golden fatboys!

 

11th June

The golden fatboys in question were broad-bodied chasers and all females. They had been first spotted in woods between Haddington and Gifford by those much wiser than I around the end of May. Possibly a new addition to the dragonflies of East Lothian? Alistair had noticed their addition to iRecord and gone along for a look and got some photos. He directed me towards this anonymous looking woodpile. I couldn't see any water nearby although Colstoun Water runs from Gifford towards Haddington before joining the Tyne. The woods seem to be known as Colstoun Woods. Although they are spelled Coalstoun Woods on my Suunto map. Also to help the confusion there are 2 large houses North West of the woods both within a stone's throw called Colstoun House and Coalstoun House. None of this is as important as these cracking dragonflies.

THE log pile

It is about 21.5miles to the log pile from my house, taking 1hr45 to get there. The day had failed to brighten up and I felt this might be a fool's errand which did not put me in the cheeriest of moods. The long grass and foliage around the log pile were saturated and I resented that I was about to get soggy socks traipsing about looking for absent dragonflies. And there were no good places to prop a bike up against. I did a cursory stomp through the damp grass wondering if a further 3 miles to Saltoun Big Wood would improve anything. Then I saw it. A large golden beauty, wasp yellow and considerably more substantial than a 4-spotted chaser. 

It was either newly emerged and a bit dozy or just having a snooze while the drizzle went off. It made a slight attempt to evade me. I took some record shots and then moved in close. When I slowly reached out it did not fly away from my warm hands but was happy to settle on my fingers for a photo. It climbed up to the top and warmed its wings in prep for a short flight into the bracken. I already knew it was well worth a 40 mile cycle. This creature was an absolute gem. 

most annoying stick of the day

I very cautiously moved that annoying stick out of the photo but the movement was enough to scare the BBC away. It flew off strongly this time. I was now confident there would be more, and ignored my soggy socks while doing larger circles through the very tussocky and brambly undergrowth. It was not easy ground to bushwhack through.

lacewing

I found several more but it was neither easy nor pleasant. The weather was continually threatening drizzle. I could see occasional breaks in the cloud but could also see large dark grey threatening skies moving my way. I decided to wait out one longer interval of shitty weather by cycling round the woods. The dragons seemed isolated in just one area although it was far from ideal weather for a hunt. Best to just pass the crap weather having a bit of an explore. 

Cycling round the woods (similar size or smaller than Saltoun Big Wood) went well until I got to the back straight where several trees had been blown over in recent storms. It was quite hard to get my bike past the first large tree - round rather than over. The next were smaller and hauling the bike up and over proved easier than going round. Another 5 or 6 smaller felled trees before I could cycle back to the logpile. It was now brighter and I spent a while chasing chasers. They were very much limited to the bracken around the logpile but not interested in the actual logpile itself. Difficult to know why they chose this area. 

loads of ticks including these larger than normal horrors

Every wander into the long grass and bracken produced 2 or 3 ticks on my bare legs which I would remove between jaunts into the undergrowth.

normal size tick

I decided the weather looked set to be windy and rainy and set off back into Haddington. The wood is at the top of a big hill so it was a nice zoom down said hill back towards Haddington. About a mile on and I saw a large patch of blue sky coming over the horizon heading directly for the wood where I'd just been. I turned the bike around (cursing) and slogged back up that very steep hill getting there just in time for half an hour of sunshine and some of the better photos of the day. In my hurry to get back to the logpile I cycled my bike from one tyre-track to the other not realising the grass between hid an 8 inch rise which my front wheel failed to negotiate. All of a sudden I went down and over the handlebars landing squarely on the top of my helmetted head, off the track into the long grass. My first reaction was to laugh out loud at this careless and undignified de-throning. Although it did cross my mind that if I had done it with considerably more force I could maybe have broken my neck and been lying there for quite some time in the long grass. And started the horror story, "I woke up considerably later, it was dark and cold and I had no idea where I was... "

silver Y moth
although they provoke interest, about the most boring and common moth there is

Both male and female broad-bodied chasers start off looking like this; the males then develop a powder blue colour on the less bright yellow body below the wings. I saw a couple of these zooming about but couldn't get close enough to one for a photo. You can tell all of these are females from the positioning of the claspers at the end of the body.

After a short respite the rain began to fall again. I had just found what I thought was a tawny owl feather and took a photo as I packed up and made to leave. Alistair later pointed out this was more likely a female pheasant feather. He had used similar for fly-tying in the past. I couldn't think of what large bird was brown and cream coloured, but had forgotten female pheasants. This is almost certainly the case as I had flushed out several males while cycling round the wood.

I might well return to try and get photos of the blue coloured males although it is quite a committing cycle. The prevailing wind making for a headwind journey home.

48miles, 6hrs30