East Lothian Sightings - August 2018

[jpgn]

Have done four BC Big Butterfly counts in and around Gullane this weekend, as well as having a couple of walks and an hour in the garden - and Wall has easily been the second most numerous butterfly that I've seen, after the near-ubiquitous Small White.

As well as in the garden I've seen them at Luffness Links Quarry, on Gullane Hill and Gullane Bents, around Saltcoats Farm and all along the field edges along the southern edge of the village. Have counted at least 40 individuals.

Red Admiral numbers seem to be on the increase in the last couple of days (8 in Longniddry and 3 in Gullane yesterday) just as Peacocks are starting to decrease (had a peak count of 63 in 3 hours in Longnidrry last Monday morning).

Jim

[NickMorgan]

It is so good to see so many butterflies around at the moment.
Last Tuesday I was out all day downloading the data from the car park and pedestrian counters along the coast. I kept a note of what I saw at each car park, but didn't go specially looking for anything. The days total was:
349 Small Whites
33 Large Whites
20 Green-veined Whites
24 Peacocks
14 Meadow Browns
1 Comma
3 Painted Ladies (my first of the year)
2 Small Coppers
11 Wall Browns
5 Speckled Woods
3 Red Admirals
I Small Tortoiseshell
That isn't counting the many thousands of butterflies I saw when I was driving between sites, and that was on a day with only patchy sunshine. I can only imagine what it would have been like if it had been sunny all day, or I had gone for a walk in Aberlady Bay!

I have had various reports of Small Tortoiseshells being found hibernating already around the county.

[wgell]

Wall Browns seem to be getting around. Friday I was at Phantassie Doocot/Preston Mill and saw a Wall Brown near the Doocot. Saturday at Hedderwick Plantation I saw 6 and yesterday I was along the Gifford to Bolton path and Clacherdean Wood and saw at least 8 Walls and several possible flybys. Never seen Walls there before. Lots of Small coppers there too. Later yesterday I went eastwards along the river a bit from Abbey Means. Usual omnipresent whites and Peacocks but on my way back just by the bridge I saw 4 Wall Browns and two Small Coppers. Again never seen Walls there before.

There have been too many whites and Peacocks and to count everywhere I've been!

[georgehogg]

Checking pics from Torness transects this week.
Never really noticed much variety in Painted Ladies before.
How normal/unusual is it ?

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[NickMorgan]

George,
I have noticed quite a bit of variability with Painted Ladies in the past, but we don't really get enough of them to look at this properly. Maybe I need to sort through all of my pictures from the last few years!

There are still plenty of butterflies flying around despite the cloud. I was lucky with today's transect with the sun staying out most of the time.
7 Large Whites, 36 Small Whites, 18 Green-veined Whites, 4 Small Coppers, 4 Peacocks, 2 Commas and 7 Speckled Woods.

I walked back a different route and on a patch of mint at a sheltered spot I saw 1 Large White, 7 Small Whites, 1 Green-veined White, 7 Small Coppers, 4 Peacocks, 2 Commas, 2 Wall Browns and a Painted Lady. The reason that I saw so many butterflies at this spot was because one of the Small Coppers was cream, rather than orange. I spent ages trying to track it down and get a picture with my phone and kept spotting other butterflies!

The picture isn't very good, but at least it is a record of what I saw. I wonder if this is the schmidtii aberration?

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[ricowells]

Stopped off at Waterston house, Aberlady today. Great to see lots of butterflies in their garden especially on one particular buddleia. At one point counted 5 peacocks, 3 red admiral, 2 small tortoiseshell, 2 painted lady and 2 small whites on this one plant. All looking fresh apart from the whites.

[NickMorgan]

Great to see such a variety Richard. I saw my first Small Tortoiseshell in ages in my garden this morning. The whites are certainly looking a bit tired now, but it is good to see so many of them still about.

[ricowells]

Agree Nick really pleased to see so many. I was down at Fenton barns and popped in to Waterston house for a quick look. Similar numbers again on the buddleia. Same species plus a comma and a moth joining the party! Moth would not sit still for a decent photo though.

[jpgn]

Today was the first day of the year on which Red Admirals outnumbered Peacocks during my postal round in Longniddry. The final counts were: 14 Red Admirals, 12 Peacocks, 5 Painted Ladies, 3 Small Tortoiseshells and 2 Commas, plus a couple of Speckled Woods and a few, pretty ragged and tired-looking, Large and Small Whites.