blue monday

 

17th June

Following on from the musical theme established here 6 days ago, (ruby tuesday) I thought Blue Monday was a suitable title for this, a repeat of the same route, and the first appearance of a common blue. They are a fantastic butterfly and have been long overdue this year, having the good sense to be about a fortnight late while they waited for the weather to improve. Sadly it is still pretty appalling, but some butterflies have begun to appear. They are not having an easy time of it and many looked scarred, tattered and washed out by the crappy Summer weather. As are a few of the humans. Hence the blue monday title double meaning.

We decided to do the Longniddry to North Berwick walk again. It is around 15 miles and burns some calories while going past likely spots for birds, bugs and butterflies. Again it was a spontaneous decision as the forecasts and the view out the window were slightly better than they had been. But showers were expected, so rain jackets were packed. Slightly warmer than a week ago but very similar. (Just as you are thinking it is nearly decent Summer weather a large dark cloud moves in from nowhere and the rain jackets are hastily fished out.)

We got off the Longniddry train at 11 and headed down to the coast. About 11.30 I was saying that all the lovely flowers at the Bents car parks were terrific and I couldn't believe there weren't more butterflies about, it just seemd like all the props were in place - the sunshine, the flowers, hardly any wind. As if in answer a common blue, the first one of the year (if you don't count Majorca in March!) fluttered past. It was a great start to the day and I hoped it would be one of many. (Spoiler alert: it was nearly another five hours to see the next and only other.)

looking back towards Edinburgh

loads of Cranes-bill

In Aberlady between the Bowling Club and Kirk there is a Memorial Garden. It was full of sunshine and blooming flowers so I suggested a quick scoot round for butterflies. There was a large white which appeared to be as impressed with the wonderfully aromatic roses as we were. If we got too close it flapped off, did a couple of circuits then landed near to where it had already been sitting, the large yellow petals being a reasonable visual match.

next door in the church yard a squirrel sat watching us go by

I had suggested Postman's Walk rather than the road along the front, last trip, so let Mary choose this time. She chose Postman's again though we both thought there wouldn't be much there except long grass and nettles. Pretty much the case. It is hard to believe we are into the third week of June and there are very few butterflies about. Plenty of grass seeds setting off hay fever though, praise the lord.

pollinatious

impressions of a speckled wood

speckled wood

I found a slightly less nettly path over the field to Aberlady Reserve. There were several large birds before the bridge: threegrets and twherons.

I couldn't believe Mary was going to adjust stuff mid-crossing where you might drop keys, wallet or contact lenses through the slats into the water. She would probably like me to recall nothing went in the water, so what was the fuss about?

distant marsh harrier

I was hoping the marsh harrier might do a second circuit and land on a fence post as we were approaching but alas, it did not. We did not hang about waiting either. Stuff to be done, trains to be caught etc. 

greylag with (quite ugly!) gooselets

trying to keep it secret

lots of pretty wildflowers
Dactylorhiza maculata - common spotted orchid

meadow pipit
lots about including a few youngsters 

garden chafer

Black Marram Weevil
Otiorhynchus atroapterus

we had the place to ourselves

smiling girl

blue jellyfish

the bald remains of sea urchin Echinocardium
from the greek echinos, hedgehog and kardia, heart

Cancer pagurus: the edible crab

There were lots of corpses at the high tide line. Loads of these large edible crab exoskeletons. Mary knew they were edible crabs and said the identifying characteristic was the edge of the shell was like a piecrust. They were mostly about 6 to 8" across at the widest part. There were also many of the bone china-like fragile sea urchin skulls that I have always admired. The urchins somehow lose their hairy cover of spines leaving this very fragile thin hollow shell on the shore. More delicate and attractive than virtually all the sculptures you'll ever see in a gallery.

panorama courtesy of dji pocket

On the way along Aberlday beach we were watching a very dark cloud. It seemed to start over in Fife but quickly slunk across the Forth. It grew out of nothing and we hoped the wind which was coming from the East would move it back towards Edinburgh. But it quickly surrounded us and we got out our rainjackets for a mild soaking. It made things pretty unpleasant for half an hour and would have hidden all the butterflies and moths around Gullane Point from us. I was feeling a bit depressed by this (I'm sure my actual body picks up on barimetric pressure drops and I have a physical response, although Mary reckons I am just keen on voicing complaints.)

time to leave the beach

That is until I remembered a pal of ours is doing the Spine (Summer version) Endurance race over 268 miles of the Pennine Way. While it isn't going to be as bad as the Winter job, it isn't going to be much fun either and probably costs the equivalent of 10 days in Spain. I know which I'd choose. And there wouldn't be any swithering. This cheered me up no end. No matter how bad things got today they would not be even remotely as bad as trying to run/hike 268 miles on a lack of sleep with grimly sore feet and all the bits where your damp clothing is slowly rubbing bloody holes in your flesh. Can you tell I've lost my racing mojo?

ominous weather

So no pics for a bit while the camera hid underneath my waterproof. It all cleared up remarkably quickly though and by the time we got to our traditional lunch stop at the picnic patio beside the new Gullane shower & toilet block it had stopped raining and I could lay my jacket out on one of the other tables to dry in the sunshine. Lunch sandwich from Margiotta's was a BLT (on malted bread) for me (very good although the bacon was little stringy) and steak with caramalised onion on onion bread for Mary and she says she didn't like it very much. We both had a protien bar to follow.

lunch time!

Unusually Hazel the ice cream van was not here today. I did notice this array of beach stuff. How clever to treat the lost and left boards etc as a resource that others can enjoy instead of just binning them. We did not even suggest going in swimming though.

Mary came across this cinnabar moth which she felt was unfair because I got a photo and she didn't. Sometimes I am more cavalier about jumping into the thistles and long grasses to chase a photo. Cinnabars are pretty awful for fluttering around and then at the last moment just as you think they are settling, they crawl under a dock leaf and out of view. We saw maybe three or four of them and all behaved badly. Same with yellow shell moths who also did everything possible to avoid lens glass all day. They (yellow shells) were possibly the most numerous of any species today. There was a total lack of several species of butterfly I'd normally see in the third week of June. Facebook memories recalled this day last year we saw ringlets, meadow browns, small skippers, burnet moths, common blues and DGFs, the king of the coastal paths. Mary thinks she saw a DGF around Archerfields but it flew off in a great hurray and no photos were taken. We checked all the places where common blues and DGFs are normally found. It was a sad reminder that this year is the worst in maybe 10 or more for low numbers and absent species.

large skipper just East of Gullane
haven't known of any here previously, but just the one!

placed in branches for a photo

We found the above nest on the ground. Whether it had been fished out a hedge of just blown out after the family of Long Tailed Tits had fledged we had no idea. (We have a similar one at home on the book case!) It is one of the wonders of nature, a beautiful tapestry of lichen, spider's web, feathers, horsehair and soft down all brought together in a masterpiece of engineering, verging on magic. A thing of infinite beauty.

About here we came across the second (and final) common blue of the day. We had just about given up seeing any more when this one popped up and fluttered about. We were feeling starved of butterflies so chased it for 10 minutes, taking photos everytime it sat still for a few seconds before flying off again. We lost it several times and were just about to move on before it appeared again and gave us the runaround for another few minutes. Mary said she failed to get any decent images. I was struggling too as it kept heading into the long grasses and wouldn't sit up high on a decent perch.

a pretty small heather or similar
google lens says Common Centaury

small heath - not enthusiastic about photos

Along the way we saw this pair. The adult behind is a whitethroat which may mean this is a whitethroat chick. It looks a little like the stonechat chicks we are more familiar with. 

whitethroat

stonechat (m)

I didn't notice all the flies until I looked at this photo on the monitor

bridges dipping below the horizon

reed bunting (m)

That is Mary in the background. Not sure why the camera
chose the grass of the foreground to focus on but I like it.

stonechat (m)

While checking all the viper's bugloss for common blues (and there is a hell of a lot of it this year), I came across a slightly larger and whiter moth than the usual small grey micro moths you get among the thistles. I followed it for a bit and got pics of it once landed. Turns out it is a Thistle ermine which I'd never seen before. Its a pity it folds those wings tight when settled as the long triangular wings are special when flying.

mutant

Also seen while checking all the bugloss: this broad arm of bugloss. It looked like a mutant stalk that had turned into a broad tough leaf with all of the usual bugloss attributes but with the flowers coming out one side and a hedge of stuff along the top. The normal leaves were distributed all about it. When googled to find out more, the only other picture of such a mutation was in the Slovak Spectator and behind a paywall. With the headline; How a healing plant has mutated into a 'magic broom.' Looks like I won't be getting any insights from there then.

Mary turns towards Mecca.
(Actually I think she'd have to be facing more towards myself. East-South-East)

reed bunting

Fidra

Just before the descent to Archerfields beach I was watching stonechats. This deer turned to face me - it looked a bit sleepy with eyes only half open, as if trying to decide whether I was a problem it would have to wake up and tackle. I approached a little but slowly and it didn't run off. Eventually I got a little too close and it walked away, but was not in a hurry to put ground between us.

No DGFs on the chinese privet bush at the propellor cone, just this yellow shell which perched in plain sight unlike the other hundred today which hid deep in vegetation. At the end of the beach there was a small collection of Eiders, all female with a couple of chicks. I did wonder if the harsh weather had removed all but 2 chicks from this huddle of aunties. They swam slowly off as I jogged across, but I got a couple of disant shots.

all the male eiders

Just as you turn the corner near Fidra and see Yellowcraigs beach it is worth having a good scan for wildlife. It is a useful corner for butterflies and birds. Today it was stonechat chicks who were busy learning who can be trusted and at what distance do you fly off, when humans approach. They seemed as curious about me as I was about them, and let me get very close which I enjoyed.

linnet

bass rock from yellowcraigs

Now we were approaching a similar scenario to last time we were here: likely to miss the 6.25 train if we didn't pick up the pace. Mary cleverly anticipated it about 3 miles from the station this time so we could do a bit of running on the softer off-road terrain and then walk the last mile which is on tarmac. It does liven up the last bit of trails and we made it onto the platform before the train even arrived this time. But not with enough time to spare to dash into town buy a huge bottle of water and get back and catch the train. So we had to sit dry mouthed on the train till we got back into Edinburgh. 😬

It was a very fine day out and apart from the showers was pretty good for wildlife and scenery. Under 700 photos taken which boiled down to around 100 for the blog which is a higher percentage and number than usual. And yet I feel the lepidoptera was really thin on the ground. Mary thinks I worry or complain too much, but I do feel certain species have really taken a hard knock this year (from the weather) and just not appeared in anything like their usual numbers. I've still not seen any NBA or heard of any in Holyrood this year. The Common Blues are few and far between and a fornight late emerging. Then Mary reminds me there were tons of orange tips and speckleds and the speckleds are still showing with consistency and in abundance here (although not elsewhere.) So maybe it isn't all bad news. The Silver Ys and Yellow Shell moths both seem to be keen to fill the gaps left by many butterflies, and we have enjoyed seeing all the new baby birds finding their feet. So it is not all bad news. And there might be some better weather on the way. I hope so.

beat the train this time!

15 miles, 7 hrs