big wood pt1

 

24th Aug

The first of three weekly late-Summer trips to Saltoun Big Wood. This is an annual pilgrimage primarily in search of comma butterflies, but also with dragonflies and end-of-season butterflies in mind. I was a little concerned I'd be too early for the commas, which I have previously found in mid-September on flowering scabious plants on the back trail. But even if they weren't there, there'd be plenty of other things to take photos of, especially round the edges of the ponds. 

I cycled. I think it might be possible to do a multi-bus trip there involving more than one bus company and frankly way too much faff, but easier to do a 70minute stomp on the pedals along to Musselburgh,  up the hill to Tranent, past Pencaitland to West Saltoun, then up the hill. 17 miles and plenty downhill for the journey home. I know there is a cyclepath from Crossgatehall but a memory of a strimmed hawthorn twig with 2 long thick spines puncturing my tyre, still pierces my peace of mind. The roads are quiet after rush hour. I would rather spend my ride there considering the amount of sunshine (and whether the dragonflies will be out in abundance,) than changing a tube or fiddling with pump and patches. Sometimes, as on this occasion, I take the cyclepath home. 

When I arrived, moist and breathing heavily, with a new pb of 65 minutes to the gate, (on 2.2" tyred mtb), I was swithering about visiting the ponds or going straight to the back trail. I have seen precious few commas this year and the thought of 20 or 30 (see last year's blog here) of them sat on trail-side flowers is as welcome as if they were £20 notes for the collecting. However I'd have to cycle past the ponds. And with the sun out there'll be lots of hawkers and darters buzzing the pond perimeter. I have a quick shufti and a moment later I am parking my bike up against a tree and hurriedly getting the camera out the pannier bag.

I have seen a black darter sat low on the grass (high tariff) and a common hawker (highest tariff) sat just a short way beyond that. The commas can wait. A Common Hawker is likely the largest dragonfly at these ponds and they frustratingly never seem to land, but constantly patrol the pond edges, looking for lady hawkers. I also find them nearly impossible to photograph in flight so a settled one is a rare treat. Record shots are taken from a great distance. I close in employing much ninja stealth and slowly slowly catchy monkey technique. It flies off long before I get near it, but I got a couple of decent photos on the approach, and all-in-all it is a great omen for the day's fun. 

common hawker

common darter

black darters mating

common darter

I spend about 45mins slowly exploring round the pond. Often you disturb mating pairs of dragonflies in the shrubs or foliage behind the pond so worth approaching with caution and not chasing them off by thrashing around. I also examined tree trunks - looking for resting hawkers. Birch especially. 

Lots of black darters including a mating pair which is good for getting a reminder of what a female looks like - not entirely black but with ochre elements. Dozens of emerald damselflies. And plenty other buzzing and biting insects. 

black darter

emerald damselfly

favourite pond - first left as you come up the hill

After maybe 45 minutes I felt I had had my fill of pond life and cycled up to the back trail "butterfly alley" to see what was there. 

At first it seemed alarmingly devoid of life. An occasional peacock, but little apart from that. I was trying not to hear the shout of NO COMMAS going on in my head. A hawker or 2 were patrolling up and down the trail and taking a good look at me every time they zipped past. They can be drawn to blue colours and shiny bits of bike parts (or mirrored sunglasses lenses), but seem to understand the notion of larger predators and keep their distance while coming back for another look. I have wondered how they would respond to a more yellow and black outfit - in similar shades to the female hawkers. It seems like too much trouble to go to, to make a giant lady dragonfly costume and haul it all the way to Big Wood. But the photos might make it worthwhile. 

I must have seen this hawker landing, as I can't imagine I just
noticed it there - being well camouflaged in the conifer

I was surprised and pleased there were still a few Walls about
although many were beginning to fade and were a bit worn. 

highlight of the day was a Painted Lady

Just one Painted Lady. Given how thin on the ground they have been this year I was delighted to come across this one. It wasn't very flighty and quickly got used me following it as it hopped from flower to flower, never leaving the immediate area. I took dozens of shots, (possibly hundreds!) because there were fewer commas and admirals than I'd hoped. But also because it was a fantastic specimen in excellent shape.

Again fewer Admirals than I thought there'd be. This might have been the only one. Maybe another one or 2 but not any kind of numbers. It's difficult to tell because I'd lay down my bike and then walk way up and down the trail following whatever flew past. Lost in a kind of dreamy semi-hypnotic space. But I don't think I ever saw 2 RAs at the same time. 

There is a ditch on either side of the path that discourages me from leaning the bike up against the trees. It is the one time I wish I had a kick stand. Just for tidiness I put the bike in the ditch on one occasion. Then wandered quite some distance further up the trail. Then, some time later, remembered my wallet and worldly goods were in my pannier bag for burglars and evil doers to help themselves. Although I had seen fewer than one person per hour I reckoned I shouldn't be just quite so laid back and made my way back round the corner to check up on wallet, bike and pannier to find I couldn't see it anywhere. I only just managed to avoid a major panic splurge by walking a bit further to where eventually I could see handle bars peaking through the long ditch grass. "Arse!"

a few speckleds about
more in and around the trees than low on flowers

But mostly I'd just be lost in the moment - seeing a butterfly I wanted to photo and following it from flower to flower until I got it or until it flew off. It becomes a meditative and mindful process and probably does all the good stuff that therapies like forest bathing, tree hugging and foraging hope to. I feel rich from collecting treasure in the woods without removing anything apart from images.

a couple of coppers about - from older and tatty to this fairly new one

old small skipper

wall

At last I came across a comma or 2. (Whew! Mission accomplished!) Not very many, but in decent nick, so I thought it was just I had arrived too early to find the usual 20 or more, up and down this path. The next couple of trips suggested that they had had a poor season and there weren't many about (compared to last year). But very jolly to see a couple of good looking specimens and to chase them as they hopped from scabious to scabious. Being nearly weightless they do not shy away from hanging upside down.

the heather makes a great background colour

It is easy to take new stuff for granted. Especially tech stuff. Like broadband - can you even remember the noises of dial-up? Can you? (Here is a link to remind you! Heady nostalgia!) A kind of blurble blurble b'ding b'ding. And the accompanying speed of data transfer. 2 weeks after you get broadband you've forgotten to thank your lucky stars, and complain bitterly if speed drops off to 5 times what your dial-up used to do going at peak performance. Anyway my point is hey just look at those pictures from last year and those from this.

The new camera is just brilliant and well worth the price and the large size and weight I have to hump about in a back pack or pannier bag. Here is the same set up from last year of a comma on a scabious taken with the compact. It made the grade for last year's blog. Notice the difference. Not huge, but defo like the jump from whatever is one step below HD, up to about 4K quality. The new camera (FZ 2000) can still take bad pics but overall the standard is noticeably better and process of taking photos is easier, (focus is more controllable), more zoom, more pleasurable and with a higher percentage of successful photos. Not surprising really, but worth just saying now and again. (Like praise be for broadband!)

image from last year
not shite, but with room for improvement!

pair of walls discussing matrimony
(decided against it in the end)

After the best part of 2 hours I went back down to the ponds to see if there was any further dragonfly action needing recorded. I came across a comma which was sitting on a tree protection sheath. When it flew off from there I wasn't able to follow it so that was that. I took a once around the pond. It is quite thick with brambles and nettles but is worth the hardships as you come across dragonflies perched on the end of sticks and plants. If disturbed they will often to return to a favourite perch or another nearby, so worth standing still and following their flightpath. I would often try to get a decent background for the photo by moving to a better position. Other times you can't move about much, and have to make the most of what is in front of you. 

about as good as my in-flight hawker shots get

last comma of the day

black darter

common darter, uncommon background loveliness

another quality background

not much of a background so just crop to dragonfly

I enjoyed this trip a lot. So much I did the same the next 2 weeks. Each produced slightly different results with a fair bit of overlap, and will be blogged here in due course.

there on the road, back on the cyclepath (after Pencaitland)