sbw 003

 

The last day of August for this, the fourth and possibly the best day this season at Saltoun Big Wood. I came away with over a 1000 photos which has been distilled to around 100. The weather was nearly perfect - blue skies all afternoon. Mary drove us there and for once we got parked at the road end. As we walked along the road into the woods there were birds and butterflies - whites, a red admiral and a comma which was a good omen. 

sparrows

radmiral

At the first pond things were happening. There seemed to be a decent amount of hawkers and damselflies about and immediately I saw a coupled pair of common hawkers on a birch tree. As if this wasn't exciting enough one landed on my leg. This never happens. (I even had tick repellent on my legs!) I managed to get a couple of photos before it maybe realised its mistake and flew off. A thilling start. 

common hawkers, male above

black darter

common darter

The last visit here I had missed the chance to get decent butterfly photos spending the decent weather chasing dragonflies, not realising things would quickly deteriorate. Mary was keen to get up the trail to butterfly alley and I suspected it may be optimal weather for it, so followed her up the trail. We had seen Alan B's motorbike parked near the entrance and I was surprised we hadn't come across him so far. He was up at the large pond on the right. We got chatting about dragonflies and as if to prove a point another hawker landed near us. The place was indeed buzzing.

Mary at the oak tree stump

Mallota tricolor?

common hawker

"Butterfly alley" lived up to its name. The devil's bit scabious was in full bloom and there were maybe a hundred and forty butterflies over the half mile. Most were peacocks. Just dozens of them. It was a magical place to be. The commas were out and about as well; and while not nearly in the same numbers as the peacocks, there were maybe two dozen spread fairly uniformly along the track. Plus a handful of red admirals, speckled woods and a few aging walls. If the one you were trying to photo flew off you just moved another couple yards and tried again. It was euphoric. Mary and I kept our distance from each other so we didn't disturb the group we'd be trying to photograph. Also M understandably doesn't warm to my boyish raving enthusiasm, pointing stuff out to her that she is perfectly well aware of, and can see without me telling her what to photograph. We slowly worked up the trail quite a distance apart both entirely engrossed by the wonderful surroundings.

a few speckleds, mainly at the start of the trail

glorious red admiral

flaming orange comma

comma underside showing the famous c,
that gives it its name

peacock

The admirals were quite flighty and as you disturbed them from the flowers they would often fly up to the pine trees which lined the trail. This one (above) posed nicely on the end of a branch for photos and video. 

video of comma and RA

There were small sunny enclaves where half a dozen peacocks and maybe a comma or red admiral were all nectaring. It was difficult to capture the scene and get a feeling in still photos of the amount of butterflies and activity. I ended up taking video with the DJI Pocket which worked better but still didn't quite catch the utter magic of the place. I can't remember ever seeing more butterfly action in any place in Scotland or abroad. 

large white
not many and few sitting still for photos

female wall # 1
There were a handful of walls, the females being in better shape than the males.

female wall # 2

It was the commas I kept returning to: their flame-like colourings and relative scarcity drawing me to them. No matter how many there are, they never get boring or commonplace and each one has slightly different marking and shapes. There were so many about it forced you to look for not just another comma pic, but to try to find something a bit different - to get in really close or capture several in the same image. Commas are not generally a social butterfly and it is unusual to see a few together like this. We had the feeling some of the butterflies were mildly intoxicated on the flowers and less skittish than normal. Which made taking photos easier.

initially we found just one slightly faded and ghostly painted lady
however on the way back down the trail we found another

hearthery background works

up near the top of the trail was this holly blue
a fresh female - yet another treat, although it flew off fairly quickly

green-veined white

the place was buzzing with insect activity

comma in flight

painted lady # 1

photo: Mary

busy with insect life!

Alan B - came up the trail to check out the butterflies
his first love is dragonflies, but he enjoys a butterfly spectacle too

three commas!

courting walls (female above, male below)

small white

painted lady # 2 (had a notch out the left wing)

We had our lunch of sandwiches sitting on the log at the top of the trail. Afterwards Mary went round the back trail, while I went back down the way we'd come as I could not walk away from that number of butterflies. There aren't as many round the far side of the square as there is less scabious. We met up at the rooty oak tree where we still failed to see any ruby-tailed wasps. But there was a feeling of abundance and we didn't feel short-changed. We wandered down to the first pond again where there was quite a lot going on.

common darter female

Mary stayed at this point while I risked a muddy slither, wandering round the edge

I was glad I did as there was a Souther Hawker patrolling the far side of the pond. It kept returning to the area where I was standing and on one occasion came right over for such a close look that I couldn't get back enough to get it in frame. However I did get a few pics of it hovering and moving about just in front of me. The difference between a Southern and Common Hawker is the amount of greeny-yellow-fluro dots down 2/3rd of its abdomen although the last couple of segments are more blue like the Common version. Also on the side of the thorax (under the wings) the fluro colour almost covers the area. On the Commons it is just thinner stripes.

black darter

emerald damselfly

common hawker

emerald damselfly

common hawker

We both really enjoyed the day and got loads of photos. It was great to see so many insects about, after what has been the worst Summer in recent years. The role of the weather was underlined when we got home and saw right next to our front door a ruby-tailed wasp inspecting all the holes and gaps in the masonry. We live in a not-very-leafy area of Leith and although we've had holly blues and waxwings in our street it is not really a place to look for wildlife. It just shows what can happen when the sun does occasionally come out. And why I should probably live in a warm country.

ruby-tailed wasp

the profusion of buttefly alley