tentsmuir revisited

Sunday 21st April

Nick was going up to St. Andrews to see his son who attends the university there. He suggested I come along and show him round Tentsmuir, which is just beyond St. Andrews. The forecast was good and I hoped for a few butterflies along the way. 

Rather than park at the main Tentsmuir car park I suggested to Nick we park on the outskirts of Leuchars round the back of the airstrip as there are a couple of miles of excellent trails on the Fife Coastal Trail through meadows and pretty fields (often home to butterflies) that make it worth the extra couple of miles. No butterflies; probably too early and a little cold.

new development half way up the coast

We ran through the car park then up the coast, taking a line next to the trees. Often I have run through the dunes but today I wanted to see if there was any signs of Green Hairstreaks. They used to be advertised on signs around here. Although there are still signs telling of their presence they are less prominent. I think this might reflect their diminishing numbers at this site. I have never searched for them, nor seen them here: it always seemed too needle-in-a-haystack. Green Hairstreaks are small and easily missed so the chances of just coming across them in this 21 square miles of forest and beach seemed remote. (It says 50 square miles on the wikipedia site but as it is about 6 ~ 7 miles tall by 3 wide I can't see how it is even half that.)

The sun reluctantly made an appearance as we got to the north shore. Nick was a little hungover and quieter than usual, but we both enjoyed the muted beauty of the forest and beach with the hazy sun streaming through the trees. I was a little frustrated about the lack of butterflies - there really should have been more signs of them - but tried not to let it taint the glorious run in fabulous surroundings.

Without any stops to photograph butterflies we made very good time round the perimeter of the forest. We saw, in the far distance, seals below the tide line, hauled out on the sand. I had seen reports of folk at Tayport getting too close taking photos and causing stampedes of whole colonies into the sea.

We went round to Morton Lochs. I had hoped there might be an early season damselfly or 2. I thought at first I might have seen a couple but may have been mistaken as a thorough examination of the Drainage Ditch only turned up Green Tiger Beetles. I say only, but they are superb and dazzling iridescent colours in the sun. Every time I see them I think they should be larger as they are larger characters in my mind. There was little of note at the lochs although we saw loads of the usual suspects butterfly-wise near the first of the hides - Orange Tips, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Whites etc but they were all fired up by the sunshine and reluctant to sit still for a photo.

I was surprised and saddened to see the trees that surrounded the bird feeding stumps had been removed. I later learned that it was due to storm damage and not land management. It is a shame as it has ruined the spot for seeing wildlife. There were still a few birds visiting but much fewer than last time when the place was surrounded by a dense tree cover giving the woodland creatures a feeling of security and instant shelter if they felt spooked. 

Nick chilling at the drainage ditch.

Green Tiger Beetle

As we ran across the forest back to the East side

hundreds of these flew up off the path ahead of us.

strong runners, strong fliers

With the day warming up I felt there might be more chance of butterflies on the return route and suggested we run back over to the East shoreline and double check it for hairstreaks. I was surprised I couldn't even see any blaeberries and looked for alternative foodplants and similar shrubs they might inhabit. Still nothing doing. 

We checked out these plants near the car park. A few days later I would find Hairstreaks on these same shrubs at Red Moss in the Pentlands. But here, today, there was no sign. 😢 We had a cold drink from the mobile kiosk then headed back the same way we'd come. It really is a lovely part of the world.

ducks near Jack's place in St. Andrews

21 fabulous miles
Big thanks to Nick for the run there and the pizza!