caught red handed pt2

 

7th July

Mary has Fridays off and I am off until further notice. What could be more pleasant than a wander along to Warriston to see the toys. I mean wildlife. 

r'ads on budds

Have you noticed the butterflies ignore the flowering buddleia plumes for a few weeks despite the wafting perfume and bright colours. Then a while later it is all the rage. I have a theory about it taking a while to ripen or forment before the butterflies then swarm onto it. Happens every year. Some botanist will know for sure. Surprisingly little info about this specifically, when googled. Someone else must have noticed?

a r'admiral on a panicle

What's a panicle? You'll be sorry you asked! A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers be pedicellate. The branches of a panicle are often racemes. A panicle may have determinate or indeterminate growth. Now you know! 

Nice to bump into Karen and Alan (again!)
shirt-shopping

Shirt shopping!? I was about to ask why Mary and I never go shirt shopping together then remembered she only buys stuff online and I only ever buy shirts if I can try them on or at least touch them first. Too many times something arrives in the post and I think, hmmm... wouldn't have bought that if I had tried it on first. And how many shirts does one need? Also they last longer than they used to. I saw a facebook memory from 12 years ago and I was wearing that shirt which I still wear these days. It must be a teenager (teenshirter?) by now!

Also, I was rooting about in a wardrobe the other day and found 2 new t-shirts I bought in case I suddenly had to go on holiday without much warning. And hadn't got round to wearing them yet. I'm looking forward to an emergency holiday though. However it may have to be postponed until Winter. No point in going off during the Summer when there is plenty to see and do outdoors here. Although the weather only just comes up to snuff. Europe is having a heatwave and we are still having overcast days with drizzly showers. Second rate shitshow, while the nationalists rave about Scotland being the best country in the world, have they ever been abroad? Here's some stats: Scotland 34-ish species of butterfly, give or take a migrant blown off course. England, around 59. France 260. Just contemplate that if you would. Two hundred and fucking sixty.
< googles butterfly holidays abroad >

speckled wood

And never mind Colombia which has 3,642 species and 2,085 sub species. Because you can overdo things and the guide book would be too heavy to bring home. And then there's humming birds. I'm trying to remember how many we've got in Scotland, but it's a while since I've seen any.

now that, that is perfection!

Of course you don't need to go abroad to see some absolute crackers. And a brand new fresh comma is a thing of near miraculous beauty. A couple appeared near the In Loving mosaic between the war memorial and the tunnel. This one hung about to be photo-ed although it was quite jumpy and flighty. I think it must have just emerged as it was in absolute mint condition. It was almost glowing orange against the contrasting greenery on which it sat. Occasionally it would get unhappy about our proximity and fly off. It would do super-fast 6metre circuits around where we stood, checking us out and then landing nearby or at the other end of the loop. 

And then during one lap it happened to land on Mary. She was bending over to inspect some admiral or white or beetle on a nettle and I noticed it took a break on her shoulder. I stage whispered to her to not move suddenly and went over to take photos. If one were being polite one might suggest it was drawn to her clear aura and honest heart, but it also may well have been attracted to a sweaty rucksack strap. She defo has a something that attracts the butterflies more than myself, although it is maybe 70/30 rather than 90/10. And a little knowledge of their preferences (a warm hand (smelling of plants not soap) in the sunlight on a coolish afternoon, higher than the nettle tops) goes a long way.

perfection!

normally the underwing white marking is a c-like shape not an o

(hence the name comma,)

I suspect this is one of several wrens, new this season, who are busy establishing territories and are peeping like crazy, shouting about their arrival and how important they are! It hangs out near the O Sector which is a large circular area between the crypts and the war memorial. Near the grave of John Menzies newsagent! And near where the sparrowhawks' nest is. So watch out little noisy wrens! The reason I think this is a new arrival is he isn't very flighty and lets me get much more close than wrens normally allow. As long as I make no sudden movements. I am collecting a few video clips of him shouting and peeping from the tops of gravestones and will put them together soon.

We went round the South side of the O area and found Mary's friendly RA. Well it was in the same spot so we thought it was her pal from last time. It had a some rear wing missing and a bit off the front right. But came very quickly when called. Okay we may have made some noises, but it arrived on her hand after doing some spirals with another RA that was in slightly better shape. The 2 of them would go off spiralling into the air and high into the treetops. They'd disappear upwards and then after a small gap, anywhere between 5 and 65 seconds, they'd swoop back down and part you hair or swish past an ear making you raise your shoulders! 

Usually there is a preliminary check out, where they come over and inspect a proffered hand. Second fly-by and they land or do a quick touch-down then lift-off and return. I think this one just plopped down first time (on Mary's hand) and we attributed its missing wing sections to a cavalier attitude to health and safety. I occasionally hold out my hand as well but regularly don't bother as they are drawn to Mary more often than myself. Also it allows me to concentrate on the photography.

the other side of the camera - photo Mary

I hadn't remembered I had one on my hand that day until I checked out Mary's photos. I think it was a brief encounter. It does feel special to be chosen like this, and makes an encounter with butterflies considerably more personal. Normally they are much more stand-offish!

The other local specimen kept an eye on us and tended to perch on nettles nearby but although considering coming over for a chat, did not. It was in better shape and did not mind us taking photos. (I suspect it was one that eventually landed on me next visit.)

After lots of that and quite a lot of laughing, we headed home. On the way we went past the In Loving mosaic to see if the commas were about. There was one high on the ivy and from its underwing marking it looked like a brother of the one photographed earlier. Another fab and mysterious interaction with our admiral pals and a couple of miles walked. Very restorative!