sunshine admiral and the bingo bees

 

17th August

The sun was still out but not for long. I wondered what was going on at Warriston and left the house intending to find out. However I remembered an interlude about this time last year* when the buddleia was out, that a gang of rowdy admirals collected upstream of Great Junkie Street bridge over the Water of Leith. Would they be there today? Only one way to find out. 

*It was actually 13th Sept 2021 and the blog is here. Due to drought and warm weather I think we may be further along this year than last. Meaning some buddleias are already finished while others are defo coming to the end of flowering. 

peacock on arrival

Only one red admiral there. Last year's 4 or 5 might suggest more had emerged locally. There is still time before the buddleia plumes go brown here so hopefully more RAs will appear in the next wee while. Meanwhile there was one and it was posing at just the right point to capture the sparkling water and the reflection of the sun as the Water of Leith flowed past behind. 

time out from the disco to relax on a spray painted wall

The only other wildlife enjoying the sunshine on Leith were a handful of pigeons. It is hard to get past their ubiquity and see them as multi-coloured urban dwellers with orange eyes and shimmering neck feathers. They are fairly delicately coloured and worth a second look although I do find it hard to see them as anything other than commonplace scavengers. A handful of sunflower seeds brought them over for a few photos.

where the magic happens

That was about as good as it got. I went along to Warriston Cemetery but there was so little going on there (and the sun was still turned up to full blast) that I went on to the Botanics. I met Ken (and then Lucinda) almost immediately in the gate. We went over to the pond and had a look at yet another brood of moorhens. Just the 2 bundles of black fluff with red beaks and balding heads and about equal amounts of cute vs ugly. When they work their tiny rudimentary wings they looked very cute-and-ugly. Like the pigeons they do not hold still for photos and were continually on the move, mostly chasing a parent bird about or older sibling. 

moorhen chick with older sibling

Ken said we should go look for bingo bees. I wasn't sure what they were but went along. On the way a robin nervously flitted through the limbs of a shrub (not even giving time to properly focus) and I realised how long it was since I had seen any of my robin pals. The ones I was feeding in Warriston just aren't in the same spots and don't come when I whistle. Off rearing families? Something to look forward to come Autumn / Winter.

you can tell how few butterflies and birds are about 
when I am reduced to photographing bees and spiders

I found out the bingo bees have little numbers glued to their backs. Presumably some mad scientist is keeping an eye on what bees are visiting what plants in what parts of the Botanics. Ken reckoned they put them in tubes to attach the numbers - must be kinda fiddly work. Not every bee had a number. I'm sure the ones with numbers felt superior to the others. (Did they know?) The vast majority had no number; maybe one in ten had a number. Now I am not a huge fan of photographing bees. They come about as high as the lowliest of butterflies on my totem pole of photography subjects. I don't find them particularly aesthetically dynamic and haven't bothered to learn the different sorts you get. I love the mesmeric quality of standing by a beehive when they are all coming and going, but individually I am not particularly gripped. 

So it was something of a realisation to find that if you put a number on their backs (and in different colours) I am suddenly very much more on the case. Am I that shallow? Well it turns out yes, I am. Stick a number on a bee - I don't even need a bingo score card - and I could spend an hour or 2 in the place collecting different numbered bees, the more the merrier! Also they do not hold still and getting a decent photo so you can read the number adds a certain challenge. I didn't even stop to ask myself was this ethical. Far too much fun, oh look white 71! 

green 83 I'm ready for your close up!

this says it all

Just in case there were any in the place (it was sunny after all) I tore myself away from bee bingo and checked out a few spots where the flowers tend to attract butterflies. The buddleias next to the cafe - nope. Those other flowers up the back - nope. The rock garden - nope but there were some chattering long tailed tits which was nice. I also came across this tree which had attractive coloured splotches on the leaves. Oh dear that doesn't look good. Flip them over and hell's teeth that looks like fucking spiders from mars! A quick google suggests Gymnosporagium cornutum on Sorbus aucupari. In other words rust fungus on Rowan. Should probably put something on that? 

The University of Connecticut explains that stressful growing environments, such as drought, hot temperatures and infestations, can predispose the rowan to disease and reduce its already short lifespan. To reduce the potential for infections, the rowan should be watered and fertilized regularly throughout the growing season, and pruned periodically to remove any disease or distressed areas. The rowan's growing environment should be kept free of defoliation and debris to reduce the presence of fungal and bacterial spores. Though the rowan's fruit is not edible, all the fruit should be removed from the tree just before it enters dormancy, if it is not already removed by birds and other wildlife. When not removed, these mummified fruits can serve as shelter for infectious spores.

yikes!

These small white flower clusters in the rock garden
always attract a load of hoverflies and similar.

LTT

On the way out I noticed this Barbara Hepworth bronze Ascending Form (Gloria) 1958. A quick google to this page here lets me know it can be interpreted as natural forms growing or like hands in prayer. Not a vagina and bumhole then? Is that just my filthy mind? Appears to be. Although from this side it looks much less like hands and more like my first guess. There is an exhibition of Hepworth's work currently on. I admire her, but am not a huge fan of most of the sculptures, though some are good. Probably won't make it along to the show. (I have seen loads of photos and none made me want to go.) I have challenged Mary and myself to find a show during the festival we might like, and to go to it. Isn't it funny how we can go round Holyrood Park nearly every day and our enthusiasm for it only increases; and yet art galleries, full of stuff designed to give us pleasure, fall so far short. I think we are just going through a really barren, shallow age and have lost the joy of art by throwing out traditional values and skills in favour of installations and artspeak. It has been ages since I was thrilled about anything I saw in a gallery. I still have that childlike thrill when I see a rare or beautiful bird, butterfly or dragonfly, so I have not lost it; but I feel the artworld has.

the end?