best part of the day: March 2022

19th March
The weather gods were promising blue skies and the temperatures suggested it might just be the first proper butterfly day of the year. I opted for inland East Lothian and a route I had been constructing in my head.

I knew I wanted to target the River Tyne between Haddington and East Linton. But the nearest train stations are on the North Berwick line. I knew the disused railway line, now a cyclepath, went from Longniddry to Haddington. And figured out a way back from E Linton to Drem on what seemed mostly trails or, at worst, nearly traffic free country backroads. I ran my thoughts past Bruce who knows the area and all the best trails from cycling there. He refined the route a little which was fun and added an element of unknown to a day that was building huge excitement in my head. That and a station coffee and by the time I left the train I was fairly frantic. I pointed the camera at everything I saw and took 50 minutes to cover the first 3 miles, (twice normal.)

chiffchaffs were everywhere

yellowhammer

insects on my mind

zombie chiffchaff

Now, this I saw hung in the brambles. I thought it was maybe Angelina Ballerina and felt it was a lucky charm or a fairy blessing me with luck. And it seemed to work, despite the facts that Angelina Ballerina is an animated mouse and I'd got my references crossed and also it is not a fairy: doesn't actually have wings or a wand which I only noticed later. Put that down to the coffee. Honestly when you don't have caffeine for 3 weeks and then gulp down a Pret filter coffee (with soy milk) (up to £1.50 but still acceptable) it can put all sorts of nonsense into one's head.

now that is how to focus!

it's a sign - knew I'd be seeing a Red Admiral!
(maybe not 25 though)

much revision or tall Steve the runner?

This is one of the most unusual street names in Haddington and it always catches my eye as I run past. It is also remarkable for being near the place of several sightings of a Brimstone butterfly that have been made this year. In a garden about here and down by the river. So if you are there around the middle of the day keep your eyes open for a large yellow flutterer. They are possibly the latest species making inroads to Scotland (due to global warming?) and more specifically East Lothian. Weirdly they seem to have hopscotched past the Borders and landed in East Lothian and were seen more times (at the end of last season) than would suggest just an errant migrant. At the time of this run the one(s) local to Haddington hadn't appeared. It is exciting news. (Although of all the English species, it is not the one I would have chosen/hoped to break new ground in Scotland. But I'd take its photo if it crossed my path!)

goosander (f)

wren

Noooo, don't duck down behind that!

this female bullfinch had 3 male suitors nearby

I am a treat though!

over the bridge at Haddington

Finding this peacock just the other side of the bridge - sunning itself on the riverside cobbles - was fab. I probably would have exploded if it wasn't for the break in late January when we snuck over to Tenerife for a fortnight of sunshine and butterflies. That holiday quenched much of the butterfly thirst building during the long cold Winter and absence of butterflies here. Looking back, the last of 2021 was an admiral on 10th November. Which makes it 4 full months between 2021 butterflies and 2022. (Excluding Tenerife.) I did see an outlier on Feb 27th but it didn't stop to say hello. Today - the 19th March really marks the start of the season, with several species appearing (spoiler alert.) I felt confident it wouldn't be the last specimen today and I wasn't wrong.

And it was a pretty obliging subject - flying up onto the sandstone bricks of the nearby wall and sitting for as many photos as I wanted to shoot. As you can imagine I took many more than the 2 here but they cover all the angles so let's not overdo it. Just go run along the river and see if there's anything else!

This chiffchaff was sitting here and shouting at the top of its voice. So I stopped running and took a photo. It was continuing to perform so I thought I should shoot some video. I began to film it then realised I had been holding my breath all this while and was about to expire. Which explains the shoogle.

I totally love this photo. I am not a horsey person. My sister is. I am not. But I love the colours of the horse in this (contrasting with the green of the grass and trees) and the focus being on the horse. And the orange roof tiles in the background and the composition. It was taken with less thought than all the things I have mentioned here and mostly just luck - one of these photos you realise afterwards is very pleasing, mostly as the result of a happy accident.

All along the riverside I was watching for butterflies. I'm not sure why I stopped at this clump of pussy willow, perhaps the chaffinch and blue tit were just nearby. Anyway it turned out to be the next incident of butterflies and couldn't have been much better; as first a small tortoiseshell materialised, swiftly followed by another peacock and then, realising I had a red admiral, I shouted out loud. Not hugely exotic but at this time of the year they are scarce. And also pretty much conclusive evidence of them overwintering in this country.

They were not thought to be among the species doing that up until recently. Thomas and Lewington's Butterflies of Britain and Ireland revised in 2014 strenuously denies RAs hibernate and insists they all arrive here from France or elsewhere at the start of the year and all migrate or die by the end, leaving just caterpillars to overwinter. Perhaps the facts have changed due to climate change, and the warmer climate is allowing more hibernation. See pp 176 Hibernation myth!

small tortoiseshell

2nd peacock
note fly on left forewing

not freshly emerged from chrysalis
but more likely hibernation

fly now adjusting antenna to get decent signal

By the way, this glut of video clips is due to me realising I can reduce the size of a clip dramatically by sieving it through editing software that translates a 125mb clip to less than 10. At which point it becomes small enough to post here. The audio lends much to the atmosphere of the day as well as seeing the critters move about! It did seem unfortunate not to be able to post the videos I take on this blog since Panasonic cameras produce particularly fine quality video.

Eventually (15mins and 208 photos later) I hauled myself away and continued downstream, where I saw the next peacock about 20 minutes later. This continued at a similar rate and I eventually counted more than 10 peacocks, all of them within 30 yards of the river.

one of the best condition peacocks
unfortunately it didn't hang around

grey wagtail

painted hare at East Linton

Lunch from the coop included Portuguese custard tarts!

After a sandwich and drink I continued further downstream. I would have to return over the same ground but was drawn to a stretch of riverside just below Polton Mill often worth a visit. And it only adds another mile or so to the overall distance. I was right about the area as it contained 3 pairs of courting tortoiseshell, which up till now had been scarce. Again it was all about the pussy willow.

When I arrived at the spot there was 2 birds who immediately hopped into the trees. The male (or maybe another species?) looked interesting but I didn't get a photo. The female is as above. I was cursing the lack of decent photos when I came across a pair of tortoiseshells that got my full attention. The male was trying to encourage the female by tapping very gently on her wings with his antennae and flapping his wings. She wasn't very receptive as you can see in the video. He was undeterred and followed her as she moved downstream. I was also moving downstream and thought it was the same pair I caught up with 2 mins later. However when I looked more closely at the photos I realise there was as many as 3 pairs in a 200 yard stretch. I felt this area was my best bet to find a comma, having found them here before. Not today though.

pair one

the pursuit of love
(or at least procreation)

pair 2

pair 3 (upper with closed wings)

Just to confuse me this buzzard interrupted my studies by flying overhead
with 2 offspring which it appeared to be herding.

Some of the day's best shots were here in what was great afternoon light. A peacock and tortoiseshell were clambering about the Willow and not bothered about me getting fairly close. I kept checking for other species, particularly comma, but no deal. I eventually left although I was beginning to feel a bit tired and did not relish the 8 miles back to Drem, a lot of it up hill.

Traprain Law from Pencraig Hill, beside the A1.

a murder above and beyond the Law
(though probably jackdaws not crows)

Probably the same buzzard I saw in the tree last time I was along this way. It flew off almost as soon as I moved towards it last time - this time it only saw me after it had landed on this pole. Looked a bit sheepish then took off again. Despite their weaponry they are very shy.

linnets!
(again - after misidentifying them last time)

I began to wonder if I was hallucinating when I saw this strange plant/tree in someone's garden. It looked fig like and yet probably wasn't growing figs in E Lothian. And seemed to be short of foliage. Do let me know if you know what it is.

After the unpeasantness of a small section of big (pavementless) road it is good to get offroad and up the hill to Athelstaneford. Then across this field. That sign on the horizon says Drem 2 miles and although there's a bit more up hill there's longer downhill. And I knew I'd make the next train though the remaining minutes insisted I run rather than walk or dawdle.