return to Saltoun

 

17-08-25 Mary wanted to exercise the car and ourselves at the same time. It didn't take much to persuade her to drive us to West Saltoun for another wander round Saltoun Wood. You'd think I would have seen enough of the place recently, but I doubt there's currently a better venue for butterflies and dragonflies in the Lothians, so of course I was up for another visit.

We parked at West Saltoun (not even bothering to check out the road end 2 or 3 spaces) as we had decided to go in via Barley Mill where the bridge crosses the river. Even before we left the road properly a couple of red admirals had checked us out. It was ideal weather if a little breezy. 

path up to the Big Wood

black darters have arrived!

Mary is not as keen on dragonflies (as I am) and knew I'd be distracted as we passed the first pond. She suggested she'd go check out the butterflies at the back trail and we could meet up later. I conceded saying I reckoned the dragonflies might be less flighty, (most film-able), towards the end of the day and that I was happy to do the butterflies first and check out the odonata afterwards.

Although in passing I did notice a black darter on vegetation near the pond and that put a skip in my step. I took a quick photo (above) and shuffled up the trail to catch up on Mary. My sciatica problem has returned of late and I have had an achy lower back, quad and calf in my right leg. Mary says I am walking like my mother did in her eighties. Not stylish. I have been doing a bit of stretching and squatting and it releaves the immediate discomfort for a short while before the misery slowly returns. After a mile of walking the condition eases off so I have been trying to do 3 or 4 miles walk daily. 

near the second pond at the old woodpile - a common darter

There were one or two butterflies on the way to the back trail but I paid them little heed as I suspected there would be dozens once we turned left up Butterfly Alley. Which proved to be the case. The numbers had changed subtly from last visit when the peacocks were the most numerous. Their numbers had decreased slightly and the admirals had increased, with more commas as well. (This format seems to happen every year.)

Painted lady numbers had tripled. From one last time, to (at least) three this time! The first one had a section of rear wing missing and so was identifiable, but the other two were pristine and I couldn't be absolutely sure they were the same individuals we saw on the return back down the trail as we saw on the way up. But likely they were and I only counted them once for the figures I sent Nick.

I shamelessly courted the painted ladies, concentrating on them for photos, realising afterwards I had hardly bothered to photograph the peacocks and admirals (which I 'did' last time) focussing far more on the PLs and commas. I took dozens of sequential shots of the PLs taking off and ran them together later in a video, posted below. They make quite good subjects for this, as do several of the larger butterflies; the smaller ones like commas and small coppers less so, as they fly with more of a thrashing of wings and less gliding with open-winged elegance.

commas - growing in numbers

speckled wood

Mary and I tend to get distracted by different things and usually spend more time 80yards apart than in the same area. Which probably disturbs the butterflies less. And saves on the "you chased my subject off" recriminations. It was a glorious day to be out in the woods and such a great experience to have more butterflies flitting about than at just about any other time and place in the Lothians. Also for a Sunday there were only a handful of other dogwalkers and childminders. I mean families. 

comma take-off

first painted lady with rear wing damage

second painted lady - wings intact

in flight shot

small white

small white in flight

In the above photo I photoshopped over a small semi-circular hole in the edge of the left rear wing. You can catch a half second glimpse of it (second sequence) in the video. 

(In the animated video I just dump all the photos as they come out the camera.) Normally I only repair stuff in the background of photos, or disappear distractions, but I couldn't resist repairing this minor but annoying imperfection.

it totally alters perspective and scale to have Mary in these wider landscapes

There were a couple of stupidly aggressive small coppers around a patch of heather making everyone's life harder. They would leap up and chase each other or anything that flew near them. On one occasion we saw one boldly fly up and chase a cruising hawker dragonfly. The hawker could easily have turned and eaten the copper as a snack. We imagined the copper saying "yeah... and don't come back!"

some really fiery commas

nearly forgot to photo any admirals, which I now regret
there were loads of them and most in perfect condition

quite a few large whites

(male) wall

painted lady

in flight shot

caught just leaving the scabious

take-off stills (mostly painted ladies) run together into an animation
soundtrack: Woven Song by Hania Rani and Olafur Arnalds

The animated still video above gives a good idea of the ambience of the day, prehaps moreso than just stills. Albeit missing the birdsong and noise of the breeze through the trees. I had meant to change to my street lens (12~60mm) and film some walkthrough video showing the busiest sections of butterfly alley, however I kinda forgot. There wasn't quite the same clusters of butterflies there had been last visit, they were more spread out than in tight gatherings. I had taken a selfie stick to hold the camera low and sweep through the grasses and scabious flowers but never got around to using it.

oops, chopped off Mary's feet!

fiesty small copper

perfect day

best wall of the day

the females tend to stay out of trouble and have fewer battle scars

comma showing underwing colours
and the white mark that gives its name

I was excited to return to the dragonfly pond. We had a quick look at the large upper pond South of the crossroads but nothing much there (and probably no Southern Hawkers yet.) At the lower pond Mary (who was getting tired, her sore legs needing a break) went off to sit at the bench* at the waterlily pond across the trail from the first pond. She did her online Spanish lessons and gave me plenty time with the dragonflies. 
*One of the only benches or comfortable seats in the whole wood.

I had been interested in filming hawkers at a higher frame rate (and really close up) but they were still a little too frisky and none came by to hover near enough to shoot. Also from experimenting I was finding that as the frame rate increased beyond 120fps (4.8 time slower) the focussing becomes progressively problematic and reverts to manual only. So filming at 300fps is possible but it is not going to be as successful on a fast moving subject like a dragonfly. Dreams of super high speed slo-mo were going down the toilet, and I reverted to 120fps as the animal detection autofocus still kicks in and finds a moving subject. (See video at bottom of page.) Which is preferable to a slower-moving but out of focus subject.

The black darters were out in numbers and they are always a delight. They had obviously emerged sometime between last visit and this. I'm not sure how long the males take to turn from immature to the nearly all-black colour of mature adult males but I didn't see any with partial colouring. And possibly no females either which again are partially black part green-brown similar to female common darters. The males were mostly sunbathing on vegetation quite close to the perimeter of the pond. Surprisingly difficult to see (they are very small) until they fly. But often returning to the same perch. Which makes getting video and photos easier. They can be really friendly on cooler days landing on a presented hand, enjoying a warmer platform. One of the reasons I like them so much. Another is the all black milk tray man aesthetic. Fantastic!

There was a bit of a breeze and this darter was regularly lifting off and returning to this same spot. I tried to get some in flight shots as it approached with legs out to touch down.

on seed casings

about the only hawker action I recorded was this couple,
 who flew up from the pond to a nearby tree to mate

pondside black darter

emerald damselfly

I spent a while pondside waiting for hawkers to hover but none obliged today. However the black darters were more than compensation. I shot them (only in 120fps but still slo-mo) taking off from perches and then returning. It wasn't a strong breeze, hardly noticeable, but makes you appreciate how little it takes to have an effect on their flight.

black darter video, click twice
soundtrack: Requiem Again by The Durutti Column

an extremely pleasant 4miles in 3hrs
big thanks to Mary for driving us there!