sbw 000

 

6th August and just a little bit early to get the best of the late Summer at Saltoun Big Wood. Which is why I have labelled it 000. There will be better trips later. Why bother to blog this one then? Well to archive it so I can avoid repeating the same mistake next year. And it wasn't really a mistake, but I was disappointed there were no black darters and few butterflies up the back trail. Things only really get going about mid August onwards when the devil's bit scabious flowers and the peacocks, then the admirals and finally the commas, come out in force. It is one of the best shows in the Lothians in August/Sept (and I'd include the entire Edinburgh Festival in that statement). I have a tendency to jump the gun, hoping things are already underway. 

The road end car park spaces were busy so we parked at West Saltoun and walked the quarter mile up the road passing large whites and a small tort on a garden buddleia. 

When we got to the first pond on the left, there were common darters and maybe an occasional common hawker but not much about. I practised taking shots of in-flight dragonflies but without much sun they were a bit dull. The day felt it could either way - turn into a brilliant sunny day or nose dive into another overcast low cloud day with drizzle. It did a mix of both.

shaded broad-bar?

common hawker

emerald damselfly

that batman hoverfly again - Myathropa florea

a fair amount of insects about

Maybe one of the best things we saw today was a solitary holly blue. Although the place is crammed with trees this might have been the first and only holly blue we have ever seen here. They are not as common as elsewhere in East Lothian, seeming to prefer urban or semi-urban environments. I had to run after it cursing, as it chased about looking for females and rarely stopping for nectar. Nearly didn't get these shots! Luckily it stopped at this dandelion before disappearing.

I think there was a ruby tailed wasp at the junction tree stump but it took off as soon as we got there and before any pics were taken. There were the usual suspects - all black small parasitic wasps and ants but they don't really compare to ruby tailed wasps and we went down towards the river to check the buddleias beside the trail: just a peacock that wasn't keen on posing for the paparazzi.

As we were near the second pond up on the right a mating pair of common hawkers clattered along, coming to rest in the grass right beside us. It was the best free gift all day but after just a couple of photos - just as I was going to change to a more square on angle having got decent enough record shots - they flew off up into the trees. Equal parts hurray and fuck off!

It was nearly idyllic at the second pond with a few dragonflies lazily patrolling the perimeter. I tend to favour the North side where a few shoreline logs attract darters to sunbathe and hawkers to inspect. There was a friendly common darter (male) who would jump up and hover if I got too close but mostly return to about the same spot and let me get close in again. I was using the 90mm macro so needed to get within inches to get some decent shots.

male darter

drone fly

end of the ringlet season

The woodpile (just after the second pond) often has a surpise or treat. Butterflies, dragonflies or parasitic wasps looking for crevices to lay eggs on larvae etc. It can be buzzing with insects. But not on this occasion. Maybe we didn't look hard enough.

nice condition small skipper

large white

There were the beginnings of the mass peacock emergence on the back trail but just a handful if memory serves. There can be 40~60 along a half mile in peak season with red admirals and commas doing about half those numbers, overlapping into Sept. So today didn't really live up to expectations, but was pleasant enough. Just not spectacular.

GVW

I think we stopped for sandwiches on the fallen tree trunk just beyond the top corner. There is a distinct lack of seats in the place. Just the one bench at the waterlily pond. While getting out food and drinks I got a photo of this hoverfly while it was making up its mind where to sit. My previous camera would have struggled to focus on the moving insect and would have inevitably chosen the backgrund foliage instead. The new camera has much better animal detection and is quick to discern between animate and inanimate objects. And I have set a couple of function buttons to pull and push the focus if it is not where you want it. Which makes taking photos of flying things possible. 

I found this toadlet and ran to Mary to show off my little friend. She was equally charmed but insisted I return it to the spot I had picked it up. I wasn't as convinced it would be attached to any one area but did so anyway returning it from whence it came.

cinnabar caterpillars

this peacock landed continually just ahead of us
must have wanted to be in the blog - well here you go!

back to the treestump and another common darter
still no RTWs posing for pics

hovers on thistles

sawfly and GVW

sawfly
likely common clover-sawfly

I think these damselflies are all back down at the first pond. I also think they are all common blue damselflies. There is very little difference between them and northern damselflies (which we likely don't get) and between the azures and variables which we may get. I was rather hoping to make it through the season without having to check which was which, looking it up on some laminates I have, as the whole lot are eminently forgettable in their differences. I really can't be bothered, although I had to check which were which, in order to write this last paragraph. 

google lens says Platycheirus

yellowhammer

If you caught the ambience of dissatisfaction from this trip you wouldn't be far wrong. It was fine but there were no big-hitters or turn-up-for-the-books or photo-of-the-days. Since it felt like there was a little sunshine left and it was only about 2pm we decided to quit early and return to the JMW near Gullane where we had had encounters recently with far more butterflies in those 60 yards than in all of the 2 miles of Saltoun wood. We dashed to the batmobile and screeched tyres all the way to Gullane. (I might be exaggerating here for effect.)

Since we were last here the farmer had set his machinery to buzzcut and taken out 4 yards of long grasses and thistles round the field perimeter. There was still plenty nettles, brambles and thoroughly disreputable shrubbery along the wall side and we hoped the scalping wouldn't have discouraged the wildlife. However the cloud now covered the sun and I was once again reduced to a frothing, cursing Tourettes victim questioning why I lived in such a dull, cold, barren land. It felt like a long tiring walk back up the trail to the car.

hitting the bottle - no wonder

Along the way Mary noticed a butterfly fly into the crops. She was content with a distant shot but I was past the point of respecting the crops and strode a few steps into the field to get some shots of a handsome tortoiseshell. Sadly they have gone from one of our most common butterflies to quite rare.

we also saw this wall which declined an interview

brambles thicker than a finger

Now just as the JMW gets back to the putting greens at Gullane there is a wee lane (Saltcoats Rd) down to the right, heading towards the ruins of Saltcoats Castle. It is almost entirely overgrown currently with brambles thicker than a finger with savage razor barbs snaking up to eye level over the muddy trail. While it can be quite a good spot for butterflies (holly blues, admirals, speckleds etc.) don't even consider it. Not even if it promises to rescue a lost day, because it will shred your clothes and leave trails of blood down your legs and spit you back out without reward. Consider yourself warned. The price of that speckled was WAY too high.