return to Saltoun

 

4th Sept. Time for another trip to Saltoun and see how things are doing there. I was going to cycle but then Mary suggested she drive us there. I took off my cycle gloves and jumped in the car! (Can always save that cyclenergy for next time (spoiler alert) in a couple of day's time.) Meanwhile...

We parked at the end of West Saltoun and walked in via Barley Mill. It is a more pleasant approach once you get past the half mile of tarmac and it spits you out just 50 yards shy of the first pond. We opted to do butterflies first and dragonflies afterwards. I have a feeling the later you leave the dragonflies the more they stop dashing around like crazy and so are better for photos. However the weather nose-dived later so it didn't really pan out.

Meanwhile at the old woodpile just south of the second large pond there were 2 admirals, a comma, a darter and a couple of common hawkers. One flew off, the other let us get up close for photos before it left its warm wood perch. It seemed huge. Not sure if it was a really large specimen or whether it was just big in comparison to the butterflies. A stonker!

plenty painted ladies

The place wasn't that busy with butterflies until we got round the corner and headed up 'butterfly alley'. There was a really decent amount drawn by the scabious flowers, with more admirals (50~60) than all the others combined. We tried to keep a count on the way up although we had to resort to estimating the amount rather than strictly ticking off each one. Another 5, and another 5 rather than 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8... sort of thing. They were not sitting still to be counted and would take off from spots unseen, whirl about and then land further up the trail on bracken. It was really glorious to see.

several small whites

400mm at f/6.3

Two different shots of this pair sitting on bracken. Short focal distance above and all in focus below using less zoom. I think I prefer the upper shot which has more of a feel of being in the shot, than reducing the zoom, and increasing the focal distance.

200mm at f/20

every time we passed this log there were butterflies on board

painted lady

This PL was quite lively and flying regularly from flower to flower so I put the camera in pre-burst mode and captured it in flight. Shutterspeed between 1/4000 and 1/8000.

nice to have Mary along for company although we'd wander
at our own pace and rarely be right beside each other

Phaeolus schweinitzii or Dyers mazegill

This beauty was about the size of a dinner plate and vibrant in colour. Considered inedible but not necessarily toxic. But tough and unpleasant. (We didn't try any.) Favours pine. Can produce pigments for artists. 

about equal numbers of gvw vs small white

only 3 small tort, though numbers growing

this fresh male was flying up and down the trail
making counting numbers much more tricky

comma numbers down this year
more earlier and numbers fading fast

small white
I was very pleased about this photo

I had been meaning to try different ways of recording the butterflies at Saltoun. Last year I used the dji pocket and while it was very smooth the results weren't as good quality as they would be out of my good camera. So I swapped to my 'street' lens, 12~60mm, set it to as wide open as possible and then walked the camera down then up about 60 yards of a busy area. 

collecting ticks
photo Mary

While it worked okay it was neither super smooth nor the greatest way to highlight the large number of butterflies in the area. While I had the 12~60 on the camera I stalked the small tort who was quite obliging and would let me get the camera in very close before flying off. With the aperture at its smallest (f/22) I hoped to get more than usual of the background just about in focus. It sort of works but the results certainly aren't any better than with the long lens, so it's not going to be the next big thing!

looks like a composite of 2 photos

Mary sat with shoes off (and suitable t-shirt)

lots of hovers about
obsidentify says the hover is a Syrphus ribesii

painted lady

I have seen this guy and his saluki/lurcher cross, on several visits

speckled wood

not many peacocks about

I felt I had taken lots of photos but no great images or radically different from the last few times here. That is the challenge; to try and get the best possible results or make a photo that is not just run-of-the-mill, but looks much better than a standard butterfly-on-a-flower pic. Often shooting into the sun rather than with the sun behind you lighting it nicely, is the key. I also spent a while climbing into the trail-side ditches and shooting towards the sun from the same height as the butterfly. When you begin to get the light shining through their wings or catching an edge it can make something more special. As a bonus you also go home with ticks on your legs. And any activity that has you getting down on the ground and back up repeatedly, is supposed to be good for you. 

slightly backlit painted lady showing iridescence
best shot of the day? (I like the background as well.)

peacock

take off!

Southern Hawker

We left the back trail and went along to the large pond near the crossroads. Mary sat down near the edge and was almost immediately approached by a Southern Hawker. They tend to be curious creatures which makes them easier to photograph. But not simple by any means. This one kept retracing its route past Mary and then along the pondside bushes where a female might be hiding. It often came past us both so close that it was actually too close to get a photo. I was considering changing to the macro lens. The photos here are lifted from video clips. I turned the camera to slo-mo video mode (120fps or about 4.8 times normal speed). As you can see from the video below there were only brief moments when I caught it in the frame, focussed and not flying away quickly. 

photo Mary

video - click twice 
soundtrack: A Handful of Summer by Roo Panes

It then did the decent thing and landed nearby in a tree. I think it sensed the weather was deteriorating and so it took a break. Unfortunately it was a little high to get right beside it. But better than no photo. I took pics from all angles and stopped myself from getting a branch and gently coaxing it into a better spot. These activities rarely produce an advantage. Generally the coaxee will leave the scene entirely.

kite-tailed robberfly

hopper on oak rootball at crossroads

saw a couple of these tiny toad-lets

thumb-nail
my hands, Mary's photo

and a few of these - garden cross spider

common darter

common hawkers mating

We returned to the lower ponds. Mary is less interested in dragonflies so went to sit on the bench near the other pond while I went to hunt dragons on the first large pond. The sun had gone behind a cloud and there was a light drizzle falling. I saw the last of the hawkers do a circuit and call it a day. I hoped the sun would come back out but by the time it did Mary had finished her 20mins daily Spanish lesson. Oh well, that's a good reason to return soon and focus on the dragonflies. We wandered back to river and along to the car. On the way I saw lots of acorns on the ground. I have heard they are the favourite foodstuff of jays and so collected maybe a hundred in a Sainsbury's bag. 

I tried this last year but left them in a polybag and they went a bit furry and things came out of them - wee bugs, flies and the like. So this time I have left them at a windowsill, bag open and breathing and removed the flies and 2 spiders to outside the window. It is a bit early to go to Cammo to try out these jay-delicacies on jays while there are still planty on every oak tree but it got me thinking about Cammo, jays and nuthatches and I may well go visit there earlier than usual. I normally wait till the leaves are off the trees. But nuthatches! Worth a ride across town in a bus or on a bike!

looking for acorns!
photo Mary

back to the car!

4miles in 3hrs35