best part of the day: 49 miles for one of your smiles

Technically 49.6miles and 2 smiles but you get the idea.

21-04-23 And one of the better days of this crappy Springtime so far. Not that it was crammed with butterflies. But it was pretty damn fine and most of the objectives we set out with were met. I was about to say "boxes ticked" but a friend said they disliked that expression and ever since I've been infected by their opinion pox.

home to Saltoun - 16 miles

So it was what might be the last day of decent weather for a while and how best to spend it? I had been thinking about a jaunt to Saltoun Big Wood but also wanted to do a second bash at green hairstreaks (and emperors) because I hadn't quite ticked... em scratched that itch properly, last time. Mary was up for a decent sized cycle and was more interested in the cycling, than what we get when we get there. Because she still can't run and needs something to raise her heart rate. Saltoun Wood it is.

16 miles exactly to the road end. A leisurely 1hr39 instead of my usual about-an-hour of hard breathing and elevated heart rate. Not sure which I prefer. We padlocked the bikes in the old car park then walked up the path to the ponds. Long before we got there we had seen half a dozen peacocks - one on every second dandelion head. It gave us the exciting impression the place was going to be full of butterflies. Which it was, and yet wasn't.

5 mins off the bike and Mary (as above) is getting wired into her sandwich. I waited a bit because I had a suspicion it was going to be a long day out.

palmate newt

Too early for dragonflies so we continued past the first pond although it did look tempting. There were newts but no sign of frogs, toads or tadpoles. I had heard from Jimmy there were green tiger beetles. He had showed me on a previous trip a large gnarly tree stump that seemed to be insect rich. You probably remember last Sept and the spectacular tiny ruby-tailed wasps. (Click here!) Jimmy had mentioned recently there were GTBs and I reckoned they were hanging out near the tree stump where he had indicated before. We had a good look but only found one beetle which I pointed at and it promptly flew off god knows where. Isn't that cheating? At this point we were under the impression the place was heaving with butterflies and so kept going up the path.

more newts in second pond

a flock of peacocks

There is a wood stack I always thought should be good for sunbathing butterflies but the first dozen times past never saw anything of note. HOWEVER if you go past the first bit and look to the back of the pile... Well actually today it was the blossoming goat(?) willows towards the back of the woodpile which were hosting a conference of peacock butterflies. Hundreds flew up into the air as we approached. Well maybe 3 which stirred up another 2 or 3 and they all formed a conga line and did twice round the dance floor in single file before dispersing and refusing to be photographed together. I was sure there'd be a red admiral among them but despite looking really hard I failed to find anything non-peacock. However it was pretty stirring despite the monoculture. I took far too many photos.

We walked up the track where last Autumn there were hunners of peacocks, RAs, small Ts and commas. I was anticipating commas today since they can overwinter. NONE! Not even a hint of one departing. Loads of peacocks. Not in the numbers there were last September, but dozens. And when you came to a layby of dandelions maybe a sextet or octet. Way more than is required. And yet no other species? What's going on? Why did the peacock alarm clocks ring but everyone else stay in bed? Maybe the extra altitude and cold kept the orange tips from emerging. I suppose in town it is a bit warmer.

nearest thing to an orange tip we saw

On the way back round past the tree stump we looked again for insects. This time there was a green tiger beetle and it didn't fly off. Despite their fantastic colouration they disappear into the background far too well so I put down a hand to encourage this one onto a less cryptic podium. It wasn't desperate to get off - possibly enjoying the warmth of my hand - but also wasn't laid back. It kept up a regular canter, if not gallop and wasn't going to hold still for photos. They have impressive mandibles but I have never been bitten. They probably save them for eating although if you treated them roughly no doubt they'd be capable of a nip.

I can never remember what size they are. I think it is because they are so beautifully coloured that you get drawn into their scale and so I always think of them as substantial. UK Beetles says 12~17mm which is quite a range. I remember seeing hundreds on the paths at Tentsmuir and they were tiny. I saw one in the Lammermuirs and followed it easily as it flew through the air, such was its impressive size. And the ones in the forest near Loch Tummel were also sizable. Anyway they are fantastic and worth the effort to photograph. Apparently you can tell males from females. Trouble is you have to know some technical language: (from UK Beetles)
Male with a median incision to the sixth sternite and with the basal pro-tarsal segments dilated. The female usually has a dark mark in the basal third of the elytra.

I plonked this one on the gnarly tree stump and it almost held still for a few photos. In reality it ran round in circles wondering how it was suddenly on a tree stump and perhaps while here it would check things out for potential food. It ran round the same area for a bit while I took many MANY photos. By the law of averages some have to be in focus. Enough were, and I felt pretty good about my newest green pals.

We found several around the same area. It is impossible to know whether having got our eyes in, we could now see these nearly invisible blighters or whether more had appeared since last time we checked and found just the one. Also it made you tread very carefully as you could only see them when you stood right beside them. Or when they flew off from very close by.

I think this is about as large as they get (my thumbs are pretty big)
I just measured my thumbnail with a plastic ruler and it is 16mm across

I also noticed bee-flies in the area. These cute little fluff balls were behaving in a way I had read about but never witnessed. Unfortunately the more you know, the less you love these little rascals. In fact I have put a line through their names on my christmas card list. I could see one fly up to the marvelous tree stump and at the last moment flick its bum forward and upward before retreating slightly. This was in order to slingshot their eggs into the nest holes of other insects. It is a parasitic fly and whips its offspring into the lairs of other insects hoping its larvae infect some hapless fly etc and I'm going to stop there. It is not a fun and fluffy ending.

bee-fly - cute no more

Also I shot quite a bit of video. No happy ending there either. Sometimes when I upload video to my PC it goes glitchy and doesn't play properly. No idea why. I have to upload it to another laptop then reduce it in scale using editing software before I can upload it to my PC. So I have about 20 video clips on Mary's laptop waiting to travel back to my PC to be sorted and re-edited. It is a maximum arse pain and you'd think the number of rainy days we've had lately, I'd a got round to sorting it. But no, you're going to have to wait. Which is a shame because the bee-fly film was a great mix of "oh that's interesting" and "holy fuck stop that right now you wee bastard!"

Given the shortage of orange tips, when we passed one that looked fairly sedate on the cyclepath I stopped for a photo. I think we maybe saw 3 all day, roadside. None at Saltoun.

I had programmed the most direct line from Saltoun to Castlelaw into my Suunto. I could now use it like a sat-nav to get there. Was I going solo or with Mary? I put no pressure on Mary and she said she would decide when we got to the end of the Pencaitland cyclepath at Crossgatehall. It was all very pleasant cycling up to that point and so Mary said if I wasn't in a hurry she would come along. Pretty much within a mile the road got shittier and shittier. I had no idea of the nature of the route as I'd left it to Suunto to choose the exacts roads. Often it will prefer a trail route or cross country type situation to a major road. Anyway it could not have chosen a worse combination and I spent a lot of the next hour or 2 apologising to Mary on behalf of the route choice.

never take this 20 mile route
there cannot be a worse one!

We had to decide to take a dirty tussocky single track or not. We stuck to the tarmac which took us (half a mile later) to where the dirty single track would have spat us out. Good choice! Then we went through Dalkeith. (Say no more!) Next a big hill on heavily rush hour trafficked death roads into hilly Lasswade. Major nasty vibe and riding pavements where possible. Then off-road across a lonely field of dirt churned up by heavy plant tractor tyres while deliverance banjo music played. Jeez out the frying pan. Round the back of some houses and guessing where the fuck had the path gone? Eventually we picked up the road through Bush Estate by which time we both wanted a nice cup of tea and a comfy sit down. However what we got was 200 yards of desperate rush hour A702, before a near vertical granny ring mile up to the car park at Castlelaw. There is no easy way up that hill. Teeth gritted and head down for 10 minutes. Dampness in the small of the back.

And when we arrived it was leaving 4pm and overcast. The chance of green hairstreaks was slim to none and anyway who cares about stupid butterflies. Maybe the adrenaline of many near-death experiences on about the worst "roads" in Lothian gave us the energy to walk the half mile to the site just West of the firing range. I didn't even look to see if the red flags were flying, we were bulletproof today. As we climbed the hill the sun began a very timid peeping through the clouds. Not tanning weather exactly but maybe a very faint shadow just about being cast? Our spirits were foolishly high and we were busy making jokes about hunting for butterflies on cold and dark nights, long after we should have been home and with a rug over our legs watching telly.

spring lambs

what's the point?

record shot of Mary

Well funnily enough we found green hairstreaks. Not many and all of them reluctant. They are so bright green they are difficult to miss. They were perched, roosting in the gorse. Hunkered down for the night. I suppose they have to sleep somewhere. The gorse is right next to a field of blaeberry that was fenced off for them (so sheep couldn't graze it) a number of years back. Come Spring and usually about the second half of April they appear out the blaeberry and transfer over to the gorse where they can enjoy a king-of-the-castlelaw perch and keep an eye on rivals. Once the sunshine warms them up them fly at each other and anything that enters their airspace.

When we got there they were unmoving. I used a stick to extract one from the pinprickly gorse and put it onto Mary's hand. They enjoy a warm hand and it came to life enough to fly back to the gorse. We came across maybe 5~10 and they were all in a semi-comatose state. We took some photos. The light was mixed and fading fast although an occasional wink of sunshine threatened to light up the yellow gorse flowers.

gorse shieldbug

The hairstreak were in prime condition. Being aggressive combatants they quickly get tatty and ragged at the edges. Which suggests they were not long out. It was a delight and something of a surprise to see them, though less than ideal conditions for photos. And it felt like we were taking advantage of their sleepy state. However the feeling of Job Done gave us a boost and maybe enough juice to get us home. There was still 10 miles to cycle and the roads were really busy. We opted for the main roads back into town hoping they'd calmed down as it was well after 5pm. We got home about 6.30 very frayed at the edges but with many boxes t... well, with plenty of targets met.

I was very proud of Mary who hasn't been doing the daily commute by bike since she left the NHS last year (and hasn't looked back!) and is out of cycle practice. It helped to have a walking break between each leg of the cycle. But was still twice the mileage of any bike rides we've done lately. Mary didn't even give me (that much) stick for the worst possible route between Saltoun and the Pentlands. Possibly because she could see how much I was hating it and the amount of grovelling I was doing while we were crossing the styx. It was great she opted to do the full day as between the awful bits there was a lot of fun had. And sure enough the weather then deteriorated for the next 2 weeks. The end!