Salisbury Plain and Martin Down

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)...

Dark Green Fritillary

And..

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.

It's the caterpillar of the Oak Eggar Moth.

Yellow-legged Gull

Ian M found an adult Yellow-legged Gull on the estuary at Coronation Corner late this morning. I'd had a lie in, but it was worth getting dressed and rushing out to see it. A real big brute it was too. A bit distant and glary for decent photos but here's a couple of efforts non the less.

Distant and blurry..

Closer and blurrier.

Simply can't have a blog entry without a flower picture, so seeing as I was already at Coronation Corner I popped round to Axmouth Cemetery, to see this...

Fox and Cubs - A red hawkweed, which is an introduced naturalized species. Could also be a garden escape, but it's very nice. Well, I think so.

Because of my lie in this morning I missed the ringing at Colyford Common. That wont stop me publishing some ringing photos though because I took a few at last Monday's session but never got around to posting them on here, so I'll do it now to pad out this entry a bit. :-)

Long-tailed Tit

Female Kingfisher

Another Walk to Culverhole

This morning I took Rex for a nice long walkies along Axe Cliff into the Undercliff and eventually down into Culverhole. I wanted to have another look in Culverhole because I knew that there was a chance that I would be able to see Marsh Helleborine. It's about two weeks too early for them according to my books, but I couldn't wait! Besides that 'lots of things' seem to be emerging/flowering early this year. So I was optimistic. The weather was lovely and warm and so I was also hoping to see some butterflies and dragonflies too, and you never know even a bird or two!

I took loads of photos today so I'll just recount my walk in photos, like this:

There were a surprising amount of dragonflies on Axe Cliff itself, including this female Broad-bodied Chaser.

Also a couple of these. Golden-ringed Dragonfly.
I also saw a male BB Chaser, an Emperor and a female Black-tailed Skimmer.

At my favourite corner of Axe Cliff there is a small area of wildflower rich grass, I always come here to look for butterflies, I visited on numerous occasions last year but never saw any Pyramidal Orchids, this year there are hundreds of them!

It was here that I saw this: My first Marbled White of the year.

Also this Cinnabar Moth
(you can see loads of these at Weeting Heath in Norfolk, it'll cost you £2.50 mind ;-) )

I didn't spot the juvenile Stonechats today but I did see a Buddleia bush full of lovely 'brand new' Common Whitethroats, like this one. :-)

The view from the footpath on The Undercliff down to Culverhole. The orchid I was after was down there somewhere.

Once down in Culverhole I got my first ever photo of a Wood White. Also on the wing were Dingy Skipper, Common Blue and Large Skipper.

After much clambering about and sinking in another bog I eventually spotted some small clumps of Marsh Helleborine, They don't look much from a distance.

They're behind you!
I was quite exited to find them but Rex just looked at me as if to say, "So what! I don't care if you've just found 'The Lost Treasure of The Sierra Madre' - I could do with a bit of shade here!"

They are really stunning close up though...Look!

Wow!
I also stumbled upon this...

A Bee Orchid.
Just the one - but it's on patch!

After lunch I made a quick visit to Lower Bruckland Ponds, hoping to get a photo of the male Scarce Chaser I saw on my last visit, and here he is...

There were lots of Six-spot Burnet Moths here too, I took a few snaps including this one and the 'artistic' one below.