This morning I got up extremely early at 3.00 am in order to join Steve and Bun on a trip to Wiltshire. We visited a couple of sites on Salisbury Plain where we saw a few
Stone Curlews, and lots of lovely
Corn Buntings some of which were posing really nicely, begging to be digiscoped, but someone went and forgot her digiscoping camera! I believe Steve got some photos though . We also saw loads of tanks. It felt very strange birding with tanks on training maneuvers all around you!
Later in the morning we moved on to Martin Down hoping for a few butterfly ticks. The weather wasn't ideal though with a fair bit of cloud and a fresh northwesterly wind making it quite chilly. There were loads of orchids though and I got another tick with this:
Common (I think?)
Fragrant Orchid.
Time was against us with me having to get home in time for work this evening so I wasn't able to have a good look around for any more orchid ticks today. I absolutely
love Martin Down though and will certainly be going back soon. We did see a couple of nice butterflies which were both 'lifers' for me, and they were (in no particular order)...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQekDJzLPcA3MmczsxhEhJs-KfF88m5RsGnOLrEqpUKz0hp-Oh_bnQZOeV1wJ-4hx9le34_alfca7Lfvm7lM9V-Id_fXCOg77gCUMVJxbHGe4vGcdagO9yaSGPUUWvnqVm7T18H0hMzk/s400/dark+green+frit.jpg)
Dark Green FritillaryAnd..
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYd3y_bjmKzwh-jbqrjCXitiqzN_JWDWORlMfV9mafzH3nUwqxs36HfKP-rTJZv7v65z-nn-IoxM5S1RxAHAGhEL0KsQJqTQaDIDS3ZVGOZNtQA16Ql874mEoE0XMMKOh-NZ9vJgTGi0/s400/adonis+blue.jpg)
Adonis Blue(I couldn't believe just how vivid blue these were, the photos don't do the colour justice really)
This big hairy caterpillar was one to look up when I got home.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DULDt-ccAfnvdH_ciY7RL_SKJjzxb9lkUSG2jxsDz8tlGscrRL1jU3j0946YQhIIfJNvT4TYXzdiRAJ3oS9xwtIAjMYCDSdOcR3gUd8Eiwn1UeFVZMef3YQL8BKZG_hos_1KqgYAkhI/s400/oak+eggar.jpg)
It's the caterpillar of the
Oak Eggar Moth.
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