We headed east today and after a brief stop in Amesbury arrived at the relatively new RSPB reserve at Winterbourne Downs. It was a lovely sunny day and the rolling fields of Salisbury Plain were a wonderful backdrop. We had our picnic lunch, utilising the picnic table in the small car park and before long had seen a Common Whitethroat and then a very showy Lesser Whitethroat as it sang from the bushes near us.
We then headed off on the longer of the two nature trails, a walk of about two kilometres across the fields. As we left the car park and crossed the first field we saw a couple of Red-legged Partridge. Continuing our walk we saw loads of Woodpigeons and several Stock Doves. A Linnet was in full song and a few others flew about. A couple of Yellowhammers were also seen.
As we started the return leg to the car, Ellie wanted to do a bit of painting to capture the wonderful scene. So I set up my 'scope and scanned the fields for half on hour or so whilst she was painting. There were several Lapwings present and another couple of Red-legged Partridge. I then managed to come across a couple of very distant Stone Curlews, a real surprise. As we got back to the car we saw a Mistle Thrush feeding.
We also saw loads of Hares, well in to double figures, and two Roe Deer were present. We also saw a Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, a couple of "Whites" and several Brimstone butterflies.
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