East Lothian sightings - May 2018

[NickMorgan]

It has been a bit of a slow start to the month.
I walked along the River Tyne in Haddington at lunch time today and saw 8 Orange Tips, 4 Peacocks, 2 Small Tortoiseshells, a Green-veined White and a Small White.
No sign of the gynandromorph Orange Tip or the Speckled Woods I saw earlier in the week. Of course it didn't help that it was cloudy for most of my walk.
I met a lady who keeps an eye on the otters on the Tyne who I had seen shortly after seeing the gynandromorph Orange Tip last Friday. She said that she had seen it this Tuesday, so it was still around then. It really would help if we had some sun!!!

[georgehogg]

Walk along Tyne upstream from Haddington to Ormiston , then paths to Macmerry.
Orange Tip the main butterfly ,with a few Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells.
One or two distant whites guessed as female OT but not sure.

[wgell]

Nice to finally get out in some decent weather today!

Saltoun Wood this morning. Looking for Green Hairstreaks but no sign of any sadly. Lots of Peacocks, a couple of Orange Tips and a Comma. Also bumped into Abbie which was nice...

Early this afternoon I went along the Tyne past the old Curling Pond in Haddington. 20+ OTs, 12 Peacocks, 3 GV Whites and 2 Speckled Woods.

[NickMorgan]

Intetesting the difference a few hours makes Will. I walked up and down the River Tyne Path between the weir and Clerkington Burn for about an hour and a half this morning looking for my special Orange Tip. I only saw about five Orange Tips and two Green-veined Whites. I was sure they were probably the same butterflies I saw over again. No Speckled Woods, Peacocks or Tortoiseshells. Probably just too early in the day.

[georgehogg]

Ormiston railway walk from the station west past Howden Bridge this afternoon.
My first Comma of the year at the bridge ,a dark one but lost it almost immediately.
Around 20 male Orange Tips allowing for probable repeat passes.
Handful of fly by whites which is frustrating as I haven't got my eye in yet .

[NickMorgan]

Interesting George. I was talking to a colleague this morning who gave me some Orange Tip records from yesterday. He said he also saw some fly-by whites, but didn't know what they were. We agreed that Orange Tips are probably well recorded as they are easily identified and that Green-veined and Small Whites are probably under-recorded.
However, on my transect yesterday I saw 23 Orange Tips and only three Green-veined Whites and one Small White, so there do seem to be a lot more male Orange Tips flying than anything else just now. I also only saw one female Orange Tip on my return journey.
I have just received some pictures from Abbie of a Small Copper she has just seen in the Garleton Hills.

[georgehogg]

Agreed , by summer I tend to be quite good at identifying passing whites but early in the season it is a different matter.
At least one small White at Thorntonloch among the Green Veined Whites and male Orange Tips today.
Also at least one Small Tort and one Peacock though I must admit I wasn't really counting.

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[NickMorgan]

On my transect today, 1 Small White, 1 Speckled Wood, 3 Peacocks, 9 Green-veined Whites and 44 Orange Tips (4 female), which pretty much reflects what I have been seeing for the last few days.

One of my colleagues saw a Wall Brown at Seacliff yesterday along with Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites and a Peacock.

I was at Saltoun Wood last week where I eventually found one Green Hairstreak. Abbie had seen one there on the 5th and we had both noted that a large area of the woodland had been on fire, just where the best blueberry patch was. Abbie was back there a couple of days ago and luckily saw three Hairstreaks this time. The habitat there is very small and looks quite vulnerable. Hopefully there will be some blueberry regrowth, but that won't be useful for egg laying for a couple of years.

[NickMorgan]

Ah, just received an e-mail from Abbie who has seen five Wall Browns near Aberlady along with Speckled Woods and a Four-spotted Chaser.

[wgell]

I took a quick trip to Saltoun Wood late this afternoon. 1 Green Hairstreak which is the first I've seen this year. Haven't been up as much as I'd like to recently. Also 6 OTs, 3 Speckled Woods, 3 GV Whites and a Peacock.

Haven't reported here for a bit but everywhere I've been lately has shown good numbers of OTs.