pentlands double bill

18th and 19th June

Still recovering from all the hilliness of the 7 Hills I was surprised Mary suggested a run in the Pentlands. Having a secondary motive of visiting Red Moss to check it out for Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries I readily agreed and we headed to Balerno via Carlyle's Cafe next to Balerno Post Office. Can't remember who recommended this place but it does great coffee and cake.

Since Mary isn't that bothered about butterfly chasing we planned to do the running bit first then afterwards she might sit in the car reading a book while I chased butterflies.

Early on we got distracted by wildlife. First up was this Dor Beetle. I had found a dead one a couple of years back and knew their undersides are a vivid iridescent purple / blue colour. They are more commonly known as dung beetles. (Geotrupes stercorarius.) I love that their legs end in 3 claws one of which is a grappling hook with another claw. We took lots of photos and it was happy to pose and wave.

waving... hiya!

The iridescent undersides - also carrying a family of mites
It may be they are just hitching a lift to the next feeding opportunity.

Next up were 2 small frogs. They were not so keen to be pals at first and tried to skootch off superquick. They are almost impossible to photograph in the long grass so I carefully lifted them out for a quick photo. They looked my right in the eye as if assessing whether they were about to be eaten. When they found they weren't, they sat happily for a photo and a look around. Nearly identical, second one had fractionally darker markings.

After that wildlife it was time to run up some hills. I think we went up the Carnethy 5 route then at the shoulder turned right and across Scald Law and the kips, coming down the drove road.

Hail Mary, full of bounce.

Mary was so full of high spirits after all that, that initially she seemed to be up for a bit of butterflying. She came with me off the boardwalk at the back of Red Moss to travel West round the back of Bavelaw Marsh. It is unforgiving terrain and I was keen to get there quickly as it was after 3pm and the butterflies might be gone for the day. Mary got caught up in something of great interest and I may have been a bit harsh, shouting on her to get a move on. Of course she dug in her heels and I had to leave her and progress alone.

Things deteriorated further when I got to the fields where the butterflies should have been and there was nothing. I stomped around in a bad mood for a bit before returning empty-handed to apologise to Mary, who was having more fun photographing the damselflies at the wee pond on the boardwalk.

I was having trouble believing this was trip number 4 looking for these troublesome butterflies and still no joy. Each time involves at least a mile of stumbling over tussocky swampy ground and usually wet feet. I was beginning to feel the butt of a bad joke.

large red damselfly

Next day. 19th June.

The very next day there was a ranger survey to that same cursed field. Thanks Abbie for flagging that up. Last year I'd gone along on one which had alerted me to the presence of SP-B Frits in the Pentlands - you'd never normally go near their spot without very good reason. I had hoped to photograph them this year under my own steam however since this had failed spectacularly, and the weather on the 19th was nearly ideal, I dropped the rangers a quick email and got a reply saying sure, come along. It was good to catch up with Victor and volunteer ranger Alison. Also along for the survey were Alan and Angela, making 5 of us in all. 

venue 2

We started at the 2 small areas North of the car park, marked on the map as venue 1 and 2. We came across a Small Pearl at venue 2 but it disappeared before I could get  photo. However this was more heartening than any of the 4 trips previously and I hoped for great things from venue 3, the long trudge across the fields. There is also a small corner of wildflowers at the start of the boardwalk, where an occasional SPBF can be found, but there were none today.

Alison had great eyes for spotting the butterflies and soon was calling out that she'd seen one. Then another. You'd think it wouldn't be possible to miss a bright orange medium sized butterfly in a sea of green. But it is. Once your eye is in you quickly spot them. Often on the tops of flowering thistles or hiding in the long grass.

What struck me was they weren't brand new. They did not have the sheen of recently emerged and looked like they had been out for a few days at least. So how had I missed them the day before? It might have been they had stopped flying before I got there. I'm not really sure. (I did have a proper search and scan.) But it was the beginning of the end of my love affair with these dudes. I mean they are very pretty. (I LOVE all orange butterflies, in fact there's very few butterflies I'm not at least a little besotted with. But the orange ones are best!) However I felt I had had the wool pulled over my camera lens by these guys. And they continued to behave in a difficult manner. 

Or rather the circumstance and situation were making life tricky. There was a stiff wind so many of the Small Pearls were ducking down low and sitting in the long grass making it impossible to get a decent photo. Only occasionally would they brave the windy tops of thistles and cuckooflowers and I'd have about 10 seconds to see them, zoom in and try to grab a hasty shot before they shot off on the breeze. Then they'd be 200 yards away over ground you can only stumble over.

All in all I felt a bit short changed. I didn't get that much in the way of decent photos and while it was good to see the return of a healthy population clinging onto their foothold here, I suspect the venue does not lend itself to their easy observation and photography. I tried not to hold it against the actual butterflies, although at times you couldn't help but get the feeling they were in on it. My feelings were to check out other SPBF sites next year. Somewhere more contained and less exposed.

this is typical of the day's entertainment

our gang