summertime special

July 8th 2019

This was a superb day's butterflying and running back in early July. The weather was nearly ideal and I can't think of a better way to spend a Monday! What little wind there was, was blowing East to West so I caught the train to North Berwick and ran back towards Edinburgh. I had no great plans other than to photograph anything interesting along the way with a leaning towards the Dark Green Fritillary. They are one of the highlights of the butterfly year and only really flying during July. I was keen to get a few more photos. I had got a few already but the season for them is so short I wanted to pack as much DGF joy into it as possible. They are not the easiest of subjects but one of the most handsome. And this year has been tremendous for them. Possibly due to the success of the long dry Summer we had last year. The dunes just inland from Aberlady and Gullane shoreline have been very busy with them especially at their favourite foodplants red clover, chinese privet and thistle flowers.

how many spaniels is enough?

Towards Yellowcraigs the station coffee was working its magic and I diverted to the toilet block there. I met Alan and Mark who had spent the night in tents near the beach with their offspring. Which is considerably more adventurous than any camping exploits I have made this Summer. (The bivy bag remains unused still.) Great to see them in fine spirits trolleying equipment back and forth to the car park. They were going for a run shortly after and I hoped my dawdling due to butterflies would allow them to catch up. (Unfortunately not.)

Olive (of Olive and Rosie) referred to these large unsophisticated buildings (near Archerfields) behind fences as prison-like. I like some of the wood panelling but for the same price you could surely make something a little smaller with a bit more feeling that an architect had been involved at some stage. Who needs 16 room shoeboxes anyway? I'm guessing it is to attract footballers and golfers, so style and design isn't high on the agenda. 

hoverfly waving hiya!

I was excited to get to the Chinese Privet bushes near the Propeller Folly at Archerfield. There are many of these shrubs along the coast but this cluster seems to attract more than its share of insects, including lots of DGFs. As I arrived the clouds were temporarily over the sun and as I was feeling a little tired after the weekend running and an earlyish start, I thought how lovely it would be to lie down on the soft short grass between the bushes, only rising, like the butterflies, when the sun reappeared. My bucolic bliss was tempered moments later when I could feel a tickling on my leg. It's just a blade of grass I told myself, relax. But the blade of grass continued to tickle and an inspection proved ants were running about my leg. I brushed them off and moved 4 yards to the left to lie down once more, eyes closed and dreaming of.....  more tickling, but this time on my ears. And head and bald patch. I leapt up to find my head and shoulders had been resting on the epi-centre of the anthill and I was covered in them. I jumped about swatting them off me wondering if the golfers were watching this dancing fool.

ghostly remains of a Painted Lady

The sun came back out although the skies didn't clear that much. I stuck around for a while taking photos and definitely NOT lying on the grass. (I have just checked the gps output and I actually hung around the area for over an hour, something no other runner would happily tolerate, which is why I prefer to do these sorts of "run" on my own. I have very little idea of what kept me there for an hour but I seem to have covered a half mile just walking back and forth around the same small area, presumably looking for DGFs etc. on the surrounding plants.

I was pleased with this shot of a Meadow Brown. They are not the most accommodating of creatures, nor the most spectacular. So if you can get a decent shot of one (this is maybe only the third "decent" shot I have taken of one this year) then you are doing something right. I view this as a challenge that increases my interest in this otherwise pretty bland and flighty species.

 a few newly emerged Small Ts about

ringlet

lots of DGF action in the long grasses making photos nearly impossible

Next port of call was near the decking chair Ava and her Dad built. There is a wee patch of flowering thyme and what not, just below the climb and nicely out the wind. Lots of butterflies flew up from these twin patches either side of the path so I stood still long enough for them to reappear and start to land back on the flower heads again. A small skipper or 2, a common blue, a couple of small coppers with some meadow browns and ringlets messing around in the background.

small copper - always a treat

decking chair

As I ran on I passed this DGF which was so intent on removing as much nectar from this thistle as possible it didn't mind me taking photos from a respectable distance. A hoverfly seemed to be enjoying using the fritillary as a parasol and was weirdly dogging it as it moved from head to head.

the red clover proved immensely popular with butterflies

small skipper on viper's bugloss

meadow brown sychro team

I often stop to talk to the Gullane ice cream van lady as she is very chatty and is "interested" to hear what is happening in butterfly world. Sometimes I even buy a bottle of water.

Gullane bay

gvw

Aberlady beach. Tide was spectacularly low.

normally the subs are close to the water

I could see there was a weather front moving in from the West. Large dark clouds hung over Edinburgh and Pentlands. I had considered running most of the way home if the weather held but this would put an end to the butterfly photos and I had already been out for ages. When I hit Aberlady village I had been out for 5hrs30 and only covered 12 miles. I had thought I would check the timetable at the bus stop and if one was coming I'd just catch it before the heavens opened. Before I got to the stop a bus whizzed by. I sped up but it was long gone by the stop. Curses. I checked the timetable - not only was it a couple of mins early (the B@sta*rd) - but the next one was something like half an hour. I channeled my displeasure into forward motion deciding to sprint to Longniddry, 4 miles down the road. I put the camera away and legged it, working up a good sweat over the fastest 4 miles of the day, turning poor luck into a good proper workout. 

Last of the good stuff: there were quite a few DGFs and some Blues on the red clover just before Marl Loch at Aberlady. I was reluctant to hang around too long though as the weather was moving in quickly to put an end to the day.

The last butterfly of the day was this ringlet which had got itself tapped (or cleverly sheltered) in the platform shelter at Longniddry. It wasn't for being "rescued" so I just took a photo before the train arrived. 

16 miles over 6+ hrs

one of the best days this year for this sort of thing!