best part of the day: bugs, birds, butterflies and bee-flies

22nd and 24th April in Warriston

A couple of similar days in the cemetery, so I've put them both together. More sun on the 24th; the 22nd started a bit dull but picked up. And when the sun failed to come out I got the macro lens out and started looking more closely at the flies and bugs who don't shut up shop as soon as cloud covers the sun. (As do the butterflies.) I was going to say how poor the recent couple of months have been but I'd only be repeating myself and frankly it is getting boring. Luckily, being a man of leisure, I can head out any day the sun does, and don't have to work. I watch the forecasts continually although they are not always accurate or reliable.

very quickly the speckleds became the most
prevalent butterfly in the cemetery

There is a good load of forget-me-nots around and I love them not only because they look very pretty but they also attract (and feed) the insects. Despite the rather unpleasant parasitical nature of the bee-fly, I really like them for their comically long legs and proboscis, cute fluffy bodies and for flying round the flowers like a mini humming bird. You can tell the gender of the specimen you are looking at because the males have large eyes that touch at the centre. The females' eyes are separated. This one was a male.

My pal Iain pointed out something I'd never heard before: the forget-me-nots let the insects know which flowers have nectar and which don't, by signalling yellow round the centre for yes, come visit, and white for no nectar here! The videos here and below would seem to confirm that. It sounded so good I didn't bother to google to fact check, so don't shoot the messenger!

bee-fly (male)
sound turned off due to workman banging locally

Macro: I changed the lens from the 400mm which I'd shot the bee-fly with above, to the 60mm macro for the daffodil (above) and rest of the day below. Interesting you can't see any significant difference in the bee-fly pics. There is certainly a difference in use. I can stand back from butteflies with the long lens; for the macro, I have to be closer. I'd have had the lens just centimetres from the bee-fly below, but at least 2 or 3 feet away for the bee-fly shots above. The amount of background blurring-out depends on the f-stop. The macro is for getting close to small stuff and seeing it in incredible detail. I have found it to be a revelation although there's not as many insects allow such a close encounter and a really high miss rate because they fly off just as you are poking the lens towards them.

google lens failed to give any clues
other than it might be an araniella?

There are 2 main types of fly sunbathe on the gravestones. The ones below are the larger bottle types and the ones as above are much smaller. Google Lens is not all that helpful with identification and I have looked into getting books for IDs.

plenty of bluebells, and pink and white bells too

love these snakeshead fritillary

the difference between a high number (f/16) f-stop...

and a low number f-stop (f/2.8)

Erythronium

honesty

Now this was an intersting specimen. Almost too small to see I had to get right down to get a photo and then thought it was dead and just the stick-like remains of a plume moth. However as I got really near it mustered a life force and flew gently off making me wish I'd got better photos. Looks like a Beautiful Plume moth.

red campion

24th April
Back again 2 days later and enjoying all the butterflies and insects now beginning to appear in Warriston. There was a bit of excitement almost as soon as I arrived when a male holly blue dropped out the sky and landed on nearby flowers. He wasn't happy about my company and flew off as I got close. Then a large white. Again it was very uncooperative and I legged it at speed halfway across the cemetery until it eventually landed again and I got a second shot to confirm the first Large of the year.

holly blue!
once super rare, now regularly seen around Edinburgh gardens

large white

The crows follow me around the cemetery knowing that
there's a good chance I'll give them a peanut handout.

ladybirds on the move

a very fierce wren!

Loads of speckleds and orange tips. I think slightly more speckleds than OTs. Crazy to think they only arrived here in the last few decades and weren't a part of the countryside when I was young. And are now the dominant species in places like Warriston. Reports suggest they are not having such a good year in the Borders.

this made the cover shot of the East Scottish Butterflies fb page
- huge honour!

A rare portrait format shot. I rarely take portrait shots because I post my photos here using a computer monitor which is landscape, having processed them on the same monitor. I resent the young people posting photos and videos portrait format just because their sad lives are dominated by the smart phones that own them. I refuse to accommodate their stupidity.

Worst example recently was Colin Prior (respected (and older) photographer) posted on facebook a video to join him on a landscape photography course. Can I just repeat that, a LANDSCAPE photography course. It was posted in portrait video format. Can you believe it? I thought he has sold his soul to get a few young people on board and all because they don't have the intelligence to turn their so-called smart phones on their sides. I pointed out as much on the advert comments. Sad to see the mighty fallen and the world going to shit. If you think it is not a hill worth dying on, I hope you enjoy the stupid masses bringing about portrait format TVs which hopefully won't happen till I'm dead. (Our eyes being on a horizontal plane is the reason we should view screens in landscape. If they were on a vertical plane, portrait would make sense, but they are not.) (I hear news teams editors etc hate that they frequently have to deal with people's phone footage which is inevitably shot in portrait format and has to be shown using a couple of side panels to compensate.) Just one more reason smart phones are ruining the world. (Yes, I have one, it is impossible to live in the modern world and not. But I often leave it in the other room or go out without it.)

battling commas

pink parlane

I noticed these small pretty flowers in among the ivy under a holly tree. I was taking photos and a holly blue female landed on one. I was thrilled. I only just managed a record shot or 2 before it disappeared back up into the holly tree above.

male holly blue (with smaller forewing black patches)

There are commas either side of the tunnel. I was making notes of the wing attrition, wondering if the same 2 were jumping over the walkway and back, but it seems they are different specimens. (They tend to remain and patrol a given territory.) I think I have now seen 4 different commas regularly appearing which is about 3 more than previous years. Great news.

I have made friends with the crows. There are a couple of pairs, above and below the crypts. They don't really overlap territories although I am careful not to feed one lot in sight of the others. Or right on the territory boundary near the James Young Simpson grave. Anyway I was trying to take photos of the tulips in what might be referred to as the bistro area (I think I heard Caroline refer to this small circular enclosure near the secret garden as that) and making a poor job of it. (The photos not good enough to make this blog.) I was squatted down and very much taken up with the process. When I eventually looked round the crow (above) was sat within a metre or 2 and not ready for a quick escape but laying down, passing the time with me in a disinterested fashion. I was really charmed as it suggested he wasn't just after peanuts, but just hanging out. Keeping me company.