best part of the day: holyrood happy

Tuesday 5 April 2022

holyrood happy

27th March

Another great forecast and I was unsure of where to target for butterflies and birds. My legs were a bit trashed from the long run the day before, so it made sense to stay local and check out a couple of spots in Holyrood. Wells o' Wearie was the first place. A potentially good spot for orange tips. Amazingly, Ken had spotted a small copper near there the other day about a month ahead of schedule! Just into the park and I bumped into Matt who was out doing some early Sunday miles. We chatted for a bit about long events like the Fling and WHW.

greenfinch

chaffinch

speckled wood

I stopped to have a look at the blossoming bushes near the Commie Pool roundabout. There were a couple of peacock butterflies there so I took some pics and while I was standing there a browny grey shape flitted into the background. First speckled wood of my year! I was very pleased although it neither hung about nor came any closer. A good start to the day, in fact the highlight.

I was glad to see the men had stopped working on Samson's Ribs and it was possible once more to access the Innocent Railway and Wells o' Wearie. The fence had been repaired and now the only way in was over the wall beside the large boulders. It had dried up considerably since last visit and was very pleasant in the sunshine. A grazing rabbit almost ignored my presence. It looked like someone's pet rather than a wild animal. A willow with all its catkins out was the prime spot for butterflies and was being attended by a comma and a peacock (and small tortoiseshell nearby judging by the photos).

Every year a pair of canada geese set up home here and nest on the small ponds. They are very wary once nesting has begun, so I assume it hasn't started yet because when I threw them some seeds they came over for a friendly chat and even took some from my hand.

comma

peacock

small tortoiseshell

Then Ken turned up. I congratulated him on the small copper and he said he'd show me where it turned up (over the cyclepath in the cattle field.) No sign of anything there now. We went past the shouty man (shirtless and long-haired dude often seen around Holyrood). I said hello and nice day rather than blank him as we were standing right beside him looking at the flora, but he felt I might have been looking for an argument and said something defensive and vaguely aggressive. I didn't want him bringing my day down and made to leave (he had just been exchanging unfriendly comments with the last couple to go past) but Ken was more up for some interaction and didn't back down. We were both surprised at how inarticulate shouty man was given his propensity for lecturing. If you google him he comes up in various forums that suggest his name is Adam and he is almost universally described as having issues, possibly mental health issues. And regularly being asked to leave gyms. Also not worth engaging with. In short a bit of a twat. I hope his residency at the green hairstreak/NBA layby is shortlived and he chooses somewhere else to sit on his idiot's throne.

Next up we checked out the Duddingston steps and the blossoming shrubs there. Initially nothing but as I was on my way back up we bumped into this comma, possibly the same one that was landing on Mairi later the same day. It would sit on a prominent perch and wasn't overly bothered about having people get quite close for photos.

Ken went to eat his lunch in the community garden next door - I climbed up Crow Hill to see if there were any red admirals or wheatears up there. Which there weren't. But the view was worth the hike.

From there I descended to Hunter's Bog. I have failed to find any frogs or toads this year so far and have seen loads of folk posting photos. Sure enough the swamp in the centre of the Bog was full of toads swimming about and clambering over each other. And patches of spawn. Quite difficult to get decent photos as the water was murky. There were also a couple of crows looking for luckies. One pulled a leach out and left it to dry on the grass. It looked like it had tasted leach before and it wasn't a good memory.

looking for luckies

As I was on my way out the Bog there was a huge willow in full bloom and it provided the best photos of the day. There were at least 2 or 3 peacocks and they were the freshest specimens I'd seen this year. One had startlingly blue eye spots on the rear wings. They were quite flightly so I had to work hard to get close enough for decent photos. There were also some small birds flitting about between the branches. They were even harder to see and photograph. They looked like chiffchaffs. (And a chaffinch.) Which are pretty much identical to willow warblers. I thought being a willow there was a chance that's what these were but I think the general feedback I got from others who know better was they are chiffchaffs. (The best way to tell apart is the call which they weren't making. Other "differences" are leg colour, beak shape and some other nearly identical markings.) It is even worse than the rock/meadow pipit thing. Or the small pearl-bordered vs pearl-bordered. And goes beyond my limit of interest. 😁