risky business

 

23-05-25 The idea that photographing butterflies involves any kind of risk is amusing. I doubt any have a venomous sting and most don't have mouth-parts with which to bite. They are by their very construction gentle, shy creatures. However it is not the butterflies but their environment on this occasion that provides the risk. A steep sided gorge formed by a small stream with mossy stepping stones. A hundred ways to break a leg or twist an ankle. And another hundred to trip and fall with an expensive camera or take an early bath in the burn. And I spent the whole day never seeing another soul. Welcome to Linn Dean!

I have cycled to Linn Dean - about 18 miles in either direction and the A68 just appalling for bikes. Large lorries whizzing by, inches from your elbow. The bus option seemed the better choice although it takes ages and then drops you at the bottom of the motorway going up Sutra, up which you must walk, something like the best part of a mile. However you can sometimes get the driver to drop you at the layby at the top of Sutra. Today I thanked the Asian driver profusely for his kindness. On the last visit the driver said the layby might be full of lorries with no place to stop. (It never is and can't be due to the nature of the road there, there will always be a space to pull over and drop off a butterfly hunter.) However it just depends on whether you get someone happy-to-please or a jobsworth.

You only have to visit Linn Dean once and you get the feel for it. As a result every time I visit I wear the grippiest hill-racing shoes in my collection. There is barely enough flat ground to spread a 2m x 2m picnic blanket flat. Nowhere to pitch a tent once you descend into the gorge. You are either descending or ascending or trying to cross the stream.

The stream has loads of large boulders inviting you to make a hop, skip, jump across the water to the other side. The butterflies are almost always on the other side. However I kept this business to a minimum - only crossing when I absolutely had to - because it felt like every time I managed, I was one crossing closer to disaster. Keep going back and forth and eventually you'll come a cropper. There were a couple of places crossings were maybe three out of ten on a difficulty scale but most were four or five or higher as you weren't entirely sure if the moss on the stones was wet or dry, along with the moving or non-moving aspect of the rocks. The potential for slip-trip-camera-smash was huge. As my age increases and my equipment increases in value I find I am far more aware of the consequences of a casual step onto an uncertain outcome. And nobody nearby to help pick you up off the ground. You have been warned.

That said, the exact same things - the gorge, the stream, the steep ground - make the place spectacular. And because it is on a windy hill all the local wildlife scoots along here to duck into the valley and avoid the windy hilltops. Or have a drink at the water. The place is hoaching with insects, bugs and butterflies. Which was why I was there. Hoping for NBAs, SPBFs (and chimney sweeper moths.) The place was famous for them. However things change and not everything always turns up just because you hope it will. I metaphorically held my breath on the descent into the gorge until eventually I saw a distant orange fritillary. Okay good start, although there were not many (four or five max?) and they were not sitting for photos. Small heaths were the only thing in any kind of abundance. No sign of NBAs. I realised I was probably here a week early but was finding more than Gillian who had preceeded my visit by a few days and found nothing. The weather also influences the place. It started overcast (I was quite late arriving around 11.30am) but cleared away which helped considerably. If it had stayed cloudy it would have been a wasted trip.

look at those antennae - common heath

crane fly
lots of them about

hand held hopper

mayflies
I was really pleased getting these three in focus!

a more random group

google reckons nematus, sawfly

maybe epinotia

About an hour into the day, looking over to the other side of the stream I saw these bluebells. Pay attention to the slight orange colour just below dead centre: doesn't look much but it saved the day. I suspected a mating pair of SPBFs. I kept a lid on the excitement and looked at the nearest, least neck-breaky stream crossing. I gathered my nerve and stepped across 3 stones. It had to be done. I approached cautiously and sure enough it was a mating pair. They shuffled a little at my approach but settled and let me lie on the grass beside them and shoot dozens of photos. (A wind was making it a little tricky.) Without them I would not have got any SPBF close-ups. I had opted for the macro lens right from the start of the day, and this was an excellent choice for these two as they sat (relatively) still and let me slide around the grass getting a few different angles and trying to get the light right. When I got the last shot (the one at the top of the page) I checked it was sharp enough, then left them to it. The flowers, the butterflies and the green of the grass behind made a perfect colour combination. And the macro close-ups were fairly decent as well. If I'd been thinking I would have tried a wide angle lens and got a bit more background but I was glad I left them as I found them and didn't interupt the activity unduly. 

bingo!

My first thoughts were I could now catch the early bus home. There was one around 2.30pm and the next was 4.00pm-ish. However the weather was improving or staying fine (as forecast) and you never know there might be more good stuff here. I swithered. I was pretty sure I'd taken the shot of the day by quite some distance but there was also a nagging doubt that I might come across more good stuff. I decided to return to the probable NBA sites and see if the other species on my wish-list had turned up. And also continue the quest for a small heath upper wing shot and maybe sneak up on the occasional red admiral that was zipping about but refusing to be photo-ed. Or maybe just get the bus home and gloat about that photo?

Having stayed close to the stream going up the gorge I now returned to lower gorge via the higher path. There were several small coppers about but they weren't particularly fresh nor willing. You have to get in close with the macro lens and they weren't playing ball. I took some scenery shots and panoramas with my mobile phone. It is a dynamic place and looked good with small white clouds scudding over behind the turbines. Clearly it wasn't that warm as the jumper and buff suggest. 

small heath: upper wings shot

small copper - one of the fresher ones

As I was leaving the gorge I happened upon this NBA. It was very frisky but not too hard to get within 3m. However getting to within 1m (essential for the macro lens) was really tough. I'd lie down near it and try to slide across the steep slope. I'd just get it into focus and it was gone. Sometimes even just sitting down nearby was enough to scare it off. There was slightly more evidence of SPBFs flying and even landing closer to where I was. It was approaching the cut-off for the early bus vs the later bus. My fomo told me to stay and get the later bus. At various times I was pretty sure this had been the wrong decision but it was an optimistic one; you never know what treats will be presented and as I'd witnessed already, it only takes one lucky incident to make the difference between failure and success. (Spoiler alert: I probably should have got the earlier bus.)

stick your tongue right in!

I took off my heavy backpack. I let the sweaty back dry out in the sunshine. I was quite high up the slope that you enter and leave the NNR by. In the photo below the thin trail going up the left hand side - near the top of that. It is harsh on feet as you are never standing on flat ground and despite my hill-shoes being well broken in, I had blisters forming on my heels as my socks got wet in the swampy bits. I also took off my jumper and buff. The jumper and backpack attracted a few wee hoppers which enjoyed sitting on the warm salty material of the backpack. And some sat for pretty good close-ups too. 

Funnily enough the only place I've ever seen NBAs in Linn Dean is on that slope up the top left (above). I think there might have only been 2 on this occasion and one mostly absent. In the past Alistair G has found them in great numbers on the right hand side of this photo on the steep slope above the stream. There were none there today, just an old pair of peacocks down at the bottom occasionally jousting with a worn pair of small coppers.

small copper

I gave this area a good search but there was nothing of interest

hoppers on my jumper

nearly a decent photo
Moved in closer and it flew off.

this would have been the closest SPBF photo
were it not for the mating pair

In the past I have arrived early (10am) at this site and found sleepy SPBFs and had them on my hand before they woke up from the warmth. Clearly the downside of arriving earlier in the season is a lack of butterflies of the chosen species. Maybe I should return when the DGFs are flying in a week or 2. There would at least be chimney sweeper moths and more than one flighty NBA. 

one of the older peacocks

not a bad small copper

best shot of a small heath showing upper wings

Eventually I got tired of the NBA flying off for the hundredth time. I looked for some small heaths to chase but they were perhaps warming up in the sunshine as well and becoming too frisky. I followed a few around and got some pre-burst mode pics. By now I was done and looked forward to getting back onto level ground. It was much quicker to get back up to the roadside where the bus dropped me, than I thought, but then a far longer way back down the hill beside the motorway-like road to get to the bus-stop. I had 30mins to kill so walked up towards the quarry. There are signs to disuade locals walking their dogs or themselves up this road but the quarry traffic is minimal and there are often some butterflies along the way.

the layby

a long way from home

Maybe this should say do not drive stoned or do not drive on drugs. I was so tired I thought that was funny. There were no excellent butterflies but it passed the 30mins to wander up the road. A van drove down the road and a quarry superviser pulled alongside for a chat. When he judged me not to be the sort who'd try to steal a truck or quarry equipment (which happily occurred almost immediately) he got chatting about the King's Road; a nearby road of some sort that hikers like to take. He'd obviously interviewed a few of them as well, and was happy to chat and pass on all the relevant info at his disposal. He didn't ask me to go no further although I'd already turned around and was on my way back to the bus stop. The bus was about 15minutes late and I fell asleep on the way back into town. I woke up with a start, wondering if the Asian driver had gone past Sutra yet and then remembered I was on my way home. 

2.97miles in 4hrs35m