first tango in warriston

 

26th July

About a fortnight ago I took these photos so you'll forgive me if I can't recall the occasion or event that precisely as I have been along a couple of times since and the similar trips there get mixed up. I think this was the first occasion of the return of the comma! (Later, commas.) And it happened in the area next to Helen Miles' mosaic, (just North of the tunnel) which says In Loving. I'm not sure if she ran out of tiles enough to add Memory or if she felt that just 2 words was more enigmatic, but that's all it says. Around this time of the year it is a great spot for butterflies, being a sunny slope with a few flowering things, as well as tall perching foliage for sunbathing butterflies.

Normally my life is just a series of sunny days taking photos! Or could be mistaken for this. However there have been a number of things recently that have been taking the edge off this euphoric existence. I won't bore you with tales of roof repairs and plumbing problems. Both feature water entering the building without permission. There is only so much of that, that a person can put up with before it begins to take a toll. And then there is the sciatica, still unresolved and an ever present background ache. And then there was a sore tooth. From a great distance away like a train on the horizon there was the occasional distant whistle whenever taking a sip of hot tea or chilled juice that suggested all was not well towards the back of the darkened tunnel. As the pain train approached slowly but persistently, an appointment was made with Ruby the dentist, a petite and charming Asian lady who puts the accent on the first syllable of DEEcay. Peter you have some DEEcay. Have you been brushing? (I have.)

Now, would the appointment (first August) arrive before Murder on the Orient Express which was now steaming at full speed towards my face? I was reduced to eating only using the left siders and all fluids entering the premises did so at tepid room temperatures. Cup of lukewarm tea anyone? I took to carrying toothpaste and a brush everywhere as it seemed to give a good amount of relief on the platform.

And so, a week before the dentist would stab me in the gums with lidocaine, then wiggle and wrench out the offending molar, here I was seeking solace in the cemetery. It was a delight and I wondered why I'd left it so long since last visit. First thing I saw going through the tunnel and up to the In Loving area was a bright orange comma. I was utterly tango-ed by this amber vision among the nettles, umbellifers, willowherbs and brambles. At around this time last year (slightly earlier from about the 2nd week of July) a pair of male commas (I think males, I was judging them by their behaviour more than appearance,) showed up here and made the month very special. This year's perfect specimen was likely an offspring, inheriting this patch and behaving in an almost identical manner to last year's saffron beauties. 

July '23 the twins?

again from last year: this NEVER happens
commas are far more likely to chase each other than sit together

back to this year - an amazing specimen

This comma wasn't too twitchy and let me get quite close. Maybe the partially overcast weather was keeping it earthbound. As the sun came and went, it would fly up and circle round its territory, presumably looking for lady-commas and seeing off all comers. There was regular passing traffic from large whites and each time one passed nearby, this comma would jump into the air and see it off. Similarly, small whites and speckleds. Each time it would return to one of several perches shoulder to head height, where it could keep a beady eye on the surroundings.

It was a thrill to see a comma back in this area. Last year's had been anomalies. The story with Warriston and commas until then had been an occasional solitary blow-through and those, sometimes months apart. Here we were with what might be the start of an annual tradition. There are certain spots where certain butterflies will turn up year upon year as if it was the same specimen reincarnated. The immortal speckled wood on Burnmouth Village Hall beech hedge. NBAs turning up every year in NBA corner in Holyrood Park. (Although this year, fewer numbers.) There is a little sunlit enclave up near Felix Yaniewicz's grave where red admirals regularly bask. I always check it out at this time. It is difficult to say why exactly it attracts red admirals but the combination of plants, sunlight, trees and stage dressing is just right for RAs. 

GVW

common drone fly Eristalis tenax

large white on rosebay willowherb

Rhagonycha fulva: "known in England as Hogweed Bonking Beetle!"

There's always loads of soldier beetles (Cantharidae) around the cemetery. So many I tend to ignore them. They seem to spend an impressive amount of their lives mating, to the extent wikipedia refers to them as bonking beetles. Well, I suppose if it gets them into the public forum. Anyway a group that looked keen on a threesome or even foursome caught my eye. On this occasion I only took one photo and moved on. I know things are going poorly when I am reduced to photographing soldier beetles. There were lots more potential subjects today although there is a blog in the pipeline heavily featuring these beetles. And none of them bonking! Watch this space.

Myathropa florea, the Batman hoverfly

The batman symbol on the thorax of this hoverfly gives us the common name this time. Not a great example of that here, it looks more like an African mask but on other examples of this hoverfly it looks not unlike the Batman logo. A handsome big yellow furry, nonetheless.

I'm not sure if small skippers have been in Warriston before. I probably wonder this every year. They are not there in Holyrood or Aberlady proportions and so not quite as memorable. Plenty meadow browns and I think ringlets though I don't hurry after either for photos.

I have just been looking back to a blog last year from a busy July in Warriston and read Small skippers are also having a tremendous year. I think this is their first year in Warriston and no doubt many new green spaces around the Lothians.

meadow brown

a good year for green veined whites

always lots of speckleds, likely the most numerous species here

Recently I've been trying to take photos of hoverflies in flight. The same principle as dragonflies: if the camera focuses on the background then I pull the focus back towards me until it catches the fly. Most of these are Volucella pellucens a large black hoverfly with a white almost translucent band across the middle. They buzz above headheight and have an uncanny ability to move when you look or point the camera at them. They seem to have excellent eyesight but if you move slowly and less directly you can get them in the frame. Improvements were made over following visits.

This was an annoying little wren who went off like a car alarm whenever I was within 40 yards. But if I went within 10 yards (about the max distance to get a shot with the macro lens on), it would disappear into the grass. 

common darter

froghopper, Philaenus spumarius

drone fly

green bottle

that wren again!

nice to see a good quality small white

Returning to the In Loving area there was the comma on this gravestone. On the other side was a common darter but there was no way to get both in the same photo and limited access due to nettles all around. I went for the comma. Then I found a mother of pearl moth. They are testing to photograph as they deliberately avoid the paparazzi by flying off and landing on the underside of leaves. It looked to be a fresher specimen that the ones I found last year around now. As the seasons come round you realise the same patterns and species are turning up at a similar time. (Everything is a couple of weeks behind schedule this year.)

Back to that darter. There was no access on this side due to nettles. I went round the other side and got a shot or 2. Then wondered if I could coax it towards me by putting a hand round the side and very gently scooting it up the stone towards the camera. Instead of scooting, it took off, but then landed on my hand which was very friendly but not that helpful. When I tried to move my hand it flew off.

Again with ref to the same July'23 blog as before and I had completely forgotten the darter & comma combination gravestone had occured last year. (They were even on the same sides of the stone!) Not so many nettles surrounding the same stone and I got a shot of the 2 together from the other side of the stone!      

2023 - what goes around comes around

Helen Miles mosaic

Hylemya
a species of the attractively named root-maggot fly 😆

gvw

drone fly, Eristalis

Lygocoris pabulinus?
common green capsid

common fruit fly
maybe Scaptomyza pallida

Google lens has identified a few different looking flies as "common fruit flies". There were the orange ones with fantastic green eyes and these ones which have a dainty little bow above the eyes. They are frustratingly small. And the Big Book of Insects is decidedly unhelpful with just a tiny entry; one photo and the discouraging words Drosophilidae 13 genera, 65 species.

I had a mouldering orange in the fruit bowl the other day and when I removed it about 15 tiny flies flew and scuttled off to nearby cover. I could hear google lens declare Common Fruit Flies! and nearly ran to get the camera. I might (since the sun is so very far from out,) chop a remaining orange in half and see if I can encourage those mini-invaders back out of the woodwork or wherever it is they hide and in front of the camera. Where exactly do they survive in the dull months between over-ripe oranges? I bet they are not saying. I suspect on the other plants or in the soil of said plants. I might go poke around as it is not an outdoors day today. Yet again.

Coenosea

under 4miles in over 3hrs