it might have saved my chips as the Edinburgh train went over to the coast and crossed the Forth bridge, going nowhere near Stirling. I didn't look into the Stirling option after the fact, but was pleased I had perhaps dodged a bullet. I definitely needed the following day off (indoors) to recover and really enjoyed running nowhere.