dragonflies at Saltoun

 

10-05-26 May has been abysmal weather-wise. Low temps, blustery winds and none of the longer, warmer days the month sometimes promises. I had heard of several sightings of early odonata and while keen to visit Saltoun Big Wood, I was also aware it operates within its own micro-climate and can be a fortnight or more behind warmer areas.

Mary was up for a wander so drove us there. I realised my proclivity for sitting pondside waiting for dragonflies to emerge was infinitely higher than Mary's (she is not yet a fan of the dragonflies, sadly) however I'd at least get a glimpse of the state of play and if good, could return under my own steam at a later date. 

We parked in West Saltoun and walked in the Barley Mill back entrance. It is a pleasant walk however we were both slightly tired and cranky and bickering to start with. The scenery and being outdoors helped enormously and soon we were back on happier ground.

springtime lambs

robin

dunnock

Walking through the woods there were a few fly-by orange tips. We also saw this top quality red admiral which took a bit of stalking before it settled enough to get photos. It was busy doing circuits and buzzed by us a few times checking us out and landing close by.

top quality specimen!

smooth newt

Lots of newts and thousands of tadpoles at the ponds, but very few odonata seen on initial insepection. As we walked near the ponds there was an occasional large red damselfly but they had that glassy-winged look of newly emerged insects. No sign of four-spotted chasers but we saw one later, suggesting we had arrived right at the start of the dragonfly season, maybe even day one.

millions of tadpoles

a brand new large red damselfly
(which are really very small btw)

on the way up butterfly alley there is this wall
of soil with many insect burrows, and plenty insects in attendance

Mary noticed a bee-fly was buzzing about looking for other insect nests to invade with her eggs. She was too fast flying to get a decent photo of. Quite a lot of the butterflies were also keeping airborne most of the time as if it was too cold to land and relax for any length of time.

Now there is no longer decent parking near the start of the wood, there are as many cyclists coming through as dog-walkers. Numbers have really dropped off which is fine in my book, as the dogs are regularly off leads and chasing wildlife.

Unless you look at the altitude map for Saltoun, it is easy to forget that butterfly alley climbs to a high point at the top (Eastern-most) corner. It doesn't that steep if walking slowly up to the corner but another pair of older cyclists going past reminded us of the gradient as they didn't have electric bikes and were working hard to go at no more than a jogging pace up the grassy trail.

The top corner and top 80 yards were the best spot all day for butterflies, with quite a few whites passing through, but also a handful of admirals and speckleds that maybe chose this spot to lurk and joust with anyone happy to do a spiral dance up into the tree tops. If you can catch them with just sky backgrounds there is more chance of the camera focussing on the flying butterflies. I was lucky with this small clutch of whites: an orange tip, a large white and two GVWs. They flew nearly directly overhead dancing in large circles and staying close enough together to get them all in the same frame. They even had the decency to move across the sky to where some gaps in the clouds made for a pretty blue background. Very obliging!

However the star attractions were 2 admirals. They were aware of each other and would have a joust together if things were dragging. Otherwise they would keep their distance and sit on greenery or the dirt path until something interesting flew past. They were in great condition, although not quite as numerous or flighty as the ones I'd recently seen at the top of Crow Hill. Part of the same foreign invasion? Not sure. But very handsome.

Mary was having minor difficulties with her new camera so I kept out her way while she sorted it out. Her 100~300mm lens is lower spec than my 100~400 but in good light is capable of very good images. And much less heavy to lug around. She is still learning how best to use it, and manages really well considering. It was quite some time before I felt as comfortable with the G9 as I had done with the previous bridge camera.

I tried some take off shots
but this was the only (partial) success

overdoing the dandelion pollen

great to see lots of new growth
like this oak tree sprouting new leaves

On the way back past the first pond we stopped for another sweep and Mary noticed this 4-spotted chaser. The only one of the day. Normally there'd be good numbers by now but it has been a slow, cold month and things are late kicking off. This specimen could fly but was either slightly deformed (body looking odd) or hadn't emerged properly. 

quite a few green-veined whites

Just as we were leaving (by the main road entrance for a change of route) we came across this pair of orange tips. The female was signalling disinterest to the male, and he was ignoring the signals. Not quite enough light to freeze the motion and get decent results.

st marks (or similar) on rapeseed

the large fields of yellow are very cheerful

songthrush

When Mary suggested we return to the car via the main road I weighed up the possible wildlife opportunities and then agreed, saying we might see yellowhammers on the wires near the houses. Sure enough there were a pair messing about and doing their special song (...no cheese) sat on the wires. Success!

also a collared dove

blackbird by the main road

house sparrows on houses in West Saltoun

chaffinch

My Suunto gps watch tells me this is the 90th activity of the year. (Total of 129 days up to the 10th May, so more than one every second day.) Which sounds better than it possibly is. An activity can be as little as a walk to the Tesco's at Duke St. less than a mile away. Or it can be out jogging for 10hrs chasing butterflies and birds all day. Most are somewhere between those 2 examples. Also, my 50th blog report of 2026.

on this occasion: 3.7miles in 2hrs38m