running over photos

 

3rd August

Although we took proper cameras with us, this trip to Gullane/Aberlady was essentially for a run round the old circuit we used to do here, carrying only small compact cameras. The priority was running for a change. (Hence the title.) It's about time I did some actual running.

It is quite some while since I used the compact camera. It used to be the best camera I owned and can take a decent photo but is small enough to run with in your hand. I found the photo of some dead watches in that camera. I like a cheap Timex watch. They don't make them anymore and most of the alternatives these days don't have an interval timer, an alarm and stopwatch you can time a parkrun on. Or just look ugly. I suspect I have come to end of the Timex era though. The last one only lasted a couple of months before it started misting up due to water ingress. (Water resistent to 100m - or maybe not.) It wasn't in a swimming pool either but just outdoors in heavy rain. (Such has been our lovely Summer.) I put a new battery in (twice) but it only lasted a few days before giving up again, twice. Brand suggestions welcome. Ideally it should be digital, have set-able intervals, a daily alarm, be able to time parkrun and not ugly. And not massively expensive. Rolexes need not apply.

We left Gullane heading down the side of the golf course. Just where the shrubs and long grasses crowd the dividing wall we stopped because there was quite a lot of butterfly and dragonfly activity. The more we stood around taking pics the more stuff emerged. What started with a common darter, produced a couple of red admirals (one shredded, one spanking new) a comma, some whites, a peacock or 2, a female common blue and some flighty walls. It was hard to resist all of this and focus on the run. The original plan had been to do the run and then if it was a decent day weather-wise to drive on to Saltoun Wood for a quick photo afternoon at the ponds there.

shred admiral

a fresher version

common blue female - great find
I think that was Mary

However, given the abundance of wildlife at this section we rejigged the schedule. Do the run quickly and then return to this section with the large cameras (currently languishing in the back of the car) rather than drive anywhere else. We hadn't seen this contained richness of butterflies in quite some while.

graylags at Aberlday

shaded broad-bar moth

mating common blues

a cinnabar caterpillar which I returned to nearby dune grass

sanderlings on the water's edge

We hadn't seen the sanderlings in ages. And so it was a little frustrating to see them now and only have "running" cameras. I tried to take pics but they weren't great.

I did enjoy sprinting along the beach though. Which I couldn't have done with the bigger camera. I briefly saw 4.55 minute miling on the gps watch, although it nearly killed me and only lasted for a second or 2 before I returned to the relaxed pace we were doing for the 6 miler. It is good to rev your engine now and then, and run as hard as you possibly can. Assuming you don't have a heart condition and drop dead. It was a good reminder that I actually like running. And don't do enough of it.

sprinting puts pink in your cheeks

wall

common blue

small heath

wall

Mary suggested we cut over Gullane Hill
where we saw small coppers and walls

small copper - very rare this year

Too windy for holly blues though. We descended by the large houses on the edge of the golf course. One of them has a couple of buddleias, and on the warm stone wall beside them several peacocks and a red admiral. Despite only having a compact camera I got caught up taking photos. Mary did hill reps down and back up the steep grassy slope to pass the time. The butterflies were excellent specimens, the photos not so much.

Mary marks out time

Sadly the weather was fading fast. Right enough the forecast had been mixed and we felt lucky to have had such a bright day already and a very jolly run. We exchanged small cameras for larger ones (I think we may have had a coop lunch as well!) but by the time we got back to the section of JMW where all the action had been, there was only 1 common darter and a red admiral. An absolute belter in the case of the RA, and it was kind enough to stick around for pics, but without the sun, the rest had gone home. As did we. But a good reminder that running should sometimes get priority over photos. As long as the sun ain't shining!

The darter was very obliging and sat perfectly still for photos and video. I cooried in beside it and rested my camera on the rock to steady it for stacked focus shots. Although the light was so murky by then that the stacked shot (below) isn't any great improvement on the single f/22 shot next down. The video below shows how quietly it (she) was sitting and when her head moves she looks weirdly robotic. 

I was leaning over some nettles to get closer shots and had one hand occasionally supporting me, resting on the wall. The darter picked up on the hand being a good source of warmth and landed on it for a while. She was obviously feeling fairly relaxed about life as she managed to squeeze out a poop while sitting there. I found it very difficult to interpret this a compliment.

you've just been shat on!
hey thanks!

top notch RA that actually posed for photos (eventually)

meadow brown
Mary has taken to calling these Country Browns.

okay time to call it a day!

very slick and together brass band

As we went across the village green in Gullane they seemed to be having a kids' sports day. This of course brought out the competitive juices in Mary and I, although I think we were about 50+ years north of eligibility. We both realised the brass band was really very good and I thought quickly enough to video the last few bars of an excellent arrangement of Lennon and McCartney's Ticket to Ride full of train references. It is an Alan Fernie arrangement and can be heard in full on youTube here (by a different band - but same arrangement.) A very upbeat end to the day.

8 miles, 4 hrs