We started off from the Small Grain car park, heading
towards the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Morgan’s Hill.
We were soon picked up some linnet
singing on and around the bushes and a lovely male yellowhammer
sat singing his heart out from the top of a hawthorn bush.
Male linnet at Morgan's Hill |
As we carried on along the old Roman Road, we saw common
spotted, pyramidal
and fragrant orchids just inside the reserve.
As we passed by the woodland and into the open farmland we
started to pick up more yellowhammer and the first of several male corn
bunting singing their jangly song.
Male corn bunting |
We also picked up an increasing number of skylark
and meadow
pipit singing and collecting food for their chicks. We were also singing
good numbers of whitethroat,
a species that seems to have wintered well in the Sahel in Africa and returned
to the Pewsey Downs in good numbers.
As we were watching another male corn bunting singing from a
bush, he shot off to chase away a cuckoo
who soon disappeared.
We continued on, really getting to grips with the songs and
calls of the various farmland birds, virtually all of which are of high
conservation concern. We picked up some butterflies as well, meadow brown,
ringlet, large
skipper and marbled
white being the most numerous.
Marbled white at rest |
We headed towards the main round along the side of a wood
and were surprised by a hobby
that was hunting for insects in the shelter of the trees – great stuff!
Next on the list was a male yellow
wagtail who flew over us and landed on top of the crop where we had great
views of him. We heard and saw several
more of these fantastic birds during the walk, but didn’t see one quite as well
again.
Male yellow wagtail |
The next sighting of note was a sheltered patch of flowers
that had several butterfly species on them as well clusters of six-spot
burnet moths.
The last bird of note was a male redstart
flitting along the hedgerow, his red tail clearly evident as he flashed from
bush to bush.
A really nice morning's walk! (NA)
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