sunday at the park

 

11th August, Holyrood Park

The weather looked good so we took cameras and headed up to Holyrood with thoughts of the valerian below Samson's Ribs. This time last year there was a humming-bird hawk-moth appearing most sunny days with commas, whites, admirals and graylings to photo in the intervals when it was not present. The valerian is not only a favourite with a broad church of followers (insect and human) it is rather lovely to photograph. Makes a nice picture.

with the weather comes the tourists

an unusually vertiginous perch

When we arrived Andrew and Unda were already there. Mairi had not long left. I was sorry not to have bumped into Mairi as it was herself who encouraged my enthusiasm for macro photos and had pointed me towards the 60mm Olympus lens that got me started on the macro journey.

Also there when we arrived, was this comma. It was keeping its distance and the steep gorse-covered slope does not allow for stepping over the barrier and getting any closer. So I changed from the 90mm macro lens to the long lens. The difference is the difference between a record shot (above) and a proper close up (below). While I don't enjoy lugging around the extra weight, this is the reason I wouldn't leave home without the 100~400.

Andrew and Unda had seen the H-B H-M. It was sat about 12 feet (4m in modern) up the rock face, sunbathing. It was almost impossible to see if you didn't have someone pointing out exactly where it was. They were only aware of it because Mairi saw it land. (Although she later said she turned around to tell A&U and when she turned back she couldn't see it again, such was the colour match of rock and moth.)

The drab spectacle of a resting hummer is a very poor comparison to the creature in flight when its command of the airspace is breathtaking. Albeit the colourscheme isn't the most spectacular of any moth. This one seemed to be on the same work to rule as the railworkers and refused to take to the air. We would check back from time to time and it was still there. Until, on one occasion, it wasn't, and we hurried back and forth along the valerian but no sign. Bugger!

a hairy shieldbug attracted to the flowers on Unda's top

grayling

The only butterflies consistently posing on the valerian were graylings. There were a couple of fading specimens and they were close enough for reasonable photos. It was puzzling there weren't a few other species although there were passing fly-bys from whites and an occasional holly blue. I think it is just the result of there being lower numbers of most species this Summer. Where were all the peacocks? And small torts?

a very good condition holly blue female
but she refused to open her wings for a photo and flew off quickly

small copper

One highlight was this small copper enjoying the yarrow on the opposite side of the road from the valerian. Only about the third I have seen this so-called Summer. Normally they'd be all over the place and you bump into them in the usual places. But a very poor year for them. Which makes a quality specimen like this very welcome. It hung about for a short while then disappeared up the rockface.

grayling on teasel

the comma on valerian was not phazed by the paparazzi

Most of the time we were there we could hear a screeching coming from the direction of Wells o' Wearie. A&U had said it was the sparrowhawk family. It seemed that the parent birds were trying to teach the youngsters to get out the nest and fend for themselves, rather than just wait for the deliveroo food service to drop off the next meal. Mostly this went on behind cover of the tree they were nesting in but at one point three birds all appeared from the treetops and there was a noisy interaction. It looked like the parent bird had a meal in his claws and was flaunting it at the chicks but not handing it over which caused much annoyance. The parent flew off with a couple of unhappy youngsters following, wondering why they were not allowed the morsel. Which looked like a bird - maybe a starling sized bird, possibly a chick itself.

We all pointed our cameras at the ongoing spectacle and again I was glad I had changed lenses from the macro to the zoom. It is just guessing, but I reckon that is the male parent and a female offspring chasing in the photo above. Which accounts for the discrepancy in size; female sparrowhawks being larger than males. It is nerve-racking to observe a sudden interaction like this knowing you are most likely going to fluff the best action of the day and only have seconds to respond. But the bird detection auto-focus in the G9 did a good job and I got these shots. (I also blew a few more, but we'll gloss over that! It's still very possible to mess up, even with the best gear in the world.)

The parent did a couple more circuits with its passenger, but the youngsters were back in their rooms in a teenage huff. I think it eventually settled on a high ledge above Samson's Ribs.

a ladybird on Mary's arm

Unda and Ken

We had seen Ken earlier, checking out NBA corner and he'd said he would be making his way here. A male holly blue turned up on the ivy on the high side of the road and we all stood pointing our cameras at it while it refused to pose in any kind of useful way. Flying from leaf to leaf but never sitting with open wings.

useless!

Mary and I decided to check out other parts of the park. There was only a light wind and the prospect of admirals and painted ladies on the summit of Crow Hill, along with walls and graylings seemed a dead cert. It is quite a long haul to get up there which we liked to think of as a health advantage rather than a chore. However when we got there it was entirely devoid of anything to point the camera at. Not one butterfly I seem to remember. All that health benefit and nothing to show for it. Another legacy of this dismal season in this dismal country! Actually it wasn't absolutely devoid of flying things - there were some flying ants! 

crow hill - not worth the hike

Mary being attended to by loads of flying ants
while she looks up countries with a decent amount of sunshine

a female pheasant or youngster - no wheatears despite quite a search

Undaunted we next tried the boundary path. A little bit muddy and overgrown with brambles, willowherb and nettles, we hoped the white-letter hairstreak might show itself. And if not, there was bound to be a comma or admiral on the nearby buddleia. Surely?

we had to settle for a couple of speckleds
which were doing a really great impression of WLHs, just to confuse

a splendid peacock was compensation

tufted duck

I was feeling the need to get home and Mary wanted to go the long way round the duck pond. I did not. I took a couple of pics of tufties and waited at the far end for Mary to appear. No sign. My FOMO kicked in (fear of missing out, not fear of marital obliteration) and I ran round St Margaret's Loch to see what had held Mary's attention expecting her to be photographing something wonderful.

But there was no sign of her! We must have somehow crossed paths and she would be wondering where I'd got to. I ran back to the far end and there was no sign of a Mary! I ran across the playing fields but she must have got such a head start she had already exited through Croft-An-Righ by the palace. I legged it. I raced the steps up Abbeyhill and by London Road I was anticipating seeing her any moment. I got all the way home and the locked front door told me I was first home and had likely abandoned my better half back at the park, waiting at the end of the duck pond. Ooops!

I texted to say I was home and she should join me there. I think we must have been standing either side of the same tree. Happily neither had been waiting with growing rage but both assumed the other was a bit daft and had made their way home like a dog off the leash. Phew!

Have you ever seen The Vanishing? (A memorable film with possibly the most alarming finale of any I can think of.) The original, not the remake. It does flit through my head on days like this. Desson Howe of The Washington Post praised the film's avoidance of cliches, noting that it is "refreshingly free of manipulative scenes involving running bath water, jagged-edge cutlery and bunnies in the saucepan".

the end