best part of the day: sbw 006

17-09-24 The seventh and possibly final visit to Saltoun Big Wood in 6 weeks. The forecast looked very promising but was slow to marterialise as the haar / fog that shrouded much the Forth basin was slow to clear. I had planned various activities in the three days of sunshine this week and a visit to Saltoun was the first. I had arranged to meet Colin M there at 11am. He is a recent butterfly (and wildlife) enthusiast, and I was going to pass on my 60mm macro lens. Colin (an Olympus M43rds user) was interested in buying it (now I have the 90mm I no longer required the 60mm) and I didn't feel sending sensitive equipment through the post was the best idea. Would sending a map of Saltoun and where to park, and a time - 11am - work out okay? Colin (St Andrews based) was an experienced orienteer, so of course the answer was yes.

anagram of love

In fact he was there before I was: the bus was slightly behind schedule, leaving me only 25minutes to do a 30 minute run up the cyclepath. My camera was safely packed away in my backpack, but when I saw a beautiful vole nipping across the trail I had to stop for a cuddle and photo. I just used my mobile phone rather than get out the proper camera.

I arrived 5 mins after Colin. Alan B was there with another phtographer. The logging people had had words with them about safety; since they were there already (and didn't seem to be totally irresponsible) there was no point in sending them away, howewer if they were to bump into the logging vehicles on the trails, they were to make sure they were seen by the loggers who might take a large swathe of trees and pedestrians into the arms/jaws of their machinery without noticing.

Although we heard the machinery in the distance and saw some log loading onto lorries later, happily we never had any further interactions with the loggers. And much of the churned paths were tamped flat by lorry tyres and drier weather. However it does nothing for the woods benefit to have this industry going on. I suppose that is the price of keeping this land as it is.

Since Alan and the other guy were at the first pond photographing dragonflies, I suggested that Colin and I go try our luck on the back trail - butterfly alley. (Also it is easier to test an unfamiliar macro lens on nearly stationary butterflies than speeding dragonflies!) It was a good call and the place was busy with commas, now even more numerous than peacocks. We must have seen 20~30 of them. Colin had only recently come across commas so was impressed with the number here. They are not a butterfly you often see gathering socially, so it is something of a spectacle that they are all along the back trail on the scabious flowers. The flowers were definitely beginning to fade. I may have seen a single red admiral at the woodpile; it might have been a peacock. But we saw no RAs on butterfly alley which seemed odd. Some of the commas were beginning to fade or had notches out of wings, however this has been one of the most remarkable places over the last 7 trips and a highlight of the season.

This peacock had become trapped in a spider's web.
The spider, just above, was considering its approach

marmalade hoverfly

Colin getting in close with the 60mm

my version of the same with the 90mm

Instead of just getting record shots, I was trying to explore the possibility of getting better photos: considering (since we had so many almost willing subjects) to get the best specimens in the best position with the best backgrounds and lighting. Rather than just shoot as many ranndom pics of whatever happens as you pass by. It is difficult to know if this actually produces the goods, as you are nearly entirely limited by the actions of the butterflies and where they do it.

However you can optimise this by being aware of (for instance) pretty colours of heather in the background and getting the optimum angle, which often means getting down on the groud and shooting from an angle not 4 foot vertically above the subject. And all this while considering the technicalities of the photo: the aperture, shutter-speed and ISO. And the fact that many of the best shots are luck and happenstance rather than careful engineering and manufacture.

there were several speckled about today
of which this might have been the finest specimen

On the way back down the trails we stopped at the ponds to admire the odonata. The sun was now being hidden more and more by cloud cover and the dragonflies were thinning out as a result. We had to wait while a lorry loaded up with logs near the first pond before heading off - Colin back to where he parked at West Saltoun, myself down the path to Barley Mill and the Pecaitland cyclepath. Colin had offered me a lift to where-ever, but I felt I needed the extra mileage as part of a new regime of trying to up the run training. At least I didn't have too long a wait at the bus stop for the 113 back home. A fine day out at the best place I know for end of season butterflies and dragonflies!

Southern Hawker

Colin swapped from macro to long lens for the dragonflies

pea weevil Sitona lineatus

some type of Pardosa

I always check out the fallen silver birch trunks for darters and spiders. Inevitably there are some sunbathing although you have to approach with caution otherwise they will shoot off. The black darter here was hopping on and off and I was trying to get him in mid-air, not easy and not really enough light for a suitably high shutter-speed.