best part of the day: east lothian lovelies pt 2

11th May

Two days after the Gullane swim and butterfly hunt the forecast was very promising and I headed back into deepest East Lothian. I felt I had not got the best possible results on the last trip and that a return journey, done solo, might give me more time to immerse myself in the wildlife. I was right and it turned into the best day of the year so far!

I got off the train at Longniddry and started my gps bang on 10am. I had swithered between catching bus or train. I am now an enthusiastic bus traveller, with my free pass, but on this occasion the train seemed a better bet. It wasted less of the morning speeding me into EL in half the time the bus would take to Aberlady, and I'd get a few running miles from Longniddry to Aberlady and onwards. I have been returning to run training after quite a layoff and I need to get back into the habit of medium to long distance days out. I had a rough plan to run to Gullane then either on to North Berwick and train home, or cross country to Drem and train home.

green-veined white

As soon as I hit the coastal path there were orange tips (m&f) and GVWs. Going past the entrance to Gosford there was this (male) wall. While it was worth stopping to photo, it did look a bit worn possibly from all the poor weather and downpours we've been having.

wall

orange tip female, perhaps egglaying

wheatear (first this year)

I called past the Scottish Ornithologists' Club (Waterston House), just before Aberlady on the coast road. It can be a slightly off-putting place to approach, looking a bit like a golf club or private office but definitely worth a look. It is always very welcoming. They have planted the gardens with all sorts of bee- and butterfly-friendly plants and it is always excellently maintained. No butterflies there today, but I went in to have a look round a superb exhibition of paintings by Liz Myhill and Lucy Newton. Both do watercolours. I was particularly impressed by Lucy's which were more a bird with some additional landscape rather than Liz's which were more landscapes with incidental birds. I took some pics (of Lucy's) in passing but they do not do justice to these delightful and expertly painted works. (Sadly finished now.) (BTW I have caught a few episodes of Jim and Nancy Moir Paint Birds on Sky Arts and he, Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) could learn quite a bit from Lucy about how to do watercolours.)

jay

treecreeper

Aberlady-in-waiting

I caught the absolute minimum of the Coronation on telly as possible. Well not entirely true. I watched the ITN news on the day to see if there was any controversy or impartial reporting. I knew the BBC would be totally partial and pro-monarchy, exactly as they say they aren't. But the Queen's death proved otherwise. I watched maybe 10mins of a summary of the Coronation and it was excruciatingly dull and painful to watch. I find the monarchy increasingly surplus to requirements. While not actually giving a hoot one way or the other about any individuals in that beleaguered family. Charles and Camilla looked daft in their crowns and the whole thing was just turgid and without anything of value or relevance whatsoever. Anyway all that said I paradoxically quite liked this letterbox in Aberlday that had been crocheted or yarn~bombed to celebrate the Coronation. I can't understand why folk would willingly subjugate themselves to the royal family but I liked the crafting aspects of this letterbox decoration. All the rest of it (the entire idea of monarchy) should be thrown into a large bonfire in the middle of Buckingham Palace, doused heavily in petrol.

Even before I set a foot onto Postman's Walk I was taking photos of this female holly blue (above) on the bushes just at the start of the walk. I think maybe the first female of the year and it set the standard of the day.

male - without the dark wing tips that identify females

orange tip female

holly blue female - fave photo of the day

peacock

hunting out minerals on the earth

I followed this male who landed near a female, and without waiting for an invitation, bent his body round (almost U-shaped!) and joined it to the back end of the female. They then had a tug-of-war back and forwards on the glossy holly leaf and it looked more like a dispute than a friendly interaction. They flew to a sycamore leaf which wasn't very well lit and although it was within arms length I couldn't manage to get them into the sunlight.

another male

more crane fly action!

on the golf course

I went past a spot near the golf course, good for butterflies. Initially there was not much there apart from some less-than-superfresh small coppers. There was an occasional fly-by from a small number of walls, undoubtedly males looking for females and not stopping for photos. Later, a female was more obliging.

wall

female wall

interesting info on ticks poster in window of Gullane shop
they are easily picked up locally - esp when wearing shorts

I bought sandwiches and drinks in the coop and ate them at the benches near the famous public toilets. The council have in their wisdom removed all the shrubs (buddleia and californian lilac) that were butterfly friendly and replaced them with landscaped troughs and planted flowers and shrubs which look the part but which do not attract butterflies/insects. I didn't bother to investigate the holly blues (other than a 2 minute glance) but instead decided to make my way down the John Muir Way and then through the fields of Luffness Farm, back to Drem station. Luffness are keenly environmentally aware and use wildflowers, planted in the field margins to encourage pollinators while keeping them away from their crops. They had several fields of rapeseed out and I hoped to find similar joys to last year at this time when I spent several giddy afternoons chest-deep in the wildflower margins chasing admirals and large whites.

orange tip female

peacock
there were several large peacocks patrolling field margins

whitethroat near the gold clubhouse

one of those flies eating a st. marks fly

The way to Drem Station goes along a road (above) and then turns right down a dirt trail. Past a reservoir/pond and then the path deteriorates and goes round field edges. I had plenty time till the next train and was wandering this way and that, through wooded areas chasing birds and along field perimeters. At the corner of one field of rape, while the sun beat down, I noticed a comma. It was joined by another and they soared high into the sky in a spiralling dance, before returning to about the same spot. I eased into the neck high yellow jungle and tried to get close to where they would land. At first they were very wary and moved off. There was a lot of passing traffic - GVWs, small and large whites, as well as speckleds, so I stood my ground and shortly the commas got used to my presence and would settle (between regular skyward launches) within photo distance. I had been running and was now well covered in rape pollen, and felt I was becoming part of the landscape rather than a perceived predator. The butterflies would land very close by and I would maneuver to adjust the line of sight through the yellow aromatic flowers. It was absorbing work keeping an eye on everything and trying to get close-ups as the subjects landed and took off. I was very much in the zone both literally and figuratively and spent a very compelling 30 or 40 minutes lost in a yellow delight of butterfly heaven.

comma jousting

surprised to see a bee-fly hovering here

large white

As ever the large whites were not landing and sitting for photos. They tend to fly over a venue searching for mates and doing a dance with all the other whites, noising them up for a moment until species and gender are revealed and they move on, hunting down the next white. However I saw one land for a feed and breather, and managed to get a close up or 2 before it returned to the air. Excellent! So lucky! Also an orange tip - also searching for love but stopping for a brief moment to pop a proboscis into the yellow flowers. It was just fabulous and I felt elated to end the day on such a high. It was a hugely immersive and rewarding experience. I hoped the photos would reflect the giddy high I felt. They are certainly extremely yellow!

I left the field perimeter in a state of euphoria. I had to wet my hands from my drinks reservoir and brush off the yellow pollen which dotted my dark coloured shorts and t-shirt. I had remained at the edge of the field so as not to damage the crop, but leaning in to get photos I had definitely mingled with the first line of flowers.

tadpoles at the reservoir

greylag geese

small fish

The path to Drem used to be more defined. Maybe it is rarely used and the farmer wants to utilise the maximum area for crops. Mostly I was tiptoeing round the grassy field perimeter but there was a decent tractor trail across the final field to meet the road that descends from Drem. I put a bit of effort into the last few miles running, and arrived at the station 10minutes ahead of the train which gave me time for a quick chat with Bob and Lesley, out on bikes. A fantastic day marking the transition from Spring into Summer and leaving me with over 1000 photos to tweak and delete. Memories of a damp Spring are quickly receding, replaced with hopes for a tremendous Summer ahead.