best part of the day: September 2026

I got out of bed (31-08-26) feeling like sludge. The weather outside was crappy and I was in no hurry to get going. The forecast was supposedly good enough to risk a trip to Saltoun. Things (butterflies and dragonflies) should have been as good as last visit and maybe better, although it (the Big Wood) has been only just up to minimum standards this year and I could do without another grim cycle there.

All this notwithstanding I packed sandwiches and a cold drink in the duck-egg blue flask and set off with heart nearer weary than brim-full of anticipation. Due to a brisk Westerly the cycle there was interesting. I covered the first five in 22mins which is slightly below ambitious. Then by 10 miles (outskirts of Tranent) I was at 44mins which is decent as it covers the hills out of Musselburgh and up the gradient to Tranent. By fifteen my enthusiasm had kicked in and I increased the average pace enough to claw back 2mins, bringing the total down to 64. Again I was pleased as there is considerable hillage in the 10~15mile section. I battered through the last mile and up the nasty final hill, stopping the watch at gasping finishing post. 69½mins. Second fastest time this year. Although mainly due to the wind assist. Maybe I didn't feel so bad after all.

common darter

I padlocked my bike in the trees and got out the backpack and camera. I think it was a bit meh to start with which echoed my enthusiasm, given it was nearly 2pm and usually things start to disappear/end around 3pm onwards. At least I'd had a workout on the bike and would get plenty more on the way home into that headwind. When it has been sunny but is no longer, you tend to get darters and butterflies sitting on the warm stones of the path rather than posing up on shrubs and flowers. Especially when the breeze moves everything more the higher you perch. There were a few common darters and emerald damselflies around at the first pond but not that much flying.

emerald damselfly

The only larger dragonfly was this handsome Southern Hawker (below) - there may have been a couple and possibly a Common Hawker flying as well but they were so busy chasing each other it was often tricky to identify specific species in flight. I got a few photos of the Southerns as they inspected the pondside reeds for females.

common hawker

unusual to see a blue tit close up pondside
often heard passing through but rarely photographed here

more darter action

Nothing much happening at the second pond other than more darters. Round at the woodpile this vibrant peacock was on the scabious there. I had the feeling I should maybe photograph it as there might be considerably fewer in Butterfly Alley up the back trail than we counted last visit. (A very jolly 68 then!) My instincts proved correct. Although there were several about they only just got into double figures with "10" mentioned to area recorder. However there were about twice that number of Painted Ladies and nearly 3 times that for Red Admirals, today's most numerous.

BTW the rather soppy collective noun for RAs (and any butterflies) is a kaleidoscope but I prefer my own invention, a flotilla, which references the admiralty and suggests floatiness. You may use it if you want to start a trend.

woodpile peacock

plenty painted ladies

I can only assume the weather kept the majority of the peacocks in hiding. The 68 Mary and I witnessed five days prior would still be alive, and must therefore be around the woods somewhere. It reminded me (as if I needed reminded) that many butterflies definitely respond to the weather and like myself are not inclined to show themselves on overcast days. Despite living in Scotland where the weather can go for weeks without sunny intervals. I was very pleased to see lots of admirals although the lack of sunshine made many of the photos I was taking, a bit ordinary.

lots of fungi about

many brand new admirals enjoying the devil's bit scabious

I saw a few silver Y moths
pretending to be something more interesting

comma numbers were not bad - 9, the same as last visit
a lot more still to appear (I hope)

painted ladies seem more sociable than many species

again I tried to photograph the whites so I could
identify which species they were (GVW here)

At this point I swapped the 400mm zoom for the macro lens. The lack of sun was making for kind of insipid, less-contrasty images and I hoped by swapping to the macro lens I could increase the wow factor, either by getting more details or seeing bugs and plants magnified. It is harder to do and you have to approach the subject with more stealth, otherwise they fly off before you get the shot, but it makes you focus and demands discipline.

comma with wonky right wingtip

I tried a few take off shots with varying results
this large white was fairly helpful

I took a record shot of this speckled wood
there were a few about (around 7) but not many were fresh or posed well

I loved this green-veined white shot enough for it to make the top spot
at the start of the page: a great specimen in perfect nick and in attractive light

comma

painted lady

This grasshopper was about an inch long and required getting alongside at ground level, without it bouncing away which was neither easy, nor successful at the first attempt. Quite a lot of crawling around the ground after it. I spent so long on my knees taking photos of that and the other insects, that I had housemaid's knee (carpet-fitters knee if you're a bloke) for a few days after.

It swelled up (funnily enough) around the same time as Mary had her swollen knees treated in Falkirk. The clinic removed the fluid build up and gave her steroidal injections along with hyaluronic acid to hopefully fix her troublesome knees. It has worked okay so far and seems to be helping. Meanwhile my knee swelled and was sensitive for a few days. I use it as an excuse not to attend a race I had signed up for a while back and forgotten to train for. Thing is Mary bought me knee pads which I used to carry in my backpack but spent so long not using them they migrated out the pack. Must put them back in for the next trip to Saltoun!

The race was at Corstorphine Hill on Sunday and feeling bad/guilty I hadn't gone along, I put on my running shoes and ran a 9 mile route up the cyclepath (Ferry Road, Blackhall, Blinkbonny) to where it crosses the WoL and then returning down the riverside trails to Canonmills and home. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it but it wasn't as bad as I felt it could have been. A few aches afterwards. I am hoping to spend the Winter (when I can't do wildlife photos as much) doing more running. It is the only positive idea I have to take into the shit cold months of crappy light, as an antidote to the usual depressions of the worst season. Go down fighting!

While I was shooting the grasshopper it objected to my presence and moved forward just as I took a shot. I got this back leg in focus and wondered if these spikes were the thing it makes its buzzing noise (stridulation) with. A little bit of research suggests no, they rub another bit (more like an inner thigh row of pegs) against wing veins.

the sun eventually reappeared and I got some backlit
shots of this painted lady and others

admiral with closed wings

small whites outnumbered GVWs today 5 to 2

common froghopper on scabious stem

Tachina fera (again!)

this sat very nicely, grooming itself
while I shot some slo-mo video

I was super-excited to see this 14 spot ladybird - Propylea quattuordecimpunctata (something of a mouthful!) - as it was only the second time I'd ever seen one. The other one was at Levenhall in late May 2025. I don't think they're that rare but it's their size that makes them difficult to find. The Big Insect Book says they are 4mm long but I reckon this one and the previous I saw were nearer three. I measured 4mm and drew an oval. Smaller than that I felt. Almost invisible! They would be very easy to walk past: their contrasting colouration is the one thing that helps make them visible.

I saw this one on a scabious flower and you can see how tiny it is compared to the flowerhead which a comma entirely covers. As soon as I saw it I realised there was a good chance I'd either lose sight of it or it would fall into the grass and disappear before I got a photo. So I nipped off the scabious stem it was on and carried it over to the balding grass strip on the trail. The ladybird continued to wander about the scabious looking for tiny bugs to eat, I suspect.

A couple of times it opened its wings to fly and was just delightful but I never got a picture on either occasion. I laid down the scabious stem and video-ed the ladybird, which was moving quite quickly. I nearly lost it a couple of times before it eventually opened its wings and flew off. A short but sweet encounter. I love their patterns - almost rounded-off rectangular shapes rather than circular spots. It appears in the video at the bottom of the page.

This chap was a bit of a dick. Well he wasn't so much as his dogs were badly behaved. They were off the lead and came bounding up - a black lab and a golden lab. The latter was angry I wasn't paying it much attention and was threatening to get a bit growly and was barking in a very unsettling manner while bouncing about like fury. The owner had heard it all before and wasn't interested in calling his dogs back or apologising for their approaching me aggressively. He was interested in what I was photographing and we chatted briefly. Then he resumed paying no attention to the dogs and carried on. I think the dogs were bored and looking for an interaction of some sort, but happily they moved on before they decided I should provide it.

painted ladies

backlit admiral

backlit comma

Eristalis tenax - drone fly

As the afternoon went on the sun was disappearing for longer and longer. It finished about 4 so I headed back to the bike and was homeward bound by 4.40pm. I got a couple of hours of cloud-free interludes with enough sunshine to furnish some photos. It is difficult to know beforehand whether these trips are going to be worth it or not. And if you hold out for a properly sunny day you could miss the entire season. Oddly I never get bored of the butterflies of Saltoun and the dragonflies are a bonus although neither have been legendary this year. But I live in hope and enjoy a bit of a walk round a mostly empty wood taking photos of insects and birds.