hazy day down Gullane way

Sat.29th June

A bit of a haze down the coast, but very pleasant and warm. Mary suggested we run roads/trails to Yellowcraigs then back via the beach. Since this would cover my preferred haunts for DGFs and other butterflies I readily agreed. In the car drinking coffee and eating scones we were met by another runner and his wife. Who can guess from the reg plate below who saw us and stopped? (GG??!)

yellowcraigs stowed out!

much pleasantness

When we got to the Chinese Privet there was some Frit action but not a great deal and I put in a request to loiter till the sun appeared. We had a mooch about and I discovered where the DGFs hang out when not flying. (Just up the hill a bit and just off the trail on the Thyme or in the long grass.) BTW in the Thomas / Lewington book Butterflies of Britain and Ireland, the illustrations for Dark Green Fritillaries include one on what looks a lot like Chinese Privet. 

when the sun disappears they fold their wings and shut down

yellow shell moth

I wouldn't have thought it possible to get this close to a DGF. However when the sun goes in (like Orange Tips and Common Blues) they seem to shut down almost completely. This one was happy to sit on my finger until the sun came back out when it spread its wings then took off and rejoined the squadron. Given they are one of the more tricky insects to get close to I was very surprised by this. Also they can look massive and powerful when they zoom past at 60mph. On my finger this one looked really very small and tame by comparison. My apologies for tarnishing the DGF's rep. (Otherwise known as the orange terrors!)

 

ringlet

beetle waving hello

had a quick stop at the decking chair

sun trying to break through

we bumped into Rosie (again) who was very pleased to see us!

Mary, Rosie, Olive

Just as we were getting back towards Gullane we came across an emergence of these 5 spot Burnet moths. You could see their pupa cases from which they had climbed like empty bags. Several were doing their best to make the next generation. They, like the DGFs, appear at the beginning of July and cheer up the coastal paths for 2 or 3 weeks. Unlike the Fritillaries, the Burnets are slow moving. They do not need to evade predators because they produce hydrogen cyanide which keeps them off the menu of most birds and small mammals. This makes them easier subjects to photograph. Lovely end to a very pleasant run.

mating next to pupa case