sbw 004 + 005

 

Visit number 5 and 6 to Saltoun Big Wood which were respectively the worst and best of times. There have been a few September days of haze and haar around the coast. Such was the case on the 6th Sept although I jumped on the bus to Pencaitland because the forecast said it was to be glorious weather locally. What could possibly go wrong? I sat on the bus confident the gloomy fog would lift. If not soon, then maybe in an hour. 

Alas it did not lift. It was quite a warm day and I imagined the sun, up above the grey clouds, blazing away, but failing to penetrate the cool dismal blanket below. Since I had caught the bus and run the 3 or 4 miles up the cyclepath to the woods I may as well see what was there, but it was hard to keep my spirits up in such dreich surroundings. There were a few things to point the camera at, but the light was sludgy and grey and as the day went on I realised I'd backed a loser.

all the dew covered spiders' webs were visually fantastic

angry silver Y

butterfly alley - only 1.5 peacocks
(one alive and obviously confused, the other one dead)

one solitary peacock does not make a summer

When Mary saw the photo above she thought it looked suitably spooky and reimagined it below with the help of photoshop. I did not find the woods spooky even though I was there alone and was not in an upbeat mood. I tried to think along the lines of "at least I am getting some exercise" but then I must have blanked the rest from my mind in a kind of PTSD way, as I have little recollection from the day other than mentally writing it off as yet another below par day in this marvelous summer!

And so we merrily skip forward 4 days to the 10th of September. Again a glorious forecast, but this time a more accurate one. Of all the trips here I think this one recorded the most photos taken; which doesn't always mean the best photos taken, but a good indictation there was plenty to point the camera at. 

Again the morning 113 Pencaitland bus from Abbeyhill. Although just a handful of stops from its starting point, the arrival can widely vary from 6 minutes ahead of schedule to 10 minutes after. This is far better than at the other end where I've stood for 40minutes at the Pencaitland stop. 

juv chaffinch

I chose the bus rather than bike because it necessitates a bit of a run. I have been attending parkrun again and need all the miles I can get. (I am 2 minutes down on where I was in January.) I keep my camera in its case in my backpack and run up the cyclepath. I saw a family of chaffinches in a tree and swithered about a photo. The blue skies and proximity of the birds said yes, so I got the camera out, took some photos, put it away again and continued running.

I approach the woods not from the road end entrance, but up a small path past Barley Mill Cottages that follows the river then climbs a dirt trail through the trees before popping out onto the main path. Only the main path was blocked with a 12' stack of cut trees and I had to clamber through shrubs and trees round the side. There were no loggers working nearby which was good as they are not keen on the public getting in the way of their deadly machines.

I checked out the pond. Lots of odonata, emerald damselflies, black darters and Common and Southern hawkers. I had a splosh round the side and again the black darter, possibly the same one as last time, readily landed on my hands and head. I would prefer a decent shot of it in natural surroundings but it has a bad habit of sitting low on non prominent vegetation which does not show it off to best advantage.

emerald damselfly

black darter

Then this hawker turned up. It was a female common hawker and looking for a place to lay eggs in the shallows on vegetation. It was not put off by my presence although I wasn't moving about much.

the 2 thin lines of yellow on the thorax identify
this as a Common rather than Southern

I decided to head on up the path as I'd missed many of the butterflies on a previous trip by spending too much time at the ponds. On the way up the trail a large and handsome Common Hawker swooped down and landed nearby. As Alan Brown said to me recently you get an instinct for when they are going to settle, which is really rare given the number you see zipping up and down the trails looking presumably for females.

This one sat on an eyelevel branch and I used maximum ninja stealth to approach it without spooking it. They have remarable eyes for seeing prey and snatching it midair but I get the feeling they are more alert to anything moving at a certain rate. They live on a far faster timescale than we do and if you move slowly enough you probably become a part of landscape, like a tree. I based this on the fact a male hawker flew by while I was shooting the female hawker egglaying. She was EXACTLY what he was looking for and yet he missed her and flew by within a metre. I put this down to her being motionless.

common hawker video

I was thrilled to get such a sunny and well lit interview with this excellent specimen. It must have seen me because I had the camera within maybe 20 inches of it. Normally they would fly off. This one changed position and again, quite unsual to see one walking!

female common darter

male common darter

female common hawker

At the second pond (the other large pond on the right after the crossroads) there was quite a lot going on. I came across another female common which was also egglaying and I think she was caught and carried off by an amorous male before I could get many photos. Also there was a Southern Hawker around the North side where I like to stand. They are the same size and appearance as commons but with fluro yellow down their spots until the last 2 or 3 segments when the yellow becomes blue. One kept coming past me to check the reeds for females and if it hovered for more than a second I'd try and get a photo. I had the shutterspeed between 1/1000 and 1/4000 although I should have put it up to 1/8000 to freeze the wings. 

If the camera focusses on the background I have a button that I can push to bring it back onto the subject, after which the animal autofocus will hold it on the dragonfly. Given there is a very limited time to do this you have to be very quick, and more often the dragonfly moves on just as you get the perfect image in the frame. It is also one of the few times I set the camera to burst mode to fire off multiple images quickly if you get the perfect shot lined up. 

All the above are Southerns, below are 2 Commons

enjoying the play of light on water

a comma at the woodpile

At the back trail, butterfly alley, there were lots of butterflies, but fewer than the trip with Mary on the 31st August, when there were likely over a hundred peacocks along the path. It is nearly impossible to count the numbers accurately there as I keep getting involved with individuals or small groups and zoning out, maybe lying or kneeling on the ground. And they are flying back and forwards and no way to know which you have counted already. So when I hand in numbers to the local recorder (Nick) I estimate numbers and do so conservatively. 

There were loads of commas. I think about 2 dozen. It meant if one flew off you didn't need to chase it into the undergrowth but could walk on a few yards and there would be another.

peacock

(pink footed or graylag) geese flying overhead
great sound of them chatting as they go

I had seen this guy and his dog (just checked blogs) on 14th Sept 2020 when I was there doing exactly the same as today. It is a distinctive and attractive dog, a lurcher saluki cross. We had a bit of a chat about wildlife and stuff. I'll maybe remember to ask the dog's name next time our paths cross.

not so many admirals about this time

small white

red admiral with notch out rear nearside

Sometimes a spooked comma would fly up onto a pine tree. 

The colours (and textures) are particularly complementary. 

peacock

red admiral - keeping its distance

blue skies and warm weather - nowhere I'd rather be

I checked out the woodpile which is just near the second pond. There is often something interesting around there or insects on the logs. As I approached a common hawker flew off. Yet again that feeling I should have walked up more slowly. Before I left another landed where the previous had taken off from. Then left again. I decided to linger and see if another landed there. As stated earlier they are not known for settling and can stay aloft for a long time. Sure enough a few minutes later one landed within a foot of where the last one took off. I approached slowly and got photos but still have no idea if it was just sunbathing or there was something nutritional it was getting from the damp wood. Maybe like butterflies mud puddling or taking minerals from paths?

female common darter

Mesembrina meridiana - Noon fly (despite it being 2.30)

dennis hopper

I made sure and kept well clear of all logging work

The logging vehicles took quite a toll on the soft grass trails, churning them up into a couple of inches of mud. There was not quite enough of a grass strip down the centre to navigate by. I was pleased to note that much of this had been padded down (by subsequent lorries) and dried out by next visit about a week later.

I left as I had arrived: by the Barley Mill path and ran back to Pencaitland where I waited 40 mintes on a bus that was 30 mins late. But still felt I had had a very lucky day, seeing and photographing lots of top quality late season wildlife in one of the best venues I know. Most return bus rides I fall asleep just on the outskirts of Edinburgh. (Haven't missed the stop at Abbeyhill yet.) (Yet!)

over 8 miles, under 4 hrs