28 June 14 - The Best Of The Rest On The Chalk

In the last post I covered some of the birds seen on a drive around the Cranborne Chase border of Dorset & Wiltshire. But I also saw some other interesting wildlife.

Brown Hare: Near Sixpenny Handley is a small area of set aside close to the road, allowing excellent views of these great Brown Hares

Brown Hare: A second animal trying to dry itself after a heavy downpour. Note, the long black tipped ears, long legs and overall bulky appearance. I had always assumed they were native to the UK, but it is believed they were introduced in Iron Age times to the UK

Rabbit: A common species that all UK residents will immediately recognise. This is a young Rabbit just over half size. Note, the small ears, gentler face, smaller build & shorter legs compared to the Brown Hare. They are also smaller & prefer areas of short grassland as well as arable fields, whereas, Brown Hares are predominantly found in or near arable fields. Rabbits were introduced into the UK by the Normans & for several centuries were a delicacy of the nobility with strict penalties for any commoners found poaching them. I always assumed they were native to Western Europe, but was surprised to read they are native to the Iberian Peninsula & Southern France, and introduced by man elsewhere in Western Europe

I found a great small roadside quarry just to the North of Win Green. This had a good selection of Butterflies in it.

Marbled White: A very distinctive rough grassland & downland Butterfly

Ringlet

Large Skipper on a Pyramidal Orchid: Female. Large Skippers have this bright mottling markings on the upperwing, whereas the other common Skippers, Small Skipper & Essex Skipper, have a plainer orange upper wing. This is female as it doesn't have a broad black line in the upperwing which the males show

Large Skipper: Another view of the same female

Large Skipper: Male. This shots shows the distinctive black line in the upper wing. This is a sex brand of specialist scent scales (Crowle Moor, Yorkshire, 1 July 12)

Large Red-tailed Bumblebee: One of my favourite Bumblebees & one that seems to regularly come to light if I run a moth trap in my garden

Pyramidal Orchid: There were about 10 of these in this small quarry

Pyramidal Orchid: A close up of the flowers. The tight head of flowers in a pyramidal shape makes this a distinctive Orchid to identify. Apparently, the flowers are shaped to only be pollinated by Butterflies proboscis

13 June 14 - Down By The Riverbank

After successfully seeing the Brilliant Emerald Dragonflies, the plan was to get on the road again before the M25 got too busy. Even leaving mid afternoon, it still didn't stop me hitting slow traffic on the motorway, but eventually I was heading West on the M4 to Goring-on-Thames. This is a site for Club-tailed Dragonfly. Despite searching for the best part of 2 hours along the river bank, I failed to find any. But there were good numbers of Banded Demoiselles & a few Red-eyed Damselflies.

Goring-on-Thames: The riverbank

Goring-on-Thames: Around the viaduct is a good area for the Club-tailed Dragonflies

Banded Demoiselle: Male. I must have seen about 200 Banded Demoiselles along the riverbank

Banded Demoiselle: Female

Banded Demoiselle: Female

Red-eyed Damselfly: Male. There were a half dozen along the river bank. Males have turquoise blue on the final 2 segments (segments 9 & 10) of the abdomen, while the similar Small Red-eyed Damselflies have the turquoise blue also extending onto the sides of segment 8 as well

Tree Bumblebee: This looks to be one of the commoner & easier Bumblebees to identify

The Tree Bumblebees were all on this stand of blue flowers

The Cinnabar: A common day flying Moth at this time of the year 

Ladybird sp: I suspect this is yet another variant of Harlequin Ladybird, but it might be a 10 Spot Ladybird variant. Please add a Comment if you can shed light on it's identification

Mayfly sp: Saw several of these

Stock Dove: Just managed to sneak a bird photo in on the walk back to the car

Returning home, I decided to take the scenic route along the A303 through Wiltshire & go cross country to Dorset. Usually I cut through Salisbury, but for a change decided to carry along the A303 a bit further & explore. Really glad that I did as there were a number of highlights with this route.

Stonehenge: It's still here. Looking from the A303 along the Southern boundary

The next place was the Fovant Badges. I've not heard of this before I saw there. But in 1916 these images were carved into the hillside to remember the contribution that these regiments, who wever stationed locally in transit camps, were making to the First World War effort. Well worth a visit if you're nearby.

Fovant Badges: The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, 6th City of London Regiment & Australian Commonwealth Military Forces (left to right). More information on the Fovant Badges & those lost to time can be found on The Fovant Badges Website

Fovant Badges: Royal Corps of Signals, The Wiltshire Regiment, The London Rifle Brigade, The Post Office Rifles & The Devonshire Regiment (left to right)

Soon after I was on small back roads heading South, when a Muntjac Deer was surprised by the roadside. Unfortunately, it disappeared through the hedge before I could get a photo. This is an introduced Deer species that is fairly common in the Home Counties & East Anglia, but uncommon at best closer to Dorset. It's the first one I've seen in the UK as I rarely visit Norfolk these days, although I heard their distinctive barking calls after dark several times, whilst working in the Home Counties last year.

Muntjac Deer: The small size of this Deer is distinctive (Periyar, Western Ghats, Jan 14)

Finally, I was passing through great downland country where some of the farmers have been convinced to set aside areas for wildlife.

Grey Partridge: Quite pleased with this shot considering how poor the light was

Brown Hare