way the wind blows

 

11-07-25 There have been so many fine Summer days this year that I am almost running out of ideas for places to visit, having covered all my favourites relatively recently. I could do them again but thought I'd mix it up a bit by going to the pond below NB Law. It had come up once or twice recently; although it is not very big the iRecords suggested it might be full of dragonflies. So I set off to start there and if it didn't keep me occupied all day I could make my way West along the coast and catch the bus when I ran out of steam. By coincidence, the wind was not the prevailing West wind but had changed around to help an East to West adventure.

The pond lies below North Berwick Law about a quarter mile up the John Muir Way beyond the Law car park. It does not look very special but has good access all round and is small enough you could easily photograph something on the opposite side. The weather was fairly perfect dragonfly weather although there was a bit of a breeze. I got off the 11.15 train to NB and jogged a mile to the venue. I was disappointed when I arrived as I hoped to see the air directly above the water buzzing with loads of dragonflies. There were none.

There were quite a lot of damselflies and as soon as I started round the pond perimeter I disturbed loads of newly emerged common darters. You can tell a newly emerged unit as it has glossy wings and they are not as alert as they will become once they have dried out and shaped up. While it was great to see darters in such abundance there was no sign of any hawkers. I think emperors and broad-bodied chasers were mentioned in iRecord. Not today. And I think I have seen common hawkers here. I could tell I'd have to rein in my expectations, although I would do a full and proper forensic search of the area. Including the bushes and trees some way back from the pond which is where some dragonflies (particularly females) like to keep a distance from the attentions of the males near the waterside.

newly emerged common darter (male)

this toad reluctantly (grumpily almost!) moved from the dry edge of the pond
where he was sunbathing, into the water - not best pleased

mud skippers 
small skippers mud puddling for minerals

common darter female

lovely new small copper

lots of skippers of different ages,
the white fringe here says pretty young

crane fly

I really quite like crane flies: for the sculptural shapes they make at rest and those ridiculous long legs, although they are a few pegs on my personal preference scale below dragonflies. And generally it is not a great day when I resort to taking their photos. Tends to suggest the headliners cancelled and I'm watching the support act.

early signs of Autumn in the distance, but approaching

It wasn't even a full hour when I left the pond. It is quite a charming spot and would be excellent if it was as busy as it had been in my imagination, and I hoped I'd find a little known gem of wildlife. But it wasn't on this occasion. I had been thinking I'd visit it at the end of a run to North Berwick, on the occasion the train was cancelled or I'd just missed one, but I never got into NB fresh enough to add a couple of miles to the day's total. Good to give it a shot and I hope to visit again later and see if anything larger has shown up.

Next stop was the Coop on the High Street. Sandwich for lunch bought and stowed in backpack. I also bought water and used it to wash my hands as well as have a drink. When running in hot weather my hands get sweaty which doesn't improve the camera, so I like to wash them during a long day. I took photos of the sparrows who always dodge about the area near where the E2NB race finishes. I saw a DGF (or large comma) fly-by as well but it didn't stop. 

sparrows gasping in the heat

colourful displays along the front

I felt I should be running - like the dude above - and did a bit of that. However on a pretty hot day with a heavy pack on and no real urgency to run it isn't always possible to find the motivation. I definitely prefer hot weather however as soon as I ran for any time I'd be perspiring and sweating over the camera. You can see from the map at the end how much I managed (red line for running, blue line walking) although it felt like more. I don't know at what speed it goes from red to some intermittent colour, saying no mate that is not running, not even for an old guy wearing a heavy backpack and carrying a big camera. Mostly I really like my Suunto (Race S) sports watch but it has some quirks which occasionally makes me think we aren't playing on the same team.

I don't expect it to flatter me, but I don't think it should aggravate me either. If I have been sitting still watching TV or at the computer it sometimes (but not always) pops up a little message to say "you have been sitting still for 2 hours" and if you get up and pee or make a cup of tea it says that's good and that regular movement can help with a healthy blah blah blah. Three times it has prompted (vibrates with small nudge and noise) the sitting still message at 2am as I lay sleeping. Next time, I am scrolling through the encyclopedic manual to discontinue that function. It seems to know this and hasn't fucked with me like that since.

There are also issues with the recharging pod, likely because the contacts on the watch are covered in sweat or I haven't placed it exactly as it likes it, just off the 90' or 180'. Sometimes it will go from nearly empty to fully charged in less than an hour. Other times I go back after 4 hrs and it is still on 28%, the charge it had when I put it on its charger. That I find very unhelpful. Largely it is an excellent tool, just a couple of annoying quirks.

I do like that it knows when I have done wrong. If I get on the train or bus at the end of a run and forget to turn the recording off, as soon as we get up to a speed that doesn't look like running to the watch (around 18mph maybe, certainly not Usain Bolt's top speed?) it bleeps and messages me. I can't remember how it phrases it, but something along the lines of you've got to be kidding! That is an acceptable intervention and welcome feature. (And helps avoid a telling off from strava later.) 

this made me think
"you can take a horse to water but a pencil must be lead"

Yellowcraig: not far enough from the madding crowd

Not sure why I opted for the trails through the dunes rather than the shortest line across the beach at Yellowcraig beach. Possibly the search for wildlife. But it was the best choice of the day as I quickly came across a family of stonechats. And within a stonesthrow of the madding crowds in their beach tents and deck chairs. I tried to analyse exactly why I dislike the beach crowd scenes, but end up just pointing and saying 'it's obvious isn't it?' I think it might be because I've never had kids, although my sympathies go out to all those who have.

Anyway as I skirted round the toxic zone of plastic accessories, childrens' screams and sandy wet towels I came across this tribe of stonechats. They were all chirping away, probably saying be quiet there's a human coming, at the tops of their voices. Ironically I'd never have seen them had they not being shouting about my invasion. It seemed like there were more offspring than just two adults would produce, and I'm fairly sure I only saw the two adults. Offspring might have numbered between 3 and 8. (Maybe the adults were taking on some extra child-minding?) They did not collect together on the same bush to be counted, but spread themselves all around, greatly enjoying the game of show and tell meets hide and seek.

I really enjoyed it as well given they like to sit up high and not skulk like cowards in the middle of bushes like many of the less favourite birds available. Quite a good hit rate with the photos, and the juveniles were almost as curious about me as I was about them. However mum and dad had taught them well, and they flew off if I got nearer than about 3metres.

mrs stonechat

youngsters (speckled chests)

mr stonechat

stoneshat
(pretty sure that was a reproach)

I am a member of a facebook group called Crap Bird Photography which is full of people's worst bird photos. I put the above photo on there explaining I might have confused the order of the group title. Two days later and it has 241 likes.

photo of the day

the horror, the horror!

this common blue regretted his friendship with the leaf-cutter bees

I couldn't zoom in enough to see if the name
of this boat was Marie Celeste

One of the reasons I was pushing round the coast was to get to the propellor cone bush. As I approached, I looked to see if this Chinese privet was a flutter with butterflies. (It was not.) In 2019 I came past it in full flower and enjoyed a few DGFs loitering there. I suspect this has got blown out of proportion in my mind and every year I am disappointed when either there are no flowers on the bush, or no butterflies on the flowers. This happens every year without fault and I have not yet done a factory reset on my butterfly hunter's mind-map to rewrite the entry: it is not the great draw you once mistook it for. Concentrate on viper's bugloss and spear thistles.

Part of the problem: it is never at the start of a run and often towards the end and I think my head is by then, full of sea-salt and sunshine and little sense. I think because it is a pretty bay and photogenic lighthouse it would make a perfect spot for a burning bush of brilliant butterflies! Anyway as compensation for the entire lack of DGFs and any other large impressive butterflies, there was a female common blue nearby and possibly the best of the year so far. I presume it was a peace offering from Butterfly Jesus, saying forget this bush, it never delivers, here is a token of affinity just so you don't lose the faith. That's how I read it.

very attractive specimen if a little camera shy

I think a hot Summer had burnt all the flowers off
the Chinese privet, aka propellor cone bush

is this really sport? - open to debate
more like a hobby, like knitting, baking or lawn bowls 😉

skylark

I had my sandwich lunch at the driftwood patio. Really good Coop sandwich, priced a little higher than most and a little too much packaging, but great quality. There is often a common blue 20 yards West of the bench and sure enough I found this one. I had a feeling I had a brief vision of a female (blue) over on the thyme but she disappeared before I locked on.

excellent lunchspot

I should probably be less critical of golfers. I had started using the phrase golfwankers fairly indiscriminately and Mary reminded me I have friends who play golf. She is right, although I suspect there are a larger amount associated with this activity who are badly dressed archaic chauvinists. 

This male reed bunting flew over with a mouthful of bugs and insects and sat watching me. I approached it really quite closely - so close I was having to zoom out to get it in the frame. It didn't seem bothered. I shot some video. It was unclear whether it expected applause for collecting so much booty or whether it was just keeping an eye on my movements near a nest.

small white on thyme

small copper

I saw this cormorant on a rock about 15 yards off the coast. I wondered if I could get all the way to the water's edge for a photo without it flying off. Happily it was very relaxed and I was moving slowly enough to present zero threat. I had hoped to get close enough to see the green of its eyes. Job done.

video of butterflies and birds

costa del Forth

meadow brown

Hazel doing good business today

I had considered getting the bus from Gullane. However when I got into Gullane I wasn't feeling the day was properly finished. The sun was still shining and I had just washed my hands again in the public toilets and maybe still had a mile or two in the tank. Rather than trundle into Edinburgh on the (free) bus I could maybe trek cross-country to Drem and catch the train home. (I had bought a return ticket to NB as they are only a pound or 2 more than a single.) This seemed feasible and so I popped into the Coop on the main street to get some refreshments to see me through the last few miles. I felt the day needed a lift so bought a (smallish) can of cider, deliciously cold out the fridge. I glugged it down quickly and jogged onto the JMW which goes towards Aberlady down the side of the golf course.

Another stonechat did its best to entertain by flying into the crops and posing but was slighty too far away for a quality photo. I wasn't going to start wading through the crops to get closer, but I did have a sit down and got below the sightline of the bird hoping he'd return to nearer the JMW path. He was too smart for that and had more patience than I did. I jogged onwards. Sometimes this path can be rich in butterflies and birds, other times nada. It was close to the latter although I stopped a few times to watch stuff fly off. 

small white

shaded broad-bar moth
a few of these about impersonating female common blues till they land

I must have caught sight of the 124, (NB to Edinburgh double decker) while approaching the main road near Aberlady. I had recently got the X5 (NB to Edinburgh express) from Gullane and on that occasion it was almost right behind the 124. If it were similar today then I had perhaps 7 minutes to race the last mile into Aberlady. The X5 is almost on a par with the train, and the cider buzz was fast leaving my system to be replaced with weary legs. If  I could get into Aberlady before the bus I could avoid the last couple of miles of choppy field perimeters into Drem.

I love the challenge of a sprint to the line at the end of a day so hoofed it with maximum effort to the bus stop in Aberlady. It surprised me it was slightly more than a full mile from where you pop out the JMW onto the main road, to the bus stop at the Eastern end of Aberlady. Happily the X5 express was not 7minutes behind the 124 as it took a little longer than that to cover the 13th mile of the day, but I felt it was a decent effort, and possibly the fastest mile of the day. Certainly the warmest! (When I got to the stop the bus app suggested the bus would arrive in 10 minutes.)

I searched the ivy near the bus stop for holly blues as Unda had reported them there a few years ago but no sign. A large white wafted past but wasn't stopping for a photo. The bus eventually arrived and once onboard I remembered I'd also bought a miniature white wine at Gullane Coop. Sadly it had warmed up in my back pack and I tried to disguise my consumption of it (nowhere to hide on a single decker) as we sped towards Edinburgh. It wasn't as good as the cold fizzy cider and not a particularly special vintage.

13miles in 5hrs40m
red line run, blue line walked