So, instead I dug out some photos from a walk that I took in the county of Wiltshire which lies about 20 minutes drive from my home. This area is on the western edge of Salisbury Plain, much of which is given over to the army for training purposes and is off limits for most of the year. The countryside where I was walking though is not part of the training area, but it has the same gently rolling hills and openness that is indicative of Salisbury Plain. This first photo shows the start of my walk. If you click to enlarge, the hill in the distance I like to call mohican hill (for obvious reasons). I've just tried clicking on it myself and it takes me to the Birdfair website for some reason rather than just enlarging this photo. Don't know how to fix it, so apologies for this!
I was following a permissive footpath which took me up and along the edge of fields sown with wheat I think (you'd have known what cereal it was without a doubt Roy)! Earlier in the year there were lots of singing Skylarks to keep a walker company along here (one of the sublime sounds of summer in the British countryside).
I think this flower is Chicory (Cichorium intybus) which favours grassy chalk downland. It's a beautiful fresh blue which brightened up the field edges as I walked along.
It was definitely a day for the bugs and butterflies to be out and about as I soon noticed. This 6-spot Burnet moth was sharing quite happily with a bee of some sort.
A Brimstone butterfly gorging on nectar from this thistle, again sharing with some sort of bee. It was a sharing kind of day I guess! (-:
I had help from a friend in identifying this moth as a Dusky Sallow. They are usually night flyers, but will sometimes feed during the day in very hot weather. Well it was pretty hot that day!
My best encounter of the walk I think was a pair of Roe Deer. I just happened to look left across the field when this female also just happened to look up. We shared a few moments of mutual staring before she bounded off to join her mate who I just managed to catch a shot of below.
I'll carry on up the hill in my next post.
11 comments:
Hi Jen,
Did you enjoy the Birdfair, I have been there once, back in 2005 while working on one of the stands. Must go back again one day. Great photo's of the Roe Deer.
John
A nice post Jenny. Such a bummer about the deletion of the photos! I also like the Roe Deer...she reminds me of a little snake I know, popping her head up like that!!!
Hi there John, thanks for dropping in on my blog and commenting. Yes I did enjoy the Birdfair. This year I had several people I wanted to meet up with again. A lovely birding couple from Iowa who were over here specifically for the Birdfair, a lady from Bruny Island off Tasmania who I met when I birded there with friends back in 2005 and meeting a blogging friend for the first time. As well as all that, there was the Art tent and all the rest! Quite a day. It's a shame I deleted those photos!
Hi Evie, yes I know what you mean, same inquisitive posture! (-:
Hey Jen, this is a great "Part One". From what I can see of the Wheat it looks like Barley (Did it have needles running along side the grain.) If so that's Barley if it was just a head of with grain then that's Wheat.
The Chicory is lovely and is a perfect macro.
The "Pièce de résistance" is the Roe Deer. I Love it, just a fantastic shot. You should be proud of that one and it makes a great header as well as a a big board canvas type picture for the lounge. {:).
That's a clever trick with the Bird fair link and the photo. You have probably got the link mixed in with the data of the image on the post creation typing area. Maybe?
Hi Jennie, what a great tour. I love the photo of the Roe Deer. I have to admit I am not much of a birder, but I certainly enjoy your post's and photo's.
Hi Jen. Deleting photos reminds me of shooting a whole film of butterfies some years ago and then finding there was no film in the camera...what a bummer! Glad you enjoyed the Birdfair none the less.
Fabulous shots of the Roe Deer.
Jenny that first picture looks like our little bit of country-WOW!
Sorry about those pictures that escaped :(
I am with everyone else here, loving the pictures of the Roe Deer. The Brimstone butterfly is stunning, I love the soft color. I have enjoyed my Wiltshire Walk Part One thank you very much!!
My word verification "howsis?" How is this? :) Oh boy, time to get going.
So sorry about the photos! Darn. I really enjoyed the flowers and the deer. Great shots.
Hi Jenny,
This was probably a beautiful walk and I love your deer picture, especially the first one, the composition is awesome! Well done.
Hi Roy, I'm afraid I can't remember, but enlarging the Roe Deer I think it looks like Wheat. I don't know how on earth that link business happened. Very clever of me indeed!!!! (-:
Hi Julie, glad you liked Part one, maybe I should have left that female Roe Deer for my last shot in the next post. That was definitely the highlight of the walk for me. Evie and I will make a birder of you yet! (-:
Hi Frank, yes, it's a stomach sinker for sure when that kind of thing happens. I had another bad csmera moment the other day with a very hard to see bird! Sigh! (-:
Hi Pix, I think I'd like Missouri then! (-: Those Brimstone butterflies are lovely in a soft and subtle way. I like the shape of their wings too. Maybe Howsis stands for Howdy Sis! (-:
Hi Christine, glad you enjoyed the first part of my walk. I kick myself about those Birdfair photos!
Hi Chris, thanks for that.
You have such nice places to walk over fields. I love that photo of the deer peeping out of the field :-) Brought a smile to my face. Lovely butterflies. I spent half the evening trying to ID butterfly photos and decided that I'm not good at it.
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