On Thursday 19th January we were still in the middle of the heatwave. Getting a bit fed up with staying indoors because of the heat I decided to take an early morning trip to Martin Down. Martin Down Nature Reserve is a large area of unspoiled chalk downland just off of the main Salisbury Blandford road just inside Hampshire. It is a lovely place with wild flowers in abundance at this time of year so the insect and Butterfly population is high. I went with my friend Judy and we had a lovely couple of hours wandering to see what we could see before it got really hot.
Below are the images I took of the Butterflies and a few other inhabitants. I managed to see some Butterflies I have never seen before, A Small Copper, Green Fritillary and a beautiful Clouded yellow Butterfly. I would have liked to have got a picture of them with their wings open as they are very bright and lovely, but I had to chase after them they were so quick and as soon as they landed their wings were closed.
There were also plenty of Birds about, Yellowhammers and Skylarks singing above us and some birds I couldn’t identify in the scrubby shrubs, they have what appeared to be Finch family beaks but I’m just not sure.
