vibrant migrant

 

4th September. This started off as a trip along to the lagoons at Musselburgh. I was inspired by the ruby-tailed wasp at my front door, 5 days previous. This reminder of just how spectacular they are made me want more of the same. One of the places we'd come across them was on the wooden gates at the new hides. So when the forecast looked reasonable (they appear more in sunlight) I headed off on my bike along to Musselburgh. Plan B was bird-spotting there, Plan C was dragonflies at the far lagoon, Plan D was dragonflies at Aberlady, but let's hope something comes up before then.

I am not a bird expert. I like to take their photos but I enjoy a decent photo of commonplace thing as much as an indifferent shot of an exotic blow-in. I have not bothered to visit the Steppe Grey Shrike at Belhaven yet, which is "showing well" judging by the many photos of it on Lothian Birdwatch. It is a smallish and fairly unspectacular bird, although a pleasant looking visitor, blown off course from Asia or Siberia. That said, I was impressed by the photo of it having caught a vole. Shrikes are known as butcher birds and will take small rodents and impale them on a thorny bush for eating later. I think it is smaller than a blackbird, so quite fiesty. I might yet go along to where crowds of twitchers gather, but the idea of standing in a queue waiting for this small bird to appear for a machine gun fire of cameras going off, is not my ideal way to interact with nature. At least it is not shy and happily appears near humans searching for wasps, beetles and invertibrates. Maybe I will pay it a visit, although last time I joined the shrike-hunters was a dispiriting occasion.

a redshank maybe

I often have an instinctive feel for a sought-after species appearing or not. On arrival at a venue there can be a feeling of optimism or not. On this occasion, after checking the first couple of gates for less than a minute or 2 it just felt like no way are there's an RTW within a mile of here. There may or may not have been and to be fair I didn't wait long at the gates. However the sun was shining - it was nearly perfect conditions and I waited maybe 10 minutes at the most successful place, where we saw them last time. I tried to engage with a few flies and harvestmen but I could feel the enthusiasm draining out of me and had a feeling I was wasting the sunshine hanging around for greenbottles and raisins on stilts.

The best thing I came across was this fly, which might be a Coremacera marginata (sieve-winged snailkiller) which looked a lot more drab (and smaller) than the one I came across in Holyrood Pk. I nearly didn't bother to photo this one as it had none of the standout features of the previous one: amazing wings and exotic looking eyes. This one looked like nothing at all and had it not been sunny with nothing better to do, I'd have walked on by. Here's the one I captured in Holyrood...

more wow factor

pretty sure this was a swallow

these 2 were edging closer and I wondered if 
there was going to be a showdown (there wasn't)

I know things are bad when I resort to taking pics of swans. They are quite fun when taking off, with that laboured flapping and an age to completely leave the water, and then flying overhead with that great noise, but they are not my favourites by a long way.

whoosh whoosh whoosh

google lens says reed bunting
it also says Ipswich Sparrow which is fun (and limited to Nova Scotia)

So with a complete no-show for ruby-tailed wasps I headed to the furthest East lagoon. I had seen an immature Black-tailed skimmer (m) there at the start of the season (June) and hoped there might still  be some about. I had never returned to get further pics (all the butterflies distracting me between then and now) and felt another visit long overdue. I padlocked my bike and hopped over the fence to see if any were in the reeds and shrubs near the water's edge. There were not, although I really enjoyed these lapwings which would circle the water and then land over the other side. They made a lovely long sine wave in the air.

As slight compensation for wading through the very rough and jaggy ground I came across a peacock or 2 and a single painted lady. It was a bit old and past it, as have been most seen this year - I think the running total is 4 or 5. Ahh the memories of 2019 and the invasion of painted ladies! How could we ever have taken them for granted? There were hundreds, and we did!

elderly painted lady

this magpie couldn't be bothered to fly off

My day was fast going to shit. I mean I was onto Plan D already and had loads of photos of nothing. To increase this portfolio I stopped at a bunch of wildflowers along the coast. There MUST be some butterflies there, I thought, as I laid my bike down and went over to kick through the leggy dandelions and see what I could find. Mostly bees and hoverflies but also perhaps the last meadow brown of the year. Fading but in decent enough nick to warrant a photo or 2. I think there was also an admiral or peacock but that it flew off. Not worth the effort as I had quite a few miles to cycle to the next port of call in Aberlady.

dad dabchick scarpering

Quite a hike to Aberlady which seemed like a wild goose chase now that every other plan had come to nothing. And sure enough it looked bad when I arrived at the large pond just inland from Aberlady near the caravan park up the Haddington Rd. There was a family of little grebes (dabchicks) (I think) hoping I wasn't noticing their slightly panicked attempts to make themselves scarce. Dad headed over to the far side shouting it's everyone for themselves while mum and chicks eventually followed over at a more sedate pace. Since I was miles away, beyond the range of the 400mm lens, it was all a bit melodramatic and uncalled for. It suggested they don't get many human visitors. It is a rough walk over a couple of fields past the caravan park. At least the generator wasn't in operation like last time; noisily taking water out the pond for the fields.

farmer spraying the fields with muck

mum and chicks?

not much in the way of reasons to be cheerful

There were a couple of darters. Last time here (about this time of year) there were Migrant hawkers on the reeds and Southerns doing fly-bys. Although I saw a hawker in the distance it didn't look like a worthwhile investment to hang about and I went to check out the man-made pond half a mile away. It is a rectangle the farmer has made to store water and I recalled from the last visit that it was neither easy or convenient to get close to, being surrounded by bushes, nettles and brambles. Oh joy.

I approached the North East corner which has a small grassy pier right beside the water. A small step more like. If migrants choose to land on the reeds 2m away you can get a fairly decent photo. If you stand about there for an hour they will likely do this 2 maybe three times so keep focussed and pay attention. No sign of Southerns unlike last year. But larger numbers of migrants. Quite a few, but mostly on the watery side of the reeds 4 ~ 8m away. Hmmm, frustrating!

migrant hawker on the reeds

in flight

female common darter

a jay nearby - not a pretty song

A plan was forming. The best possible spot to stand and photo dragonflies was undoubtedly in the water just South of the reeds. Now would that be possible? I didn't want to cycle home in filthy sopping shoes so took shoes and socks off. Then tentatively ventured into the watery unknown. Almost imediately I began to doubt the wisdom of this. The bottom of the pond was really sludgy (a thick black ooze that stank) and indeterminately deep. It did not level off and had items unknown - was that thick vegetation? was that a housebrick? - underneath. I made these first exploratory steps WITHOUT the expensive non-waterproof camera in my hands. If it seemed safe I'd go back and get the camera.
 
But this was like walking a tightrope blindfold in a strong wind and after a very short 3 or 4 steps decided all bets were off and it was a very bad idea. To risk that amount of camera gear just for a photo of a migrant hawker was madness and asking for trouble. I would have not minded falling in and getting soaked as much as damaging my camera. It is a depressing time of the year already without adding that calamity unnecessarily. Reverse strategy immediately! Everyone wearing yellow bands please leave the pool!

If I had planned on a wade into the water I'd have brought my sea-swim shoes that have a decent grip and stop the black ooze squeezing between toes. And a towel. I had lycra running shorts under my normal shorts so took off the top layer. But nothing to dry my legs. Or scrape off the black mud that liberally coated anything it touched. I let my legs air dry while wandering pond-side muttering "what was I thinking?" very glad I hadn't gone in with the camera. I picked up a few nettle stings along the way. But nothing worse than that. 

I had one last venue planned for today and was eating my sandwiches and packing up my bike when I saw two migrant hawkers on the reeds just a couple of metres away from the place I had been standing. I got the camera back out and quickly approached the edge of the pond again. I had the 90mm on which doesn't give as much reach but the detail and quality of the image allows you to crop in a fair bit. I was surprised they didn't fly off on my approach which was stealthy but not quite slow enough. 

They flew off but another one landed within sight so I swapped to the 400mm lens and got the best shots of the day.

f/13

f/9

With that in the bag I felt I could head to the final venue of the day. This was the small dirt trail between Drem and Aberlady, the first place I saw migrants this year, when I didn't even recognise them. There were various diversions and roadworks but I was able to get to the turn-off through the woods. When I arrived it was still fairly much blue skies and the sun was falling in a similar manner to last time here, warming the patch of brambles. I was optimistic. However during the half hour I spent there, there were zero signs of migrant hawkers. The ones I had seen before seemed immature or at least quite fresh and a different colour to the ones I was seeing earlier today. I'll repost my comparison photos from an earlier blog...

late season colour, mid-September        early season colour, early August

there was a family of buzzards flying over the woods

I had the 90mm lens back on as I was hoping for close ups or nearby in-flight photos. The 400 would have made a better job of the buzzards as they circled but the main subject was dragonflies and butterflies on the brambles. Someone had tipped out the ashes from a bonfire right where I wanted to stand which wasn't helpful. I spent a while standing in ash leaning into a deep tangle of bramble. There was no way to get any closer to the subjects on the berries than push my shins into the bushes and lean forward, sometimes with the camera in one hand at full stretch, screen open, hoping it is focussing on the right part of the insect and taking lots of pics in case it is not.

female common darter

I noticed a comma. I had expected to see one last trip but was paying more attention to the dragonflies. So it wasn't a surprise. It was quite a bit distant. The surprise was when it hopped forward and continued sooking the bramble juice a metre or 2 nearer to where I was. I began to feel less aggrieved about the absent migrants and more pleased with what fate was serving up.

ladybird

speckled wood

reaching out with camera in one hand to get close ups

comma flicking away fly with wings

Then this. Occasionally a butterfly will vent excess fluid from its tail end. I thought this looked more like a solid (it seemed to hang for the duration of 4 shots before falling) but couldn't be an egg as they are green. After consulting an expert (thanks Iain!) I got back the information that it is in fact pure ribena in the making.

Well nothing could top that so I got back on my bike. I pushed it past the nearby farmer's reservoir to see if I could find where the absent migrants had migrated to but there were no further sightings. On the way home I remembered I had seen a female Southern hawker laying eggs in the small pond round the back of the SOC, Aberlady. Could I be bothered calling in there? Yes I could, and the thing that swayed me was peanuts. I have no peanuts currently and Dofus can't be bothered stocking them. The SOC does 2kg bags - that should keep me and the Warriston crows (and other smaller birds) going for a month or 2. 

peacocks on water mint

peacocks at the front of the building

The rest of the cycle home was mostly done standing on the pedals. I haven't had the bike out much recently and had forgotten to wear padded shorts. What I thought might be 20 miles tops, turned into nearly twice that, and I was a bit sore in the last few miles. Although I hit nearly none of the original targets I was pleased to get a few decent photos of the migrants. Plus a bit of exercise. 

39miles in 6hrs