Okay so, lots of great days being out in the summer sun taking photos. In order to compress 2 days at Aberlady/Gullane I have put them both here on the same report. The first was an absolute delight - Thursday 9th July and possibly the height of the Summer - superb weather, maybe a little too hot and sunny, and a solo cycle to and saunter round the nature reserve and then past a couple of spots in Gullane and back the John Muir Way. Virtually the same circuit I'd done with Colin and Joan 4 days previous.
The second was a run I did with Mary - more about the scenery and less focussing on the butterflies, though some of them snuck in as well. I think it was one of Mary's first runs in East Lothian since Lockdown and great fun. I'm not going to say which was better; they were both excellent. I enjoyed getting a lift home in the Berlingo as opposed to cycling home into the prevailing headwind. But I maybe got more immersed in the wildlife on the solo trip there. Here are the pics.
Immediately after Marl Loch the place was alive with Blues and DGFs. There was no need to chase them. If one flew off, you just waited ten seconds and another appeared. It has been a fantastic year for Common Blues in East Lothian (as far as I can tell - not fully explored due to Lockdown.) Also in Holyrood. Fritillaries are maybe slightly down on last year's bumper crop but there were no shortage of them in early July.
The problem starts when you've got both a Blue and a Fritillary in your sights - which one to focus on. I would alternate from one to the other trying to keep an eye on both. Enough to make you dizzy. There was a patch of mouse-ear-hawkweed (those yellow not-dandelions, above) that was buzzing with blues and DGFs and all this within the first mile. Great start to the day. I knew it was going to be a good one.
dazzling fresh Blue
lots of burnet moths about
common blue female
very recently emerged
love the fluffy blue hair on the trailing edge of the forewings
the vipers bugloss was heaving with 6-spot burnets
I had to remember to take photos of the ringlets and meadow browns if I saw any in flattering surroundings, which wasn't often. There were so many more interesting distractions. But I wanted to get a realistic record of as many insects and plants local to the area.
meadow brown
yellow shell moth
hummer!
One of the highlights of the day was this (above) hummingbird hawk-moth. I have only seen them on about 5 occasions and a couple of those were abroad. This one was next to the golf course. There is a junction and you choose between going towards the beach or Gullane Point. I followed the footpath to the latter and about 300 yards on, as the hill climbs I saw this hummer at the vipers bugloss. They are very tricky to photograph: their wings are a blur and they zip lightening fast between flowers. I remembered the best way to record them is video and took about 7 seconds of video before this one disappeared in the blink of an eye. The video was very poor and the photo above is a screen shot of it cropped. Given a year can pass without sight of one of these amazing little creatures I was stoked to see this one. I maybe saw another up the top of the hill at Gullane while checking for H Blues. It was gone in the blink of an eye but given they move like nothing else I'm pretty sure it was a second.
After checking out the relevant places for Holly Blues about Gullane (still no sign) I returned to Aberlady via the JMW. There were a couple of large patches of purple flowering thistles which I knew from the trip with C&J were busy with RAs and DGFs. To minimise grass seeds and thistle thorns going inside my shoes I had worn running mini-gaiters. Which worked partially. However I feel a portable suit of armour or at least very fine chain mail would be the only way to wade into chest high thistles (with a side dish of nearly invisible but vicious nettles) without a great deal of discomfort. However the photos (nearly) make it all worth it. I tried to tip toe through them without breaking the stems or crushing this rich source of nectar for the butterflies.
Just round the corner and a really brilliant finish to the day there were loads of bright purple flowers which I think are knapweed. On the centre of nearly every flower was a small skipper. If you approached too quickly they would fly off like mini helicopters: a very fast wingbeat almost bee-like, but slowish speed. I got in close for macro shots moving as slowly and stealthily as possible. The knapweed flowers made excellent colourful podiums on which to display these charming butterflies and I lost myself, completely absorbed in getting in as close as possible while not standing in my own light trying to see what was in focus, in effect becoming a butterfly. After three and a half hours in the sun it is not difficult to have a mystical experience.
sun says halo
gaiters were good for minimal protection but really need full length
chain mail trousers for wading into the thistles and undergrowth
a smidge over 8 miles
which took a sedate 3hrs41mins
5 days later and back for a run this time....
By happy accident we bumped into Lucy and Kathy (parking right beside us!) who had had the same idea but were taking their dogs. Kathy was under the impression I wasn't terribly keen on dogs. Nothing of the sort! I'm just not keen on badly behaved dogs. 😂
organised chaos!
They were going to NB and back whereas we were going in the opposite direction to Aberlady then back along the coast. I felt there was a good chance we'd meet on their return from NB as we were planning on going to Yellowcraigs.
Quick check at the (public toilet) buddleia and california lilac bushes
but just one Small T-shell.
At one point running along the seafront I realised we were stranded from the rest of the beach by a large pond inland from where we were running. Had to double back about half a mile or get wet feet. I didn't want to get brand new trail shoes soaked through with seawater so doubled back - you can see the distance on the map at the bottom of the page.
you can see the large beach pools we had to avoid
DGF taking the piss.
Hiding behind a blade of grass, then flying off before I got a decent photo.
A friend was asking about butterfly whispering and getting close enough to get decent photos. Stealth and moving slowly (no sudden jerks) is usually the best way forward though there will be many opportunities that are marred by blades of grass or just the flightiness of butterflies. Patience and the joy of getting close to these miniature flying paintings is about all I can say. Stick at it. There will be MANY crappy photos on the way to nirvana. You'll probably never get the perfect shot. But you will get a feel for when (male) butterflies are flapping from flower to flower without ever stopping and when it's not worth chasing them. (On the upside they, like me/you, are looking for other butterflies so you know you are in the right place. Just don't waste energy chasing them; or follow them with your eye and wait to see if they settle or not. Sometimes it is worth climbing walls and running through nettles, sometimes not! Good training for the cross country season!)
That's what keeps my interest - trying to hone the process, trying to get a great shot even though some days it's like all the wee bastards have conspired to be as annoying as possible. For every shot that makes this blog there are maybe 15 deletes because they were just not very sharp, or there was a blade of grass or I pressed the button a fraction of a second too late and photographed an empty flower head for the 100th time. And many thousands of sweary words! If it were easy it wouldn't be so rewarding.
often stop for a chat with the cheerful ice cream lady
I went inland to look for butterflies while M went across the beach. I could see she had gained ground quickly (below) while I chased DGFs and skippers, so I had to leg it through the dunes sharpish to catch her on the other side of the beach. I then belted down to the propeller cone bush to check that for DGFs, while Mary went directly towards the gatehouse beside the main road haivng decided Yellowcraigs was beyond her remit for the day. There was bugger all at the Chinese privet. It has just not flowered as fully as last year (possibly the bone dry springtime?) and as a result has been rubbish for butterflies. It was such a bonanza last year I have been reluctant to admit just how useless it has been this year and will continue to check it out every time I am in the vicinity. However it was desolate and after a quick 2 min frenzied local search I got back on the trail and bombed up to Mary. I had one last place to check out - the buddleias and snowberries near the gatehouse on the JMW so sprinted past M to there, where there was also very little to see. A solitary but rather splendid Tortoiseshell. Lovely run in one of the prettiest parts of the Lothians. With some excellent speed work.
further in less time
12.5 miles in 2hrs40
