wren

 

22nd July. Another uneventful and slightly overcast jaunt to Warriston. But pleasant enough to archive some pics and video rather than bin it. Of note: this wren - I suspect a youngster - was particularly active around the In Loving (Comma Corner) area and let me sneak up very close for photos and slo-mo video.

wren video
soundtrack: 02:07 by Joep Beving, Maarten Vos

There was also this fresh comma however it was keeping its distance today.

large white on buddleia

Through the tunnel a couple of whites and speckleds were in the vacinity of the buddleia. After the buddleia bushes flower it takes another week or two before the butterflies find it irresistible. We are just getting to that point now and I have been keeping an eye on several buddleias that will require visiting next time the sun comes back out.

large white

back round to the other side of the tunnel
and the wren was still making its presence felt

nice to bump into Rosanna and her neighbour Peter
out looking for the sparrowhawks

We saw tiny snippets of sparrowhawk activity but just fleeting glimpses of the adult bird(s) high in the usual trees perhaps with food in claws to pass onto the fledgling birds which can be quite noisy while being weaned. (Similarly the crows! See video below.)

GVW

Nice to see a very new looking painted lady at the crypts

a different wren (likely feeding young)

mother of pearl moth refusing to pose

volucella pellucens

a particularly fresh speckled wood
(see video at bottom of page)

squirrel above the crypts

the usual red admiral above the crypts

Now these 2 pics I took while holding the camera at ground level (butterfly eye-level) and using the flip out screen to frame the image. It gives a better look (more of a feeling of being there, alongside the subject) than shooting pointing down from waist height.

A couple of shots from a sequence of shots showing a holly blue homing in on a second holly blue. (Both males.) They chased about for a bit and it wasn't easy to record. See video below for more.

video of crows (patient mother feeding noisy offspring again!),
brand new speckled wood and holly blue sequence
soundtrack: Floating by Klur

I kept returning to the crypts hoping to see again the very fresh Painted Lady I had noticed earlier. I didn't see where it flew off to - I was distracted by the crows and their comical antics. I hoped it was still in the area. Eventually I caught sight of it as it flew up into a high tree just South of the crypts, possibly its roost for the night. I was standing at the top of the crypts and it was about the same height in the tree across the way, around 40' away so the shots were limited. Hope to get some closer shots next visit.