lucky 13

 

13th Sept and a really good day out! I'd been chatting about Cammo with a couple of folk and realised I wanted some nuthatch action. I had a feeling previous attempts outwith the Winter months were less successful. The birds have plenty food and there are too many leaves on the trees blocking light from getting through to the feeding stations. And no jays, the top stars at Cammo. But it is a pleasant part of the world and I hadn't been for a while. Forecast was reasonable for the 13th and there might be something worth a look.

The reason I don't go there regularly is that it takes a couple of buses and the best part of an hour to get right across town. A free bus pass and an MP3 player reduces the pain, and I was approaching Cammo Estate entrance around 10.30am.

I normally go straight to the Curling Pond - the hundred yards of river that flows in and out of the grounds in a straight line. However I had seen a raised boardwalk near the East Entrance and hoped there might be some odonata there. I took a diversion through that field which was a nice detour but it was a little too dry and although I saw a couple of common darters there seemed little sign of anything more.

Next stop; the feeding station on the tree trunks beside the curling pond.

nuthatch

As I had remembered, this place was dark and dingy and the sunlight was failing to penetrate the thick canopy of leaves above. Making photography all but impossible. There were patches of light but the contrast was too extreme. I put out a bit of food and a few birds (robins, great tits and nuthatches) turned up. While it was fun to see them, the photos were disappointing. I had a look across the pond to the other side where I have baited the trees for jays and nuthatches but it was kinda gloomy too and I reckoned the jays had plenty food and would not appear for my handouts. I'd leave all that until Winter.

great tit

Plan B was the walled garden. Last Winter there was work going on repairing the wall and I hoped the large muddy swathes where the machinery had churned up the soil had recovered. It was in a much better state and possibly the best place for finding late season butterflies. There were some thistles with a small tort and admiral in attendance near the entrance. However the motherload was next to the orchard (near the beehives) where clumps of asters and rudbeckia were attracting about a dozen red admirals and a few other passers-by. 

small tortoiseshell

the purple and yellow flowers were in full bloom
and attracting plenty butterflies and hoverflies

rudbeckia

honey bee on rudbeckia

I suspect the flowers were planted to supply the bee hives nearby. There was some activity around one of the hives but I couldn't see a lot going on. A few honey bees visited the flowers but not the dozens you might expect. 

When I arrived there were maybe half a dozen admirals basking on the yellow blooms but more seemed to arrive as the day warmed up. There was a painted lady, and a very shy comma briefly made an appearance as well as a few passing small whites. However the admirals outnumbered everything else.

If I moved slowly and kept low I could get very close to the butterflies who were more interested in pollen than my intrusions. So I swapped to the 90mm macro lens and got down on my knees and crept forward very slowly until I could fill the frame with butterfly action. As with the hoverflies some would fly off just as you had the perfect photo lined up, others sat still and posed nicely. There were a couple of narrow lanes around the flowers so I could get right into the middle (between asters and rudbeckia) without trampling any flowers. Another of those moments when I was completely caught up in the moment of taking photos and video and you forget about everything else. Occasionally I'd look up to see a dogwalker passing, but mostly I was on my own and completely absorbed.

Sphaerophoria Sp. (f)

Graphomya maculata

Melanostoma scalare (f) - Long-winged duskyface (1/2000 of a second)
I got lucky, catching this small pretty hoverfly in flight, in sharp focus

Which is not to say the day was without problems. There was a constant threat of rain. I think I enjoyed 2 medium showers - maybe just enough to put a waterproof on brielfy, and not helpful. Although it left some nice beads of water on the flowers.

In general the insects preferred the rudbeckia,
however I think they looked really great on the asters. 

I tried to blur out the backgrounds
by setting the aperture to its largest setting (smallest number) f/3.5

painted lady

the comma was very shy and flighty

Tachina magnicornis

I see from exif data I changed back to the long lens from this point. I can't remember what inspired that but it may be that I planned to go walkabout round other parts of the estate where the long lens had more chance of catching birds and distant wildlife. I tried to leave a couple of times then got swayed to take just a few last shots of someone posing prettily on a flower etc. It was another 23minutes before I left the walled garden. I was pretty sure the rest of the estate would not furnish better photos but was keen to get going and maybe squeeze in a quick riverside safari down the Almond which is just across the road.

sparrowhawk cruises overhead
buzzards (and jays) were also heard

Helophilus pendulus

Eristalis pertinax - tapered drone fly

Syrphus ribesii - one of the most common hovers

I took the time to try a few taking off photos

lift-off!

curious robin watching from the sidelines

admiral on apple tree

There is a handsomely curated mini-orchard right beside the flowers. Great to see and carefully planted out by the local volunteers who were pruning them last visit. Quite a bit of fallen produce - apples and pears - on the ground but as yet not as much butterfly interest in those as there was in the flowers. I wonder if I will return once the flowers have passed to find the fallen fruit has got more customers. Orchards are a prime spot for late season butterflies esp commas and admirals.

on a fallen fruit

This admiral was posing very nicely on the rosebay willowherb. There was time for several attempts to include background or blur it out and I took loads of photos. Not sure which I prefer so I put three up here. I think the third one might be best but the overlap of plant and wing deducts some points. If I could be bothered I'd photoshop that out. But there is too much to do, and not enough rainy stay-at-home days to do it all.

well chosen asters and rudbeckia made all these photos

there was also catmint
which wasn't doing such a trade in insects but is a good choice

just the one small tort over by the entrance

I went back via the curling pond to see if any more light had filtered through the leaves. Not really, but nice to say hello to the nuthatches and other garden birds and put out a few more seeds and nuts.

I had to crank the ISO up to 10,000 to get the shutterspeed fast enough to avoid motionblur. 1/100th of a second. I have not used noise reduction and think they look okay which is down to having such a good camera. Top marks Panasonic!

I had taken a bag of acorns I had collected for the jays 
however there was no shortage of acorns here so they stayed in my pack

mini-shetlander at Cramond

The walk down the Almond produced very little. It was nice but there was a profound lack of dippers, otters, wagtails and kingfishers and not much worth pointing the camera at. I headed up School Brae (near where my old head-of-music lived) to catch the bus along Cramond Rd North into town where I caught another from Princes St. home. Great day out and looking forward to returning in Winter for the birds.

goosander

4miles in 3hrs15

sountrack: Homes by Sebastian Jautschus