East Lothian Sightings July 2018

[georgehogg]

Transect at gorse bank Torness today.
1 Speckled Wood,,,,,,,1 Painted Lady,,,,,,,7 Large White,,,,1 GV White,,,,46 Ringlet,,,,4 Small Tortoiseshell,,,,4 fly by White,,,13 Meadow Brown,
1 Common Blue.

Nice variety but very low numbers other than the Ringlets and Meadow Browns.
I blame the Beast !

[jpgn]

A 15 minute visit to the Meadowmill pyramid early this afternoon produced 45+ Graylings, 6 Meadow Browns, 5 Common Blues and 1 Green-veined White.

[georgehogg]

Brilliant to hear of so many Grayling at Meadowmill Jim .
Nick ,are the rangers aware and does management of the pyramid allow for them ?

Been at Linn Dean on three days this week , all in brilliant butterfly weather.
Lots of Ringlet , Small Heath and Common Blue .
Courting and egg laying very apparent in NB Argus and DG Fritillary.
A single Small Skipper was a bit of a surprise.
Don't think I have heard of them there before?

Small Skip at Linn Dean

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DG Frits courting

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NBA

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[ricowells]

Woodhall dean today. Estimated 30+ speckled wood, 100+ ringlets, though reckon these are conservative numbers. The ringlets especially were in every part of the reserve. Single common blue (flyaway blue so assumed must be common), single small skipper, circa 3 red admirals, and 4 meadow browns plus the bonus of mating banded demoiselles.

[georgehogg]

Wow ! Wasn't aware of banded demoiselles in Scotland.
How long has that been going on ?
Are then any other local sites ?

[jpgn]

Just 5 Graylings at Blindwells during a short (and rather overcast) visit this morning - was taking a last chance to visit the colony before the building contractors expand their operations... Also had 3 Painted Ladies, plus 2 Red Admirals, a few whites and plenty of Small Torts, Ringlets and Meadow Browns on my run back to Gullane.

George - David Stevens mentioned the Banded Demoiselles at Woodhall Dean on Twitter last week. I was similarly gobsmacked! We'd enjoyed watching them in Cambridge last weekend and I'd said to Ali that they'd be a brilliant addition to East Lothian's fauna - a couple of days later I found out we already had them!

[ricowells]

Wow ! Wasn't aware of banded demoiselles in Scotland.
How long has that been going on ?
Are then any other local sites ?

Hi George
Yes I saw David's twitter entry and went for a look. Admittedly I had no clue they were in the area having only seen demoiselles in Morvern previously. David replied on twitter to say he has reported the find on irecord and they want to verify it as its outside the usual range for the species. Incidentally, I only saw 1 male and 1 female. Quite a find though. If you google the species you can find historic records from back in 2011 on the whiteadder so not too far away (viewed on the NBN atlas).
Best
Richard

[IAC]

June 18th 2010 was the first time I spotted Banded Demoiselle in Berwickshire. Only a few at first. Only a year later I had reported them as numerous on the Whiteadder at Hutton. They up to this day have several Whiteadder strongholds, thousands strong at peak times of the season. I have seen them on the Tweed many times now and most of the lower tributaries. They can be found on ponds and burns, which is quite unusual, though, they are an expanding species. Great news that they are getting even further north. Being Butterflycentric the Banded Demoiselle, as spectacular an insect as it is, does not seem to have had a huge amount of publicity...but then Im sure those in the know when it comes to Odonata recording have known about these for many years. There are far more Dragonfly species to look out for up here these days as well....not that I have been lucky enough to see them yet.

Iain.

[georgehogg]

Relying almost exclusively on Ringlets and Meadow Browns on transects at present.
Skateraw transect 12th July
34 Ringlet , 17 Meadow Brown , 4 Common Blue , 1 Speckled Wood , 1 Large White , 1 Small Tortoiseshell , 5 Fly By whites.


Torness East Grasslands 13th July
32 Meadow Brown , 14 Ringlet , 2 Small Heath , 1 Fly By White.

[NickMorgan]

Abbie reported that a friend of hers saw an Orange Tip yesterday near Ormiston. It was spotted later by someone else!
I was pleased to see four Small Tortoiseshells on my Buddleia yesterday and there seem to be a lot of whites flying just now.