best part of the day

02-03-26. As the title and above photo have already suggested, this was a pretty decent day. The first butterfly of the year is always a good day. Doubly so when it is a comma, the highest tariff (IMO) of the four over-wintering species you are likely to encounter. (Red Admiral, small tort, peacock and comma.) The weird thing is, it wasn't the highlight of the day!

blossom out on Pilrig St.

house sparrow at Powderhall

I didn’t stop to see if the water rail was going to pose for photos today but headed along to Canonmills and up the road to the Botanics. It wasn’t super-warm but possibly just pushing into double digits and might be warm enough in areas shaded from the wind for butterflies. They generally appear in sunshine when it is warm enough to go about without gloves and hat. I stopped wearing gloves and hats in a reverse-jinx to bring them out the woodwork. It is not a foolproof ploy.

the last time I photoed this (not) toy helicopter was 14-10-24

although I got it in focus then! 6 pics up from bottom of this page

chaffinch in Chinese hillside pond

this squirrel acted like we were besties and came back

time and again to mooch nuts from my hand

carbon fibre-like blackbird

moorhen

quite a few buzzy bumbles about

buff-tailed bumblebee

a host of golden thingies

lots of rhodies in flower

I had high hopes of catching a nectaring RA

instead I found a lethargic comma

on the heavily fragrant sarcococca hookeriani

absolutely stoked to find this great condition butterfly

I was very pleased to have found this beauty. I don’t often discover early butterflies; tending to follow up on others findings and going to known locations after someone else has done the groundwork. Ken or Richard, at Botanics or Bawsinch. It is just luck rather than diligence though as I patrolled both these venues as a well as Warriston and Holyrood Pk with minimal luck over the successive days.

Eristalis tenax - Drone fly

Liverleaf

After finding the comma near the Tibetan Bell arch, I returned to the rhodies I’d found early RAs on a couple of years running. I was still buzzing from the butterfly (I think only one other peacock had been photo-ed on ESB at this point by Mairi along the Innocent Railway) and I hoped to add an admiral to my SD card. Alas no sign of anything other than a few drone flies and bottles on the pink flowering rhodie and I wondered how long I could be bothered to hang about for an RA to appear.

There were quite a few small garden birds around the tree I was right next to. Blue tits, robins, great tits etc. That was when the best part of day came about. Something flashed past my left ear and initially I mistook it for a large butterfly. It flopped onto the treetrunk immediately ahead of me and I realised it was a treecreeper. Now treecreepers are delightful small birds but like LTTs and goldcrest not easy to photograph as they are constantly moving and will hop round the back of a tree or stick to the dark side of the trunk if they see you approach.

blue tit

rhododendron

Maybe because I stood still and didn’t approach the bird any closer (I was only a metre or 2 away) it ignored me and began looking for bugs and maggots in the long beards of lichen on the trunk. I couldn’t believe my luck and after taking a few still images set my camera to slo-mo video (turned the top right dial four clicks round) and was further delighted that the treecreeper continued its hunt for snacks right in front of me. I concentrated on keeping the camera steady and moving as little as possible. Pretty much operating on instinct knowing this sort of gift does not come round often. I shot loads of video which was so close that the focus was hard to keep on the bird and the bird was hard to keep in the frame. It helped enormously the bird wasn’t doing the usual treecreeper thing of circling the boughs or flying off to the next branch. I got loads of useful footage which I only really examined once I got home. I couldn’t believe the detail and artistry of the plumage - you normally only see a blur of brown and white. It was so good, it even upstaged the comma and that is saying something!

treecreeper video
soundtrack: Cherry by Wilson Tanner

I now felt elated! And, keen to share it with anyone nearby, I pointed out the treecreeper (still on the same trunk although a bit higher up) to a woman who was approaching. She was maybe slightly younger than myself and was taking her tiny shrunken mum out for a walk round the ‘Tanics. I waved towards the treecreeper and she responded enthusiastically. We chatted a bit and I admitted to being a bit high on the first butterfly of the year.

I asked was she interested in seeing it and when she said yes I walked her and her mum back round to the sarcococca. On the way I realised there was almost no chance of it being there and I’d look a bit odd, an unreliable manic. However it was there (I should have bought a lottery ticket that Monday!) and the woman enjoyed seeing it and took a photo with her phone. Her mum was very jolly but oblivious to the birds and butterflies, far more excited by the height of the trees and unable to get beyond that. Maybe because she was about the height of a 10year old child and the trees towered so massively high above her? I thought I best calm down, said goodbye, and went off to check another rhodie I’d seen early RAs on last year.

on mahonia this time directly above the sarcococca

next candidate, but less luck

This large pink rhododendron (Praecox grex) is about the size of a single decker bus and did the business last year admirably. Alas not so much this year so far. There is a bench nearby and I sat down to get out bird food and to give my sciaticky leg and back a rest. I kept my eyes on the topmost flowers of the bush and noticed squirrels and robins were gathering to panhandle. I put some peanuts down for them and it passed the time nicely taking photos while I waited on butterflies arriving. I was optimistic, but it was not to be. Nice to share the time with the squirrels and robin though.

perfect lighting!

other rhododendrons were available

Viburnum lantana - Wayfaring tree

I decided to have a check round the rock garden. No butterflies but a few drone flies and bottles and the occasional hover. However it was soon time to start homeward and get processing the photos and video taken. I can only do an hour in the computer chair before I start aching badly.