festival of insects

 

02-08-26 And a fantasic trip to Saltoun Big Wood. Things are beginning to kick off there but still a little less than full gas as the devil's bit scabious is only starting to bud. That is the purple flowering stems that line the back trail on either side and lure all the insects in the place out, to put on an exhibition of butterflies that I rarely see elsewhere in Scotland.

red admiral

I like to put festival in the title of a blog around now to remind readers that the 17 Edinburgh Festivals are going on at the moment. They are generally for problem drinkers who like to booze late into the night and sometimes attend amateur shows by naked or narcissistic students or poetry recitals by jugglers on slack-lines. It is a long time since I went near town in late July and August and almost never go to shows, mainly on principal. Mostly its just for trust-fund party-pushers and London-based (insert abusive term here) who love the sound of their own voices. I believe the slum landlords and Airbnb-ers do very well out of it and have extended the dates of the unofficial festivalling to now run from July till June.

common darters

After a powerful cycle (feeling fitter already after just a few times on the bike) I hid the bike in the woods got the camera out and made my way to the first pond. (There were a couple of commas on the car park adjacent thistles but I didn't get any worthwhile photos.) The pond was alive with odonata and I noticed common darters, the missing ingredient from the last few visits. I photo-ed a mating pair pondside. And a solo male.

male common darter

pondside comma

I realised I had forgotten to check the birch near the place one stands next to the water and sure enough a mating pair of common hawkers, although too high up the tree to get better photos. The pond itself was buzzing with many common hawkers. I couldn't see any sign of the emperor although it could have been there. I told myself I had done dragonflies last time and this trip was supposed to be focussed on butterflies (assuming they were there, up the back trail.)

Opposite the lower pond, across the trail is a small mound with teasels growing beside it. There was only one peacock when I first went past although nearly all the teasels I saw were flowering and very attractive to butterflies. That and knapweed were the two biggest butterfly magnets today. As I was about to find out the devil's bit scabious up the back trail wasn't far enough on to bring the boys to the yard. There were buds showing but only one or two of the long stalks were in flower out of the several thousand that bloom every August. So it was the flowering knapweed that did most of the heavy lifting. 

Seeing this airliner overhead made me reflect again on the Greek butterflying holiday, now over a month ago. It hasn't made me lose interest in local wildlife here despite the far superior wildlife over there. What it has made me do is think about ways to raise money to go abroad more. And not just our annual trip to Tenerife in the Winter. Although that will probably be the next time I get out my passport.

very helpful comma - and a perfect specimen

Again, I didn't hang about long at the upper pond. A quick check to see what odonata was there (not much and nothing large, mostly just damselflies,) then on to the log pile. Most of the decent logs were removed when all that forestry work went on last year, but it is still worth a look. No dragonflies or wood wasps resting on the woodpile but a few butterflies about the teasels. I saw an excellent comma that posed VERY nicely and later a peacock and admiral and meadow brown jostled for prime spots on said teasel. (See video.)

one of only 3 small coppers today

quite a few speckled woods

Now while there were plenty peacocks, (around a dozen) they were not gathering in the numbers I'd normally expect once the scabious flowers. They were probably out and about but there is so much ground between the paths you just don't see them until the path-side scabious blooms.

GVWs out in force although beginning to fade

various butterflies

So the above video clips show an aggressive red admiral discouraging a peacock from sharing its teasel. Then a comma does similar to a meadow brown. Followed by a small skipper, and then possibly the same admiral and comma again on teasels, likely at the log pile clearing.

A repeat of Melrose and the rickety fence: just a solo painted lady but a superb specimen of which I took dozens of photos. It was not shy and let me get really close with the macro lens which means getting to within inches of the butterfly with the lens and me not far behind. It flew off occasionally but mostly just to hop to the next flower along and continue feeding. I suspect I forgot to say thanks but I was giving off a continually grateful vibe and hopefully it picked up on that. It remained trackside the whole time I was there around the same section about midway up the back trail. I stopped and took photos going in both directions.

small white

I deliberately took pics of as many whites as possible to help identify whether small or GVW. The large were usually self-evident even when they didn't stop for a photo. Numbers submitted to the area recorder were much lower than the number seen as I couldn't be certain what many of the fly-pasts were.

same again

peacock

a handful of meadow browns
although mostly past their finest hour

large white

large white resting

still penty of small skippers, although fading fast

At the top of the trail (before it turns round the corner) a small trail-side clearing used to be the best place for butterflies to gather. There was a natural grassy layby with dandelions in among the grass attracting all sorts with commas in the nearby shrubs behind. During the last forestry work a huge pile of small limbs and branches was collected and stacked in this space, which has taken its toll on the butterflies. A large clump of ragwort was doing its best to attract and feed several peacocks, an admiral, a silver Y, a longhorn beetle and 20 hoverflies, but there was not the flurry of wings there used to be. Hopefully another place will become established.

the first scabious to actually flower this year
was hosting a peacock

peacock and admiral on the ragwort

Leptura quadrifasciata - 4-banded longhorn

This handsome longhorn was enjoying a leisurely afternoon on the ragwort. Unfortunately it was in the shade so I lifted it off and put it round the other (lit) side to make a better shot. It was a bit dozy when I extracted it but then, after checking that my hand was warm and potentially predatory it livened up quickly and considered making a run for it. However I turned it around and ushered it onto the ragwort again and it was happy to resume munching away. Appearing in a video near you soon.

small skipper

the place was looking in prime condition and I had it all to myself

apart from this cyclist who I recognised as he came past
in the opposite direction last time I was here (blog here, image 42 of 69)

so many bees I largely didn't bother with them

back past the painted lady again

remarkably obliging painted lady
which didn't seem to mind me being very close by

I tried a few take-off shots using pre-burst mode

wall!

I put down 2 walls for the area recorder but it might have been the same male twice. First once or twice past it did not stop. I was fairly sure it was a wall - right size, colour and flight. But I wanted a photo. Like the scabious they are late to arrive here. Normally they'd be looking a week past their prime. I believe the majority are still to emerge. A proposition that will have me back at the end of the week when the sun is pencilled in for an appearance.

painted lady close up

I switched to the macro lens. Rather than return down the same trail and shoot similar shots, I felt I'd mix it up and see what I could get with the macro lens. Although butterflies were on the hitlist I was also interested in bugs and hovers. There were more of those about than butterflies.

scabious bud yet to open
and most of them hadn't even appeared

I had thought this was going to be a syrphus but it was identified as Sericomyia silentis. Which must be a top hover as it graces the cover of my hoverfly book and comes in at number 16 in the top 36 most photographed hovers according to said book. It hung around for quite a bit, gathering up pollen off knapweed petals on its hairy front legs then hoovering it off. You don't get the complete sense of this until you watch the slowed down version in the video.

wall butterfly, an early male

I had to chase it for ages before getting close enough to get this photo.

peacock

pleased to get this cropped take-off shot using the pre-burst mode
below is more of the complete sequence

Volucella pellucens - an old favourite

common blue damselfly

emerald damselfly

Between the upper and lower ponds was this good sized oak tree. When I walked past I must have stirred up several lounging butterflies including maybe 3 admirals, a peacock, a couple of speckled woods and a meadow brown. They all went flapping about and I tried to follow each as it landed nearby. Clearly the oak was a favourite spot. They continued to shift position and I mostly tried to get shots of the admirals which were large and impressive and in very good condition. They were using the trunk of the tree and nearby conifer branches to perch and disguise their forms. 

Near the other oak at the crossroads - the one with the distinctive rootball above ground - I came across this field grasshopper. It was maybe just under an inch long and making a light chirruping with its legs. It took a bit of arranging but I managed to get down and close enough, to get some footage. Which I had to shoot in normal frame rate to capture the audio. You can just hear me let my breath out at the end of the video (at the bottom of the page), as it finishes. The depth of field is pretty rubbish but you can see the legs working and hear the familiar noise, so I was pleased to get that. It was so tiny by comparison to the ones we met in Greece.

three favourites

I then took a diverson down the middle path at that crossroads. I remembered there used to be a buddleia down that way (main bush trashed by forestry work but several smaller sticks have bounced back) and since the buddleias were currently at their most attractive for butterflies, I thought I'd check it out. A few peacocks flew off as I approached but one stayed along with a bird strike comma and a vp hoverfly which made a nice three-fer.

Back up at the first pond there was another couple of common darters.

Eristalis pertinax - number 3 in the top 36!
tapered drone fly

At the last visit to the lower pond I noticed my first black darter of the year. They are a favourite dragonfly and last year I didn't see any till mid-August. They are reportedly becoming quite scarce and I fear this might be the case here as well as further South. This is the only place I see them and it was a little disappointing to see just one. Hopefully more next trip. They are very handsome and remarkably friendly.

woodland insects on youTube

soundtrack: Worlds Collide by Vetle Nærø

Some clips of some insects I video-ed. First the longhorn beetle. Then the hoverfly which is photobombed by a small skipper. Then a female ichneumon I noticed laying eggs into the heart of the knapweed, most likely because there is someone else's eggs or larvae already there. Then she puts her ovipositer back in its sheath and flies off. I was fortunate to get this footage as she was very small - bodylength without ovipositer maybe 8mm? Then, old friend of the blog, Volucella pellucens, not in the air as usual, but collecting nectar. Then a small field grasshopper which I shot in real time (not slo-mo) in order to hear the chirruping it was making. 

2.19miles in 3hrs14m

16.1miles in 1hr07mins53